The Four Tops' Duke Fakir: Last Top Spinning
Motown Records 50th Anniversary Bittersweet for Surviving Member
Oct 20, 2009
2009 marks the 50th anniversary of Motown Records, a cause for celebration and reminiscing among soul music fans worldwide. But for Duke Fakir, the joy of the occasion is mixed with sadness.
That's because with the death in October 2008 of Levi Stubbs, the quintessential lead singer whose brawny, desperate baritone defined the sound of the Four Tops, Fakir, 73, became the last living member of one of Motown's most beloved acts.
"When Levi passed, it was like all three of them came to me and said, 'Duke, before you leave, go and tell everybody 'thank you' for all the things they've done for us," Fakir said in a telephone conversation, referring to Stubbs, bass singer Renaldo "Obie" Benson who died in 2005, and tenor Lawrence Payton, the first member to die in 1997. Payton's death brought an end to the longest continuous lineup in Motown history, 40 consecutive years.
Four Tops Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
Yet 2009 has not been without its emotional highs as well. In February 2009, to dovetail with Motown's anniversary observance, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, sanctioning body for the Grammy Awards, bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award on the Four Tops during the annual Grammy ceremonies.
In the extraordinary career of the Four Tops, which includes such unforgettable hits as Reach Out I'll be There, It's the Same Old Song, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) and Standing In the Shadows of Love, the quartet never had received a Grammy Award.
"It would have been great if it could have happened while all of us were still standing, because we always talked about the Grammys when we saw other people get it," says Fakir, known for his silvery tenor and stylish eyeglasses. "To me, that is the highest award you can receive in this business.
"Now, all artists have a different value system. Some say the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [where the Four Tops were enshrined in 1990] is the greatest, some say it's having your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame [which the group also has achieved]. I say this is the greatest, because we never received a Grammy, so that was something that was missing from our career."
Worth 'Four or Five Grammys' to Duke Fakir
Fakir says the Lifetime Achievement Award was "worth four or five Grammys" as far as he's concerned. "Because it sums up, it takes you from the beginning to the end of your career. The [recording] industry is saying, 'You have done a fine job, we appreciate it, and thank you.' That is the epitome."
The Four Tops continue to perform and tour constantly, with a lineup that now includes Payton's son Lawrence Payton Jr., former Motown solo recording artist Ronnie McNair and ex-Temptations member Theo Peoples, with Fakir as elder statesman. "We're having a good year," Fakir says. "This is a recession year, but it truly has not affected our business that much. We're still pretty close to sold out on the casino circuit, which we play all over the country.
"So it's been an exciting year," Fakir concludes. "It's extremely exciting with America voting in [Barack] Obama as the president. I think it's great for the country and just great for the world. And us achieving that Lifetime Achievement Award, to me that is the pinnacle of our business."
But he adds, "I shed quite a few tears when I accepted the award, because I knew I would be speaking for them. Sometimes I even feel guilty about being here when all my real brothers have gone on. 'Why me, Lord, why me'? And I think the answer is, because there's still work for me to do."
For more information on the Four Tops, see their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction biography at www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-four-tops.
