I Cant Help Myself! I’m playing all my favorite 4 Tops Hits and bopping around dancing today with a smile on my face as I welcome Duke Fakir, the only living member of the original legendary Motown quartet The Four Tops.
Duke Fakir is the ultimate ageless entertainer. Imagine 67 years on the road performing and still loving every minute? And he sees absolutely no reason to stop. In fact he’s picking up speed!
Duke and The Four Tops produced million-selling hits that sound just as good today as they did back when. “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Ain’t No Woman,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” Baby I Need your Lovin’, all which now have millions of views on You Tube.
Duke Fakir was a founding member of the group originally called the Four Aims, which included lead singer Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton. The four remained together for over four decades, performing from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel.
You’ll love the story Duke tells of how it all started with those four young men. Girls! All four guys hustled to a High School Prom where they heard there were going to be a LOT of girls and not so many guys. LOL A gal asked Duke to sing and he grabbed the other guys and said let’s all sing…and the magic happened and the rest is history. No one could top the four of them collaborating together.
With three of his original fellow Four Tops gone now, Duke Fakir continues the magical musical tours with three talented younger vocalists, but shares a touching mention of how sometimes when he’s performing he can still feel the presence of his late performing buddies and it brings a tear.
Now that The Four Tops have been inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, have received the Grammy’s Lifetime achievement award, and have been named by Billboard Magazine as one of the greatest groups of all time, what could possibly be next? A Dazzling Stage Musical? A ‘Jersey Boys kinda hit’? Well since some of the very same guys who wrote the original hits for him are back doing it again I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Tune in to this sweet upbeat conversation with Duke Fakir fresh off his first gig in nearly a year because of Covid. He was excited to travel to Washington, D.C. where he taped an upcoming PBS Memorial Day Special. He’s even more excited about the upcoming Four Tops Musical.
If you’re a ‘musical’ lover and want to know more about this upcoming show connect with me at info@xvr.3d0.myftpupload.com and I’ll direct you to further information.
