The beloved Motown group’s co-founder died of a heart failure and had been struggling with bladder cancer
According to a family spokesperson, Fakir died of heart failure with his family and friends by his side. The family announced his death Monday afternoon, saying, “our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a trailblazer, icon and music legend who, through his 70-year music career, touched the lives of so many”.
Many of Motown’s greatest stars, from the Supremes to Stevie Wonder, came of age at the Detroit-based company founded by Berry Gordy in the late 1950s. But Fakir, lead singer Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton had been together for a decade when Gordy signed them up in 1963 and already had a polished stage act and versatile vocal style that enabled them to perform anything from country songs to pop standards like Paper Doll.
After Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in 1967, the Four Tops had more sporadic success, with hits over the next few years including Still Water , and a pair of top 10 songs in the early 1970s for ABC/Dunhill Records, Keeper of the Castle and Ain’t No Woman . They reached the Top 20 for the last time in the early 1980s, with the sentimental ballad When She Was My Girl.
Fakir later toured as the Four Tops with lead vocalist Alexander Morris, Ronnie McNeir and Lawrence ‘Roquel’ Payton Jr, the son of Lawrence Payton.
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