Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement that Fakir helped embody the Tops’ “showmanship, class and artistry. “For 70 years, he kept the Four Tops’ remarkable legacy intact.”The Four Tops were among Motown’s most popular and enduring acts, peaking in the 1960s. The Tops had recorded for several labels, including the famed Chess Records in Chicago, with little commercial success. Fakir later toured as the Four Tops with lead vocalist Alexander Morris, Ronnie McNeir and Lawrence ‘Roquel’ Payton Jr., the son of Lawrence Payton. “As each one of them (the original members) passed a little bit of me left with them,” Fakir told UK Music Reviews in 2021.
