Trivia

Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Four Tops) in 1990.

Duke is the last original Four Tops Member that is still performing live.

Is of Ethiopian Ancestry.

The Four Tops were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Fakir attended Detroit's Pershing High School, where he played basketball and football, and ran track.

He first met fellow band member Levi Stubbs through neighborhood football games; at that time he was not aware Stubbs was a singer. Later, attending a variety show featuring the Lucky Millinder band, the band announced a talented young singer whom Fakir recognized as the boy he played football with. They became closer friends and Stubbs even traveled with Fakir to his sporting events, where they enjoyed singing and engaging teammates in sing-alongs.

In January 2023, it was reported that the U.S. Treasury Department is seeking $500,000 in unpaid taxes from Fakir.

As a member of the Four Tops, Fakir was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and was included in the Billboard magazine Top 100 Recording Artists of All Time.

Shortly before his death, he named Michael Brock as his successor.

By 2008, the other three Tops had died; Fakir controlled the Four Tops intellectual properties and was responsible for assembling the touring version of the band that would carry on the group's legacy. He had stated an intention never to retire and indeed continued to tour with the group until less than a month before his death.

Fakir was close friends with fellow Motown artist Mary Wilson of the Supremes until her death in 2021. The two were romantically linked and briefly engaged in 1964; however, their music careers were still developing and they decided it would be best to call it off. They appeared on Chicago's You and Me This Morning in 2013 to promote the Mary Wilson Holiday Spectacular With Special Guests The Four Tops. At the show they performed "Baby, It's Cold Outside" together.

Survived by his wife, his children, Farah Fakir Cook, Nazim Bashir Fakir, Abdul Kareem Fakir, Myke Fakir, Anthony Fakir, and Malik Robinson, one sister, Elena Braceful, several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and Kai Ayne Fakir died 2001.