In The Groove: A musical farewell to Motown legend Duke Fakir of the Four Tops
Listen to “In the Groove” with Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.
FILE - Duke Fakir holds his life time achievement award backstage at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2009. Fakir wrote a memoir, "I'll Be There: My Life With The Four Tops." Fakir, the last of the original Four Tops, died Monday of heart failure at age 88.
There was joy throughout the show with new music from Lawne, Metronomy & Nourished by Time, Real Estate, Rosa Brunello and others — but the main affair today was a fond farewell for the last surviving member of the Four Tops — the one and only Duke Fakir, who died on Monday from heart failure in his Detroit home. He was 88.
Major shout out to Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press for this wonderful obituary of Fakir, who helped found the Four Tops in 1956 and kept their spirit alive across a seven-decade career.
I think it’s easy for Detroiters to take the music of Motown for granted and that’s fair — we hear it everywhere — but on a day like today, it sounds so sweet. I can only legally play a trio of Four Tops songs, and you can see what I went with below. The show also features an interview I had the honor to do with Fakir back in 2022.
Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.
In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for July 23, 2024
- “Let It Bleed” – Goat
- “Mamasong” – Lawne
- “Water No Get Enemy (feat. Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, The Soultronics & Positive Force)” – D’Angelo, Femi Kuti & Macy Gray
- “Sun Is Shining” – Bob Marley & The Wailers
- “Airdrop” – Real Estate
- “Outside the Outside” – Helado Negro
- “Odessa” – Caribou
- “My Love” – Metronomy & Nourished by Time
- “Got To Be Mine” – Vulfmon & Evangeline
- “Razzle-Dazzle (feat. Yazz Ahmed, Tamar Osborn, Enrico Terragnoli, Luca Tapino & Marco Frattini)” – Rosa Brunello
- “Just Listen” – Mark Guiliana
- “Can’t” – ANOHNI
- “Baby I Need Your Loving” – Four Tops (a fond farewell for Duke Fakir)
- “Bernadette” – Four Tops (a fond farewell for Duke Fakir)
- “Midnight Flower” – Four Tops (a fond farewell for Duke Fakir)
- “Sailing” – Miss Tiny
- “Fortress” – Pinback
- “Way We Won’t” – Grandaddy
- “Lovin U” – Coco Bryce
- “Rock The Boat (L3Ni Remix)” – Aaliyah
- “Burnt Toast (feat. A. K. Paul & Berwyn)” – Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ
- “Cards On The Table” – Nia Archives
- “Gotta Get Up” – Harry Nilsson
- “Figs and Gorgonzola” – Papooz
- “Misread” – Kings of Convenience
- “For The Time Being” – Erlend Øye & La Comitiva
- “Aht Uh Mi Hed” – Shuggie Otis
- “Hey” – Nilüfer Yanya
- “Green Eyed Love (Classixx Remix)” – Mayer Hawthorne
- “Three” – Hello Mary
- “Snowman” – Blonde Redhead
- “Bonnie And Clyde” – Brigitte Bardot & Serge Gainsbourg
- “Dry The Rain” – Beta Band
- “False Start Dub” – Kings of High Speed, Jkriv
Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.
