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Book - I'll Be There: My Life with the Four Tops - Duke Fakir

Out May 2022

By Mike in Soul Music News
Published 17 Apr 2022

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A new book by Duke Fakir is due out next month in kindle and hardback versions...

Details follow below, the kindle preview should show once the book has been released

I'll Be There: My Life with the Four Tops  By Duke Fakir with Kathleen McGhee Anderson

Spanning over decades, this is the remarkable, heartfelt memoir from Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir, the last surviving member of The Four Tops. Amidst a backdrop of Detroit, I’ll Be There features revealing anecdotes from the group’s formation, their early days as backup singers for the likes of Jackie Wilson, and their years working with Berry Gordy at the legendary Motown Records. With era-defining number ones like ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)’ and ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ came stardom and also a more enduring reward: the love of four men who become tighter than brothers. Together they comprise one of the most celebrated R&B groups of all time. But remarkable musical success didn’t spare Fakir the pain of marital distress, soured investment deals, struggles with sobriety and the sudden loss of his brothers, all of which he covers in this confessional, unmissable book.

Publisher ‏: ‎ Omnibus Press (5 May 2022)

Language ‏: ‎ English

Hardcover ‏: ‎ 224 pages

soul-source-book-four-tops-motown-duke-fakir.jpg

 

 





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Daniel Nooger
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I have a Four Tops story.  Back in the mid-70's when I was in charge of the Chess Records reissue program during their time with All Platinum Records, I ran across a small (7-inch) reel bearing a "United Sound Studios" label (this was the biggest recording studio in Detroit in the 1940's and 50's) with the word "AMES" on it, no other information.  Put it up on the deck: there's a basic rhythm section and some Four Freshmen / Hi-Lo's type harmonies on an uptempo swinger ("I Wish You Would".)  Something about the way the lead singer pronounced some of his words - the penny dropped - this was a teenage Levi Stubbs fronting the Four Tops in 1955 - before settling on the Four Tops name they were called the "Four Aims".  A (presumably) white recording engineer labeling the tape probably thought of the Ames Brothers who were big then.  The Tops did get one doo-wop single released on Chess about a year later ("Could It Be You").  "I Wish You Would" finally saw release years later on a Chess Vocal Groups anothology. (Excerpt from my forthcoming book about Chess Records: The A/P Years)

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Chalky
3 hours ago, Windlesoul said:

I'm just waiting on some signed stock coming into A Nickel and A Nail within the next few days.

Give us a shout when you get them Mark

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Mike

a book/track/group related article from Adam White, can be had here

https://www.adampwhite.com/westgrandblog/four-tops

'Reach Out' – Registered

also has the below possible stage musical info

Book notes: the story of “Reach Out I’ll Be There” will be reprised next month in Duke Fakir’s memoir, entitled – what else? – I’ll Be There, and written with Kathleen McGhee-Anderson. (Duke embarked on a similar effort with author Peter Knobler some years ago, but it didn’t come to pass.) The Tops’ mightiest hit will, of course, figure in the stage musical about their life and times, also dubbed I’ll Be There. This is expected later in the year, with a prospective Broadway run preceded by a debut in Detroit....

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Mike

The kindle version is now available

Which also means that those after a bit of low cost Sunday reading or wish to check before laying out  can now browse our built in kindle preview feature via the main article above

 

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