The Bobby Bones Show - Duke Fakir, The Last Remaining Member of The Four Tops. Motown Music History

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

On this episode of Takin' A Walk Buzz Knight talks to Duke Fakir, The last remaining member of The Four Tops. *****Thank you so much for listening to the TAKIN’ A WALK PODCAST SHOW hosted by Buzz Knight!   Listen to more honest conversations with a compelling mix of guests ranging from musicians, authors, and insiders with their own stories. Get inspired, get motivated, and gain insights from honest conversations every week that can help you with your own journey. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and be part of this blessed family. Website: https://takinawalk.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebuzzknight LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/buzzknight  Linkfire: https://lnk.to/takinawalk Please consider subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with your friends and family!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Taking a Walk. The first big engagement he got us was in Denver, Colorado, which still exists, the Woolhurst Country Club. And we started singing, and this big tall guy just got the screaming. I mean, out of pitch and all that. The proprietor came up to us and said, get out of here, get off my face. On this episode of Taking a Walk, join Buzz Knight as he talks with a living legend.

Duke Fakir is the last surviving member of the fourth. He and Kathleen McGee Anderson wrote the book, I'll be there, my life with the four tops. Join Buzz next with Duke Fakir. So let's go to the Take in a Walk virtual hotline. I want to ask, am I speaking with the living legend, heavenly voice, amazing soul named Duke Fakir? Well, this is Duke Fakir. Now, all those adjectives you give and all of that, you know, That may be part of me.

I'm not sure. I'll let you be the one besides. But yes, this is Duke's secure. And I'm very happy to be talking to you, buddy. I'm so grateful to be talking to you, Duke. The book is tremendous. You're the author of I'll Be There, My Life with the Four Tops. Yeah, you did read it.

That's good. Oh, man, the book just radiates. It's just radiates of joy, sir. it really does. Well, thank you. I can't wait to get it out as a musical so people can really understand who the four tops are,

were, and how it all came about and how joyful it was for us. And it still is for me, because the best part of my day is still on stage. So the books available at Amazon, and we're going to talk about bringing it to the stage a little bit later on. But do me a favor, Duke. Take me back.

You're three years old, right? And you're waiting for your pops to bring you one of those Coney Island hot dogs that are so notable from the Detroit, Michigan area. Tell me, can you remember how good that puppy tasted when he brought it home? Well, absolutely, yes, and I still eat them. That's how well I remember. I still love those Coney Islands. And I can remember more about when I was younger than I can what I did yesterday.

It's just amazing how sometimes the mind works. But that still, those hot dogs strung me out. I mean, I still eat them today. I look forward to eating them. And I'll go out and get them or have somebody get them for me. But I don't eat a lot of them at a time. I might eat one and then skip a day and I'll eat another one. But I still love them.

Absolutely love them. As I said, Duke, the book radiates of love and of gratitude. Those are some lessons that really shaped you, especially in your early days, from your folks, correct? Correct. that thankfully, I've always been surrounded by a lot of love. And it really helped me. I mean, that has always been me.

Whenever I'm in a situation or around people where there's not love radiating, I'm very uncomfortable. My family was a very lovable family. Then we went to the Fort Topps family, which was all about love, respect, and honor and and and and i i see it in the people's eyes day in and day out every every every show because i look at people very intensely and and i like their you know reactions and i can see a lot of love and a lot of respect and it's always to me everything seems to me to be about a family of love even my team that we're working on the musical uh

The young lady that helped me write the book. It's all about love. And I am, I don't mind saying it, you know, because, you know, love comes in so many different forms, you know, and I have to experience pretty much all the forms that there are. If love is the common denominator, oh, then it's such a joy. I'm just like that. I was born with it. You know, I think I was born.

on the fence, you know, between the mausoleum and a Christian. And both of those are really about peace and love. And I think I've really got a good part of both of those because I feel it. I'm very uncomfortable when I'm around things that does not radiate love. I'm just like that. And I understand it. And I'll just hurry up. I'll turn my back and walk away quickly.

You know, I don't have a run from anything, but I know how to get out. out. You know how to get out from growing up in Detroit. You have to learn how to escape different situations. I know how to, but most of the time in my, especially since I've been grown up, I've experienced. And, in fact, my wife and I, we are on our 49th year as soon as it hit next year, which is 24, just like was thinking with the top before, any one of us. passed away we did like 40 40 years together at least you know and I still kept it going even as the guys you know went home I just kept it going because it was a gift to us to do and I'm just very proud that I was a member or I am a member of the four tops which is a thing

about love they gave a lot of love in fact when we first got together it changed I I could tell right away it changed their perspective. Then they started looking and loving people in the joint. It was just a, it was so much love, so much understanding, and there was so much talent there. You know, when you're young and they have challenge, you know, you can really show it in different ways. And we were very fortunate in having a young man in his head.

he knew every note and every chord, and he just would pass it on to us. You know, he got your summation how he could hear. We could have me rehearsing with a 10-piece band, and if one of them hit a wrong one, say, hey, hey, hey, you, at first alpha, man, that was a B flat, not a B, you know, stuff like that.

That's amazing. That's a hell of a gift. You know, especially in entertainment. And it has passed on to his son who sings with us now. So it's amazing. It's been amazing because it's filled with all kind of wonderful stories and sidebars and things. But it's all grafted from, and I look at the world today, and I say, how, where, what happened to the love?

To me, there was so much more love when I was a kid, I mean, in the world, not just in my family, but, you know, even though there was segregation, there was still, it just, well, we knew it existed. And you just try not to do things to bring it and foot the balloon in your face. When music is in the air, the people don't think about color and nationality and all that. Music is his own world, and it sucks people in, especially if it's done really well, and it sounds good and feels good. People, they don't think about anything, but what that feeling is, and I've experienced watching. I've watched people who I thought would be racially compelled to do or be another way, but music would just smooth will soothe the heart. And, you know, and we'll just bring them into the fold. I remember on our first Motown tour, well, you know, it was, it was segregated.

We played in segregated audiences, you know, the blacks would have to sit up in the balcony and all the whites would be on the first floor. So after about two, two or three gigs, very goody sister who ran Esther Gordy, who, who ran those tour, everyone that was there. She said, look, we can't keep doing this. She said, so she just broke up the tour. And she said, let's go home. She said, this is not good, you know. And we went home. And after some conversation, I guess, with promoters and different people,

they created another tour, and it was just a loving tour. I mean, for the first time, you really saw people almost dancing together of different colors. The music just great. And it was just amazing, a wonderful, wonderful sight to see. Backstage, all of us, every part, every artist, and kind of keep an eye on what's going on, you know, just from being used to doing that from watching out,

because we didn't know, you know, what was going on sometimes with the audiences. But after that, it was just a joy to see how people just, they love the music. They didn't think about it, you know. They didn't care. You know, of course, there's always one or two somewhere that have their own way of thinking. But I'm talking about it. People were full of love, understanding, happiness, joy, and all that kind of stuff.

And you could feel it. And it would just make you sing more from your heart than just singing words and notes. You know, you would be singing a feeling. And you try to project it and give it out to them because they're giving you a great feeling with all their, dancing, singing with you, and it's just a joy. And it still is the best part of my day. You know, even now, I've told me in joy. I can't wait to get to work because it's not work.

It's joyful. It's just being in an arena of joy. Oh, Duke, I love that comment. An arena of joy. That's a beautiful way to put it. Now, there's a number of characters, Duke, in the book, who they kind of shaped the storyline. There's one I want to ask you about that was really important.

Maybe I'll ask you about a couple. Joanne Artist, first of all, talk about what she meant to you early on in your life. Joanne Artist was a schoolmate, but she belonged. She was like the hit of this club of black girls. They, just your hair was odd. and she and the girls, they were crazy about us, you know. And when she gave this party, that's how we got together. But she liked us individually anyway.

She was just that kind of girl. And we were, you know, we act classy, we weren't, but we act at that age because we like being around them. They were beautiful. They were understanding. They were smart. And so when she gave this party, and that's how we really got together. Me and Levi had been together for a while, thinking about singing and how we could get a group and what. And then we decided to get Mr. Benson because he had a nice baritone voice, and he could almost sing Tinner.

He had a very good range then. He's a smiling guy. He was very good with the girls. and Lawrence Peyton we knew his family was totally about music I would walk by down the street where he lived

we all lived in the same neighborhood and they would be sitting on the porch all parts of his family singing singing all kinds of singing lullaby singing church songs singing gospel singing love songs and to find out that

Lawrence Peyton is his family is a descendant from the Ellington, from Duke Ellington. So that music, somehow another, just runs through that family in their heads. They know music without having studied anything,

and they just hear it, and it's just amazing. Okay, Duke, now tell me about this gentleman. I think he was, if I'm not mistaken, he was known as the ex-con singer named Welton Barnett. Well, Welton Barnett, he was, I think you misunderstood that. Wellton Barnett was not the singer.

He was a guy that kind of, he was like a manager, you know, but he would ask us to sing. He would get gigs. Now, he would get gigs for us. And we would go to Toledo where he lived, and he would have us singing at one of these clubs. And then he's the one of the ones. that got us an engagement in Denver. And that was, this was before the four tops. This was basically just Levi and I,

and we would get whatever he put together. And it was a chore, really, because Levi was the great lead singer. But Wilson, E Barnett, he liked this tall guy that couldn't, to me, couldn't sing a fucking note. But he sang, but he sang so loud and so high. And then Levi would just, you know, and try to get with it.

The first big engagement he got us was in Denver, Colorado, which still exists, the Woolhurst Country Club. And we start singing, and this big tall guy just got the screaming. I mean, out of pitch and all that, the proprietor came up to us and said, get the fuck out of here. Get off. I heard this guy's singing. And, you know, he's in fact, he was an ex-con. But he had no business, you know, being in his show business at all. He looked like a convict, too.

He was one in his head. He still was, and his voice. You know, the look, I could actually visualize it from the book. I could see the look between you and Levi's stubs, actually kind of looking at each other, almost rolling your eyes when that guy was singing. Yep. It was just, you know, you could tell in our eyes that there was something going.

And people would watch us and me and leave, me and Levi and be eyeing each other. And almost we're almost cracking up because, you know, it's pretty hard. You know, just keep calm and be smiling and be pleasant for the audience. When your lead singer is sounding like shit, you know what I mean? That's just an expression. But anyway. But we lived through it, and right after that guy puts through us out of his place in Denver, Levi and I, we took a bus and got home, and it was very soon after that that we went to,

because Levi and I were in school together also, very soon after that, when Joan Otters, this lovely young girl gave up until about four years ago, because she worked in AAA, and I always came. have triple-in insurance because I always got a chance to see her and talk to her a little bit every now and then. So, you know, life has been a cruise for me. You know, there's been ups and downs, but the ups have been so far up that. I can't even think about the downs. If I do, it's in a jokingly way, you know, how we got through it and all of that.

Now, Duke, there's some venues that you talk about in the book. I'll mention a couple and get your reaction. One I'll mention is the Ebony Lounge in Cleveland, and the other was called Eddie's Lounge in Flint, Michigan. Paint a picture of what these places were like. Okay, back in the fifties, there were quite a few of these type of clubs. they are clubs that maybe sit from 600 down to 200 you know and they always had a little combo playing and people they would have artists that would just that they would book for one night or

two nights or for a weekend and they were in almost every city and they were mostly you know black gone clubs and they're black run clubs and it was pretty much, it was pretty much just a good hangout. And for them just to have a little extra entertainment on the weekend, which a lot of groups and artists were coming up at that time. And there was always in every city, there were those kind of clubs. Hard to paint that picture if you're not there. But it's just wonderful clubs, people just hanging out for the weekend.

And on the weekends usually or sometimes for a whole week, according to how the club was managed. We like to hang out. What I mean by we, I'm talking about all the black people I know. I've always enjoyed, they work hard during the weekend. And on the weekends, they want to get out and hang out with people and have fun. And listen to music, sing and dance. And I believe everybody in Detroit was saying. I always believe that.

somebody said, how many groups come out of Detroit? I said, I don't know. I said, but there could be as many groups as they want. But to me, everybody in Detroit can sing. They always have been around music, whether it's in church or whether it's somewhere. They've always been around music. And they just expect you to be able to sing. And they can sing this stuff, and they know singing.

They know when you're not hitting them notes, and they also know when you're hitting notes and making great harmony. And when you're singing from your heart or when you're singing, this is my home. I love Detroit. I love how it's come through its changes. I just can't wait until the day because it's getting near the end of my career. And I'm starting to think, what you're going to do when you retire? Now, a month or two ago, I was thinking about it.

I looked at my age, and I said, Duke, you've been doing this for damn it, 70 years. It's just seemed like you should not have to or want to do it anymore. I said, well, okay, I think I'll start. So I'm talking to myself. So I talked to my wife and I was talking about when I pass forward to retire. And it was just that we're talking about a few months ahead. And then that's just a couple of years ago. That's when the pandemic hit.

We stayed at home for so long. I said, you know what, this is retirement. And this thing shit. I just wait until I can't do it no more. So here I am. Now, not thinking about retirement. I'm thinking about moving forward. I still can dance a little.

I've lost quite a few steps because of my hip operations and things like that. This is what I do. And guess what? I was made for this. You know, one of your mentors in the book that you talk about is the great Billy Eckstein. And he said, and I'll quote, you've got to love the audience. And I think at its core, that's why you're going to keep doing this, because you just love your audience.

Isn't that true? That is this. I mean, the feeling I get, I'm anxious every show before it's time to go on. I'm anxious to get out there and perform. And I'd like to scan the audience and try to read their expressions. and it's always great expressions. You know, very seldom can I look out there and find a person with a frown on their face. It's just, and it's just wonderful.

You know, it's just, you know, to feel love and respect every night that you perform, that is a way of life itself. Living in that atmosphere, work, and I hate to call this work because it's not work to me. Work is getting on our bus and traveling to these gates. That, to me, is work. But once we, at the venue, it's all played for me. It's like a basketball player getting in the gym. You know, once I get in the other days,

I love watching people get the feeling. You know, it's just amazing, you know, that you can see how much they enjoy. And it's just, it's just getting. me and I think it still gets even the new house you know they've learned that this is what it's about it's about the people having as much fun as you or more and it's about transferring something to them so that they get it they ain't it ain't just about singing notes it ain't just about you know dressing well it's

about giving out a spirit of love in your music that they can see it and they respond when you do that. You know, we know when somebody is aching and then don't give their best, you know, and it hurts the whole group to me, you know, and we have long talks about it. I said, look, man, you cannot carry anything that's happened to you in the day or the night or what happened at home. You can't carry that on stage. The stage is for you to wipe it out and to feel what the audience have for you.

they're waiting to give you that love. And you can tell. And when you do it right, you get it right away. And then it's just a wonderful love affair. Everybody's going through life, my job is... Duke, there's been some moments of incredible, faithful moments, I would say, and fateful moments that come up in the book. There's one in particular I want to ask you about,

and that is the Lockerbie moment. It's kind of a moment of faith and fate. Can you talk about that experience, just how you knew before then, that there was like a higher power that was kind of working in your life? And you certainly knew there was a higher power after that? Oh, absolutely. We were in London, England, and we had two different shows, two different sets to do on two different days for this particular show,

which was their big rock show. I'll think of the name in a minute. The producer wanted us to do like it was scheduled. You do two songs today and tomorrow you can do two songs on our next set. So now this is close to, very close to Christmas. Very close. You know, we said, look, man, it would be nice. If we could just take one day, even if you wanted to change clothes,

with Gail come on for a minute and come back and do a couple more. You know, he said, no, he said, no, it's set up that you have to do the second night. I said, you know, and we tried every kind of conversation to him, and he just would not change. And I am, so we would, after, after we realized what really happened, we were so glad, I'm telling you, we all wanted to go kiss that guy, honestly, a hug him, or something that produced. Had he listened to us, we wouldn't be here. So, Duke, if I'm hearing the story correctly, you and the rest of the band members,

you were supposed to be on that plane that went down. Listen, we were trying to get on that plane. We tried everything possible. That really did good. It shows that we tried everything possible. You know, we had a road manager book us, We thought we could talk this guy into letting us do everything we had to do in one day, even if we had to change clothes, you know, just to change songs or whatever you want to done.

But they wouldn't listen. He said, no, it has to go just like it is. And he, to me, was the one that kept us from getting on their flight. And when I got home, I mean, people were waiting at the airport. But I was so, I'm still thinking of what could have. have happened. And I didn't really speak to the people, but I was so glad to see my wife. I just see me, come on, let's go home. I just want to get home. I mean, because that's frightened me for quite a while. And the rest of us, that we, we tried with all our hearts

to walk into a death plan. I mean, that is amazing that we were saved by this producer. because if it wasn't for him sticking to his plan, we would have been gone. And I guess the great director upstairs, he knows all that. He prepares it, you know. And there was this other moment, too, Duke, that was one of these incredible higher power sort of moments. It was that incident with your sister. You were fooling around with the gun. And talk about that time, Duke.

Well, my brother, my older brother, Pete, I loved him to death. And he served many years in the service. And we just moved into a nice, really from the deep ghetto to a nicer home. And he said, you know, there's gangs all over around town. He said, here. You take this Pete 38, say it'll blow somebody's head off if they mess with you. He said, don't use it unless you really have to. I was so excited about it.

I said, whoa, this is a bad gun, you know. My sisters and I, we would, my mother worked, you know, stepdad work. And so we did the housework. And we were downstairs in the basement washing during the family wash. And I showed my sister that, I said, look, look what autism gave me. She said, what, that's a gun, Duke? I said, yeah. She said, you know, you said, you're in another gang related neighborhoods.

you might need it. And I kept playing around with it. I said, see, let me show you how it works. And I thought I took it all the bullets out, but there was one in the chamber that I didn't know about. So I said, here, I was, and I pointed out of it, and it didn't go on. She said, don't point that gun at me. You know better than that.

I said, ain't nothing in it. And as I was talking to her, I pointed it to the roof and pulled the trucker, and bam, that bullet came. out that time. Now, you know, I stayed there, and I sat there almost cried. I say, Shah, that name was Shazim. I said, you know what? I was about to kill you and didn't know it. And I've really thought about that for years and years. And I thanked, I thank the Lord, something happened. That bullet, but I did not know what was there, did not come out when I clicked at her. That was frightening.

That was frightening. And guess what? I never carried a gun or used the gun after that. Never. Any kind of gun. We have two us down south on the bus. You know, the guys would bring their guns. You know, that's when the South was

crazy. We didn't know what she could be confronted with. But I never, after that, carried a gun. And I won't. So let's talk about bringing all of this to the stage. Where are you in that process? And just tell me how excited you are about it. I'm so excited about it because as a producer,

I will be reliving some of those beautiful moments. A lot of them. I'll be reliving them. And it'll be so authentic because I'm going to make it exactly how I felt and how things went. So the singers are going to have to be great singers. They're going to be great actors, and they're going to have to, you know, in theater,

they have to be very good dances as well. We were auditioning one guy to sing, he had the greatest voice, but he was six-foot-seven. We didn't need a guy that's tall to play a lead singer, that's all. And I had to leave him go. So it's going to be so much fun, reliving those moments, building those, building the blocks that will lead to some of the great moments that you felt that really make you feel good. Here's one moment I would talk to you about.

Mary and I was going together. In fact, I had moved in with her, my wife, and I had decided that she's definitely going to get a divorce, she says. And so I said, okay, boom, boom. So I felt comfortable and moving in with Mary, so forth and so on. But I think my wife must have, when she heard that I was going with a beautiful young lady, she might have thought of something. And that's when we started really making money. And when I was with my first wife, we weren't doing that well. So she sent the daughter over to the house.

Or she drove her daughter over to her house. She was about seven or eight. And she left me on the porch. She said, your daddy's in there. Just go and talk with him. He'll take care of you. It's going to be that way. And when she comes to the door,

I said, damn, that's my daughter. I said, come on in, Kai. I said, what are you doing here? She said, well, mom, just dropped me off, just told me to see you that you take care of me. I said, yeah, come on in. I said, oh, my God. So what are I going to do?

So I brought it into the kitchen where Mary was. Mary was preparing some stuff. We had, in the living room and in the guest room, we had half of Motown still, Smokey was there, the Vandela's were there, and the two Holland brothers were there, and Dozier. So, you know, the big, I can't remember if Marvin was there a lot. First of all, they were all excited about Mary and I,

because we had decided we were going to get married. So whenever we did something, they all would come around. So it was like a big party that we were starting. And so anyway, she, Kai was in there. talking with Mary and Mary's talking with her. And I'm trying to check out what the hell can I, how can I work this out? And then it really hit me.

You can work this out, buddy. He said, take your ass back home. After a while, I said, how can I tell Mary's? So anyway, I said, and then Levi kind of hang on. I said, Levi, if I'm not he's sure around the house and this and that? He said, yeah, okay. I said, Mary and I need to talk. He said, yes, y'all do.

Mary and I start talking, how can we work? She was getting really upset. And I was upset because I didn't know what to do. I said, Mary, I said, this is, this is happening. And I don't really know what you do. And I said, and basically she really wants me to come home. She said, but do Mary would say, well, Duke, but you promise. And we made plans and all of that.

I said, this is different now. Mary. And it took me a while, but Mary been such a sweetheart. She had a big heart. She had a great mind. She was a beautiful, sweet person. And she knew what I was up against. She said, well, she said, we had some beautiful plans. She said, do. I know what you have to do. I said, you'll say you do what you have to do. She said, I understand it. This was after about an hour of talking and talking about the situation that she was conceived. that, yeah, you need to go home. You got a family back there.

And evidently, they want you now. I said, well, at least my daughter does. I know that's sure. I said, Mary, I'm going to have to go. I said, please don't hate me for this. I always want to be your friend. And no telling what can happen in the future. She says, Duke, one thing, I love you.

And I'll never forget you. And I will always have my arms open. you, wherever you make the decision. Well, that kind of released me enough to say, well, I'm going to take my daughter home. I don't know how my ex-wife is going to treat, treat us or treat me. I said, but I also got a little son back there. I say, just this is telling me I've got to go home. I've got to be too to my family.

So I went home, you know, of course I locked on the door. wife, she had changed her ways from being, she didn't care what I did. She was happy to see me and all of that and happened to see me with Kai. And so I took Kai into like the living room. And this song was written for this particular scene. It's called I'll never ever leave again. And I put her on my knee and start singing. this song. And this song was really, it was an instrumental by Earl Klug on the guitar.

Lawrence just picked that song and wrote some words that were just perfectly for this particular thing. So I put it on my knee and start singing this song. I'll never ever leave again. It's going to be a hot, a very heart show moment on stage, you know. So I'm just giving you idea of how real it will be. That was a hard-telt moment, but there's so many happy moments. There's so many moments of all kind of feelings that will be in this musical. And I'm going to try to make it as authentic as possible. You know, when you put the right words with the scene and the right music with the

scene, you get the feeling that was there, that actually happened. And that song was just perfect for that. And he, you know, it had nothing to do with my daughter or me when he wrote the song. Doing musical, I started putting these moments together with... That's awesome. That's so tremendous. I want to close with this, Duke. So I remember reading in the book, the moment that you know with Levi's passing

and you know how alone that you felt and how sad. I think music plays this really important role in lives. You talked about it. We have this other podcast that we produce that's called Music Save Me. It's about the healing power of music and how music provides a saving grace, almost therapeutic. And obviously, you know the importance of what faith means with music. But talk about, if you will, how important music is to you. whether it be the uplifting moments or the moments like you know when Levi passed when you felt so alone.

Right. Well, you know, it happened when every one of them passed one by one. Lawrence was the first one to pass, and we was at his household in his hand. He was pretty close to dying. I said, Lawrence. I said, look, and I prayed. I said, Lord. let me change his spot.

You know, I just don't want him. We don't want him to go. It's not time for him. He's still too young. And we did that with each other as each one passed. And after Lawrence passed, well, you know, every now and then, when I sing certain songs, we sing certain songs that would remind me of him. And that's why it was just great to have his son able to.

the same. That's right away. We didn't put him in there right away. Levi, that was two, something for Levi. He said, no, Duke, I know he can't sing, but I can't. So we didn't put anybody in that spot.

We did three, but we met one of my musicians sang the fourth note, you know, while he played the piano. But we couldn't for a year. It was just three of us. When Lawrence first passed, that's the way it went. We just could not, you know, we just could not have anybody in that spot. And we all felt that.

That's what I loved about them, because it was truly, we were truly, truly loving each other, all kind of thing. So when the first one, Lawrence left, it left us with a big hole. We never, we never expected that, you know. You seem like at our age we could, that we would be around forever. And we knew that we were talented enough to do that. Not cocky, but we were confident that we could be around as long as the Mills brothers or something like that. So, but that was a, that was a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, and time when the first one passed. and then when

Ovi got sick a few years later and he passed it was just this might be it I don't know if I can continue with this man you know two of my buddies are gone

and Levi was starting to get really sick but he stayed at as long as he could but he stopped he stopped my heart just shattered you know he's

I said, well, get somebody, Duke. You've got a good ear. Get somebody that can... I said, Levi. Can't nobody replace. Or your heart. I said, but I... She said, keep the group together, Duke. She said, the name has a good future.

You know, and he was on this deathbed then, talking to me like that. Thank you, Duke, for taking the time to talk about the book. I'll be there, my life with the Four Tops. you can get it on Amazon. It's a great read. Thank you for sharing your insights, your experience, and your journey

as it continues to inspire us all and to get us through and put a smile on our face. The music lives on, that's for sure. But I could tell you, I had a smile through this entire interview just talking to you. I'm tickled. I'm honored.

I'm so grateful for all the lessons that you teach as well. Well, thank you for having me. Believe it or not, it's always a joy to me to remember those moments, you know. And we've had so many of them. So I can get lost in conversations when we start talking about, you can say, the greatest love I've ever had. It's easy to talk about them, you know, now. And I can remember some of those moments more than I can remember what I'd remember.

did yesterday. You know, it's just weird how the moments of heart and love and understanding they stay there. They're never going away. Anyway, thanks for having me. It's a joy, and I hope the people enjoy talking to me. I just want them to know how much they've given us. They've given me a full life of love, happiness, joy, and everything else. I love each and every one. Thank you. You're the best, and Tim Sabian, my good friend and yours told me to say hi to you as well. But thank you, Duke, so much for being on the podcast and take care of yourself.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taken a Walk podcast. If you like this and other episodes, please share it with a friend. You can find Taking a Walk on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future.

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