Podcast with The Four Tops’ ABDUL ‘DUKE’ FAKIR
Podcast with The Four Tops’ ABDUL ‘DUKE’ FAKIR from SHOWBIZ CHICAGO on Vimeo.
Music legend Duke Fakir, founding member of The Four Tops, discusses his amazing career with one of the world’s most popular vocal groups of all time. From not being able to afford their first outfits to being threatened by gun point because he was standing in the wrong place in 1960’s Atlanta, Duke gives an in depth chronicle of the group’s rise to success and the legacy the new members carry with them. MARY WILSON’S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR FEATURING THE FOUR TOPS plays the Harris Theatre December 23-January 5, 2014. For tickets visit marywilsonandthefourtops.com
The Holiday Season gets a taste of the Motown Sound as “Mary Wilson’s Holiday Spectacular Featuring Special Guests The Four Tops” blows into the Windy City December 23, 2013 – January 5, 2014 at the Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph St.) Presented by Reach Out Entertainment and Starvox Entertainment and Marketing, audiences will be taken on a journey through some of the greatest Motown hits as well as Holiday classics by Mary Wilson, one of the original Supremes and the legendary Four Tops, celebrating 60 years of performing in 2013. Pre-sale tickets ($59.99 – $119.99) go on sale Tuesday, October 22 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com with an American Express Card. General Public tickets go on sale Sunday, October 27 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com,HarrisTheaterChicago.org, by calling 312.334.2419 or at the Harris Theater Box Office. For more information visit marywilsonandthefourtops.com.
“It is a dream to celebrate the Holiday season in Chicago,” said performer Mary Wilson. “To perform with my good friends The Four Tops while singing the great songs that introduced us to world combined with some of my favorite Holiday tunes, is the perfect way to usher in the New Year and celebrate the spirit of the season.”
“Mary Wilson’s Holiday Spectacular” stars the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and Vocal Group Hall of Fame recipient Mary Wilson who will treat audiences to rousing renditions of some of the signature songs that catapulted the Supremes to become the most successful “girl group” in history. Favorites include “Stop In The Name of Love,” “I Hear a Symphony,” “Come See About Me,” “Can’t Hurry Love,” “Back In Your Arms Again,” Someday We’ll Be Together” and many more. Abdul “Duke” Fakir, leading The Four Tops will also bring the music of Motown to life with “Baby I Need Your Lovin’,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” “Bernadette” and “Ain’t No Woman Like the One I Got” and “In The Still of the Night.” Wilson and The Four Tops will then join together on stage, putting the Motown sound into everyone’s favorite holiday classics including “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “Winter Wonderland,” “My Favorite Things” and a special rendition of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” sung by Wilson and Fakir. These living legends bring their soul and passion to the stage, embracing the warmth of the season and welcoming in a new year with memorable songs that are sure to have audiences singing along and embracing the spirit and the sounds of holiday.
“We are so thrilled to bring together some of Motown’s living legends and present them to Chicago audiences during the holiday season, said Starvox President Corey Ross.” Both Mary Wilson and the Four Tops have continued to delight audiences for decades and to see them join together on one stage and showcase their incredible talent will be a holiday treat for all.”
Performance Schedule and Ticket Information
“Mary Wilson’s Holiday Spectacular Featuring Special Guests The Four Tops:”
Monday, December 23, 2013 – Sunday, January 5, 2014
December 23, 25 – 29, 31 and January 2 – 4 at 8:00 p.m.
December 28 and January 4 – 5 at 3:00 p.m.
December 31 at 10 p.m. (Special New Year’s Eve performance, details TBD)
*no performances December 24 and December 30
Tickets ($59.99 – $119.99) are available online at Ticketmaster.com, by calling
312.334.7777 or in-person at the Harris Theater Box Office (205 E. Randolph St.). Discounted Group Ticket reservations are available for groups of 10 or more at Grouptix.net or by calling 773-327-3778.
About Mary Wilson
One of the founding members of the most successful girl groups in history,Mary Wilson, still performs with the same passion as she did at the height of The Supremes and Motown’s popularity. Having begun her career singing as a teenager in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass Projects she befriended another songstress by the name of Florence Ballard. Joining together with Diana Ross and Betty McGlown, the “Primettes” quickly became a threesome and changed their name to The Supremes when they signed with Berry Gordy of Motown Records in 1961.
From 1961 to 1963, the Supremes recorded many songs and released eight singles but it was not until1963 when the song “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes,” written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, peaked at number 23 on the Billboard pop chart. The next year, the Supremes released the single “Where Did Our Love Go,” which reached number one on the U.S. pop charts in August 1964 and number three in the United Kingdom. After that hit, the Supremes released four more number one hits, including: “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop In the Name of Love,” and “Back in My Arms Again,” making them the only group to have five consecutive number one hits. The Supremes were one of the first pop groups of the 1960’s to do commercial endorsements and also made one of the first TV Special appearances by any Pop stars. Ballard’s departure from the group in 1967 and Ross’s in 1970 left Wilson as the only original member of the Supremes. She continued performing with the “New” Supremes until 1977 when she embarked on her own solo career and toured Europe and Asia while raising three new babies. She has gone on to record two solo albums, including her self-titled debut in 1979 with the single “Red Hot,” and her 1990 release “Walk the Line.” She is currently recording another album due for release in 2013 while helping to raise four of her eight grandchildren.
Wilson is also a best-selling author, motivational speaker, businesswoman, former U.S. Cultural Ambassador, the recipient of an Associate Degree from New York University in 2001, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. In 2007, Wilson was named international spokeswoman for the Humpty Dumpty Institute, a platform she uses to condemn the death and destruction caused by hidden landmines and unexploded ordnances in less developed countries.
About The Four Tops
Celebrating 60 years of performing in 2013, The Four Tops have been captivating audiences with their infectious blend of pure vocal power and sweet harmonies since 1954. High School friends from Detroit’s North End, Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obi” Benson, Abdul “Duke” Fakir and Lawrence Payton starting playing parties as the Four Aims, later changing their name to the Four Tops. After a brief stint with Chess Records in the late 50’s and Columbia Records in the early 60’s, the group was introduced to Berry Gordy, who signed them to his new label, Motown Records. At Motown, the group was teamed with the songwriting powerhouse of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Hit after hit followed, starting in 1964 with “Baby I Need Your Loving”, and continuing with songs like, “Reach Out”, “I’ll Be There”, “Standing In the Shadows of Love”, “Bernadette”, and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” In 1972, after Motown moved to Los Angles, the Four Tops signed with ABC/Dunhill Records. The group’s hits kept on with “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)” and “Keeper of the Castle.” In the early 80’s, the Four Tops signed with Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records. Two albums on the label produced the hits, “When She Was My Girl”, “Tonight I’m Gonna Love You All Over”, and “I Believe In You and Me”. To this day, they have raised money all over the globe with their charity work, never forgetting where they came from. The music legends were inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and have managed to stay together longer than any other singing group in history. As members change the group continued to regal audiences with some of the most loved songs ever sung.
About Reach Out Entertainment (ROE)
Reach Out Entertainment is a New York based entertainment and production company that specializes in LIVE performances, concert tours and musical theatre. ROE is a partner in the “Smokey Robinson presents The Motown Show” starring Human Nature at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and is developing two more projects for the Las Vegas and North American markets. ROE takes great pride in joining with Starvox Entertainment in presenting “Mary Wilson’s Holiday Spectacular With Special Guests The Four Tops.”
About Starvox Entertainment and Marketing
Based in Toronto, Canada, Starvox produces, manages, and promotes concerts, theatrical productions, and large scale spectacles on an international basis. The company has worked with Annie Lennox, Destiny’s Child, Andrea Bocelli, Ellen Degeneres, Diana Krall and spearheaded productions of “CATS,” “Potted Potter,” and “Evil Dead.” This dynamic group of professionals has several new projects on the horizon and is proud to be promoting with Reach Out Entertainment for “Mary Wilson’s Holiday Spectacular With Special Guests The Four Tops.”