Is it possible for a group like the Four Tops to be underrated?

On its face, that question seems ridiculous. The Detroit vocal quartet had two dozen Top 40 hits in America between 1964 and 1988; they're in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the R&B Group Hall of Fame, they have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; Rolling Stone and Billboard both named them one of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Those are laurels fine enough to rest on.

But is it possible that the group sometimes gets lost in the shuffle amid the galactic, tectonic talent signed to the Motown label in its earliest years? Perhaps. The Miracles (and talented frontman/songwriter Smokey Robinson) gave the company its first No. 1 hit; The Supremes (and breakout star Diana Ross) held their own on the charts against the British Invasion; Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder stood out as singular talents beyond just their voices; and The Temptations - another Motown vocal group extraordinaire - were the ones with a successful Broadway musical. Yet the Tops endured in a way that few others did: though they weren't Motown artists for their entire tenure, the members stood together until the '90s. And only this year did their final founding member take a step back from the stage: Abdul "Duke" Fakir, who died Monday from heart failure at the age of 88.

Duke's passing is a blow for all Motown lovers - a painful reminder that so many of the original legends that forged The Sound of Young America are either gone (Gaye, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Lamont Dozier of the Holland-Dozier-Holland writing team) or enjoying their twilight years (founder Berry Gordy, Ross, Robinson, Martha Reeves). Fakir was unique among his peers, however, never leaving the Motor City and thus serving as a crucial link to its musical heritage. Fans remember him for his smart personal style and rich trove of memories he was quick to share with those who'd listen.

Listening back to the Four Tops today, it might be a fool's errand to rate them among their peers - but it's worth taking a closer listen to even their best-known songs. Yes, the late, great Levi Stubbs typically took lead vocals, singing well above his natural baritone range in a distinct, pleading delivery. Sure, the songs were written chiefly by the genius Holland-Dozier-Holland partnership, played by the scintillating Funk Brothers and sumptuously arranged by Paul Riser, who added delicate strings, mallets and woodwinds into the proceedings. But it was Fakir, along with Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, to chiefly hold the fort down behind Stubbs, offering the necessary dramatic counterpoints in a well-placed "ooh-ooh-ooh-ooooh" ("I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)") or "reach out" ("Reach Out I'll Be There"), to say nothing of "Bernadette," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Baby I Need Your Loving" and countless others.

And the members' friendship - forged in youthful high school days in Detroit, playing football games and singing recreationally - helped the Tops endure even when the tides at Motown ebbed. Opting to stay close to their home base when the label made its big move to Hollywood in 1972, the group stayed together through feast and famine, enjoying comebacks during their tenures on ABC/Dunhill ("Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)"), Casablanca ("When She Was My Girl") and even Arista ("Indestructible"). By the time that last track became a hit for the 1988 album of the same name, everyone wanted to collaborate with them, from Narada Michael Walden to Phil Collins and Huey Lewis & The News (plus cameos by fellow Detroit legends Smokey Robinson and even the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin).

Fakir's business savvy kept the rights to the Four Tops name in good hands, and even as the group evolved with new members (including Payton's son Lawrence Jr., Ronnie McNeir and latter-day Temptation Theo Peoples), they were still a strong draw with concertgoers old and new. Motown's catalogue department would do well by them, too, issuing the box set Fourever in 2001, two entries in the Motown Lost & Found series (1999's Breaking Through (1963-1964) and 2005's double-disc Lost Without You (1963-1970) and a 3CD box of all their single sides in 2013. (Real Gone Music also licensed a collection of the Tops' ABC/Dunhill singles in 2018.)

The men and women may not live forever, but the music will. Indeed, it's the same old song, but with a different meaning now that Duke Fakir and all his brothers in song are gone. Whether that's "underrated" to you or not ultimately doesn't matter - that beautiful music will always be there for us. Just look over your shoulder.