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The Moonglows were an American R&B^[1] and doo-wop group based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Career[link]

Early years[link]

Originally formed in their native Louisville, Kentucky as the Crazy Sounds, the group moved to Cleveland, where disc jockey Alan Freed renamed them 'the Moonglows' (after his own nickname, 'Moondog'). Freed helped to promote the group during their early years and, in a common practice of the day, often took a co-writer credit as compensation for his efforts. Lead singer Harvey Fuqua served as the group's leader and chief writer. Vocals were split between Bobby "Lester" Dallas and Fuqua, and sometimes, in the group's occasional duet leads, both. The other members were tenor Alexander "Pete" Graves and bass Prentiss Barnes, with Billy Johnson on guitar. The Moonglows recorded one single for Freed's Champagne label in late 1952, and then for Chicago's Chance Records in 1953 and 1954. After a moderately successful release of the Lester led version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" on Chance, the Moonglows signed to Chess Records in mid 1954.

R&B stardom[link]

Their first Chess release, 1954's "Sincerely" became a number one R&B hit, and was covered more successfully by The McGuire Sisters.^[2] Between 1955 and 1957, the Moonglows reached the R&B chart frequently with hits like "Most of All", "In My Diary", "When I'm With You", "See Saw", "We Go Together", and "Please Send Me Someone to Love." Different styles defined the Moonglows lead singers: Fuqua favored the uptempo R&B/rock numbers while Lester sung more of the romantic ballads, for which the group was better known, and occasionally the two would share the leads, duet-style. Although Lester and Fuqua are credited as forming a spinoff group called the Moonlighters, recording in 1955 for the Chess subsidiary label Checker, they paired on only two numbers released as by the Moonlighters, "So All Alone" and "New Gal." The b-sides of these two songs, respectively "Shoo-Do-Be-Doo" and "Hug And A Kiss" featured the full group. The flip side of "Starlite" called "In Love" also featured a Lester-Fuqua duet. In 1957, the Moonglows appeared in the Alan Freed film, Rock, Rock, Rock. In late 1957, the group recorded "Ten Commandments of Love", featuring Fuqua on lead and guitarist Johnson executing the spoken recitation. This became the group's second biggest hit, after "Sincerely", early in 1958. It was also the first record to be billed on the label as "Harvey & the Moonglows".

The Moonglows singing style is known as "blow" harmony, based on the technical method used by the backing vocalists. This style can be heard in many other groups of the era and beyond, perhaps most notably the Chi-Lites (particularly on their hit "Oh Girl").

Fall-out and the new Moonglows[link]

In 1958, shortly after the Moonglows recorded their final hit, "Ten Commandments of Love", Fuqua re-asserted himself as the group's lead singer, putting Lester further in the background and causing friction among group members. The biggest blow came when Fuqua spotted a young vocal group, the Marquees from Washington, D.C., and took the quartet of Reese Palmer, Chester Simmons, James Knowland and nineteen-year-old lead singer Marvin Gaye under his wing. The group had recently recorded (unsuccessfully) on Okeh Records after being discovered by Bo Diddley when Fuqua found them. Recording with fifth member Chuck Barksdale, who had been (and would again become) the bass singer of the Dells, Fuqua hired them as his new Moonglows. This group recorded songs such as "Twelve Months of the Year" (featuring a speaking part by Gaye), "Beatnik" and "Mama Loocie", which (as the first recorded lead by Gaye), was released in 1959. The forming of the "New Moonglows" ended the affiliation of the original Moonglows. In 1959 and 1960, Fuqua also recorded several duets for Chess with Etta James. In July 1959, a group called 'The Ecuadors' "who, according to Fuqua, really were the Moonglows (which included Gaye and James)"^[3][4] reportedly recorded at Chess singing backgrounds for Chuck Berry. The other four Moonglows recruited bass John Bowie to fill their commitments, and then disbanded.

After the Moonglows and splinter groups[link]

In 1960, Fuqua, on the advice of the Chess Brothers, moved to Detroit, Michigan, disbanded the Moonglows, and started working with Berry Gordy's sister, Gwen Gordy. At the time, she was running Anna Records, and he became a record producer and A&R man for the fledgling label. It was during this time that Fuqua discovered Lamont Dozier, Johnny Bristol, The Spinners, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Shorty Long, and David Ruffin. Later, Gordy and Fuqua married, and later merged their operation with Motown Records. Fuqua would later be credited for bringing Marvin Gaye to the label, which signed Gaye in 1960.

Pete Graves started another Moonglows group in 1964 with the Drifters' Doc Green and George Thorpe and Bearle Easton, which recorded briefly for the Lana, Times Square and Crimson record labels, before disbanding. Lester, who had returned to Louisville and opened a nightclub, formed yet another Moonglows in 1970, with a Louisville-based group called the Aristocrats, including his cousin Gary Rodgers, Albert Workman, Robert Ford and Clyde McPhatter's son Billy. In 1972, the three original Moonglows who had remained active, Graves, Lester, and Fuqua, joined with new members Doc Williams and Chuck Lewis, and recorded Return of the Moonglows for RCA Records. The group released an updated version of "Sincerely", which became the group's final chart record. Soon after, the group parted ways, with Lester re-forming his Louisville Moonglows. Barnes retired from professional performing after an auto accident in 1969.

Activity in later years and members' deaths[link]

Lester was the first of the original members to die, succumbing to cancer in 1980 at the age of 49. Billy McPhatter was not in the group in 1979, but joined the current members for a performance at Madison Square Garden (originally intended to include Lester), and remained in the group afterwards. Gary Rodgers took over management of the group, and they began calling themselves 'Bobby Lester's Moonglows' (sometimes also referred to as 'Gary Rodgers' Moonglows'). Fuqua reunited with most of his 1972 Moonglows for a 1983 Grammy Award performance, and later toured as 'Harvey and the Moonglows' until 1986. By the 1980s, the McPhatter group included Rodgers, Robert Lee Davis, Pete Lawford, and Bruce Martin. In the early 1990s, McPhatter was replaced by Bobby's son, Bobby Lester, Jr.^[5] In 1999, Fuqua and members of 'Bobby Lester's Moonglows' reunited to perform on the PBS special, Doo Wop 50. By this time, the Moonglows were Rodgers, Martin, Lawford, and Gene Kelly.

Fuqua still sang occasionally and produced and managed gospel acts. Gaye died in 1984. Palmer became a member of the Orioles, while Barksdale returned to the Dells and has remained with them. Original guitarist Johnson died in Los Angeles in 1987, Rodgers died in 2005, and Barnes died in 2006.^[6] Fuqua died Tuesday, July 6, 2010 in Detroit MI.

The Moonglows were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Members[link]

Original members[link]

• Harvey Fuqua: lead vocals, background vocals (1951–1958)
• Bobby Lester: lead vocals, background vocals (1951–1958)
• Alexander "Pete" Graves: background vocals (1951–1958)
• Prentiss Barnes: background vocals (1951–1958)
• Billy Johnson: background vocals (1951–1958)
• William Westbrooks: background vocals (1951–1952)

Other members[link]

Harvey Fuqua and the New Moonglows

• Marvin Gaye: lead vocals, background vocals (1958–1960)
• Reese Palmer: lead vocals, background vocals (1958–1960)
• Chester Simmons: background vocals (1958–1960)
• James Knowland: background vocals (1958–1960)
• Chuck Barksdale: background vocals (1958–1960)
• John Bowen (Barksdale's replacement) (1960–1960)
  • Fuqua also served as a background singer but acted more as the group's manager.

Pete Graves' Moonglows

• Doc Green: vocals (1964–1968)
• Pete Graves: vocals (1964–1968)
• George Thorpe: vocals (1964–1968)
• Bearle Easton: vocals (1964–1968)

Bobby Lester's Moonglows

• Bobby Lester: vocals (1970–1972, 1979–1980)
• Gary Rodgers: vocals (1970–1972, 1979–2005)
• Albert Workman: vocals (1970–1972)
• Billy McPhatter: vocals (1970–1972, 1980s)
• Robert Ford: vocals (1970–1972, 1980s)
• Pete Crawford (1980s–2000s)
• Bruce Martin (1980s–2000s)
• Gene Kelly (1990s–2000s)

The revived Moonglows

• Harvey Fuqua (1972)
• Bobby Lester (1972)
• Pete Graves (1972)
• Doc Williams (1972)
• Chuck Lewis (1972)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vocal Group Hall of Fame page on The Moonglows
• The Moonglows
• Rockabilly.NL page on The Moonglows
• The Moonglows at Allmusic
• Prentiss Barnes page

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Harvey Fuqua (July 27, 1929 – July 6, 2010) was an African-American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive.

Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s. He is noted for later having been one of the key figures in the development of the Motown label in Detroit, Michigan: his group gave Marvin Gaye's musical career a start, and Fuqua and his wife at the time, Gwen Gordy, distributed the very first Motown hit single, Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", on their record label, Anna Records. Fuqua later sold Anna Records to Gwen's brother Berry Gordy, and became a songwriter and executive at Motown. He is also the uncle of filmmaker Antoine Fuqua.

Biography[link]

Fuqua was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of The Ink Spots. In 1951, with Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes, he formed a vocal group, the Crazy Sounds, in Louisville, later moving with other members of the group to Cleveland, Ohio. There, they were taken under the wing of disc jockey Alan Freed, who renamed them "The Moonglows" after his own nickname, 'Moondog'. The Moonglows' first releases were for Freed's Champagne label in 1953. They then recorded for the Chance label in Chicago, before signing for Chess Records in 1954. Their single "Sincerely" reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and # 20 on the Hot 100, in late 1954.^[1]

Recording on Chess Records, Fuqua initially shared lead vocals with Lester, but eventually asserted himself as the leader of the group. This changed in 1957 when he, in effect, sacked the other members and installed a new group, previously known as the Marquees, which included Marvin Gaye. The new group, billed as Harvey and the Moonglows, had immediate further success with "Ten Commandments of Love" (#22 on the Billboard Hot 100), but Fuqua left in 1958. The Moonglows reunited temporarily in 1972, and in 2000 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

While on the Chess label, Fuqua also appeared on record in duets with Etta James, having hits with "If I Can't Have You" (#6 R&B, #52 pop, 1960) and "Spoonful" (#12 R&B, #78 pop, 1961).^[2]

Fuqua left the Moonglows when Leonard Chess suggested that he join Anna Records in Detroit. At Anna Records, Fuqua began working with Anna Gordy, Billy Davis, Lamont Dozier and Johnny Bristol. He also introduced Marvin Gaye to Anna's brother, Berry Gordy, and married their sister Gwen Gordy. In 1961, he started his own labels, Tri-Phi Records and Harvey Records, whose acts included the Spinners, Junior Walker and Shorty Long. However, tiring of running a small independent label, Fuqua welcomed the opportunity to work at Motown, and was hired to head the label's Artist Development department and meanwhile worked as a producer for the company. Fuqua brought the Spinners and Johnny Bristol to Motown, and co-produced several hits with Bristol. He was also responsible for bringing Tammi Terrell to the label, and for suggesting and producing her duets with Marvin Gaye, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love". In 1962, with the Five Quails, Fuqua had a minor hit with "Been a Long Time."

Around 1971, Fuqua left Motown and signed a production deal with RCA Records, having success particularly with the band New Birth. He also discovered disco pioneer Sylvester, and "Two Tons O' Fun" (aka The Weather Girls), producing Sylvester's hit singles "Dance (Disco Heat)" and "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" in 1978 as well as his album Stars in 1979. He also served as Smokey Robinson's road manager. In 1982 he reunited with Marvin Gaye to produce the singer's Midnight Love album which included the single "Sexual Healing". In 2000 he set up his own "Resurging Artist Records", and also acted as a trustee of The Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Fuqua resided in Las Vegas, Nevada until his death from a heart attack in a hospital in Detroit on July 6, 2010.^[3]

Discography[link]

1962: "Any Way You Wanta" b/w "She Loves Me So" (Tri-Phi 1017)

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Charitable work[link]

In March 1995, Harvey Fuqua, along with his wife Dr. Carolyne, incorporated The Foundation for the S.T.A.R.S., a nonprofit organization that reaches out to address some of the difficulties that plague underprivileged youth in the inner-cities of America, with the belief that every dream should at least have the opportunity to be realized.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Fuqua's Foundation for the S.T.A.R.S. Website
• Beaudaddy's Memorial Website Dedicated to Harvey

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye (he added the 'e' as a young man), was an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range,^[2] who achieved major success in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist for the Motown Records label. He was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984.

Starting his career as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late 1950s, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960, signing with Motown Records subsidiary, Tamla. He started off as a session drummer, but later ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the 1960s. He was crowned "The Prince of Motown"^[3] and "The Prince of Soul".^[4] because of solo hits such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell.

His work in the early- and mid-1970s included the albums, What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and I Want You, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early 1980s, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-Award winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye at number 6 on its list of the Greatest Singers of All Time,^[5] and ranked at number 18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,^[6] and he ranked number 20 on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[7] Gaye was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.^[8]

Biography[link]

Early life (1939–1957)[link]

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.^[1] was born on April 2, 1939 at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.. His father, Marvin Gay, Sr., was a storefront minister at the House of God (the House of God headquarters is located in Marvin's father's hometown of Lexington, Kentucky), a Hebrew Pentecostal sect which advocated strict conduct and taught and believed in both the Old and New Testament. His mother, Alberta Gay (née Cooper), was a domestic and schoolteacher. As a child, Gaye was raised in the Benning Terrace projects in southeast D.C.^[9]

By the time Marvin was four, his father was bringing Gaye with him to sing for church congregations. It would be during these trips that he would meet future friends and contemporaries including Bobby Womack and Aretha Franklin. Gaye's early home life was marked by domestic violence as his father would use any excuse to beat him. As a result of his father's temperament, Gaye and his three siblings were bed-wetters as children.^[10] Gaye described his father a "tyrannical and powerful king" and even told a biographer he would've ended up a "child suicide statistic" had it not been for his mother's love.^[10] By age fourteen, Gaye's parents moved to the Deanwood neighborhood of northeast D.C. The following year, Gaye's father quit the ministry after he was denied a position as the Chief Apostle (head overseer) of the House of God Inc. Unlike his mother, Marvin's father never could keep a job. Overtime, he developed alcoholism which increased the difficulty in Marvin's home. As a child, Marvin was forbidden to listen to secular music and was also forbidden to participate in sports and other secular activities deemed "sinful" by his father.

As a child, Marvin learned how to play piano by ear. He later learned to play drums before reaching his teens. In middle school, Marvin discovered doo-wop and developed an addiction to the musical style that would later influence much of his own career. By the time he entered D.C.'s Cardozo High School, Marvin became a fan of artists such as Little Willie John, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles as well as pop singers Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine and Nat "King" Cole. To escape his father's punishment, Marvin and his brother Frankie would leave the house without suspicion and attend dances where some of the performers they admired would show up to perform. Influenced heavily by doo-wop groups such as The Moonglows and The Capris, Gaye began joining several doo-wop groups in the D.C. area including the Dippers with his best friend, Johnny Stewart, brother of R&B singer Billy Stewart. He then joined the D.C. Tones, whose members included Reese Palmer, who was another close friend, and Sondra Lattisaw, mother of R&B singer Stacy Lattisaw.^[10] Gaye's relationship with his father led him to run away from home and join the United States Air Force in the hope of becoming an aviator. However, discovering his growing hatred for authority, he began defying orders and skipped practices. Faking mental illness, he was discharged.^[10] His sergeant stated that Gaye refused to follow orders.^[11] Upon returning to his hometown, he and former D.C. Tones member Reese Palmer formed a singing group they named the Marquees.

Early career (1958–1962)[link]

In 1958, the Marquees were discovered singing at a D.C. club by Bo Diddley, who signed them to Okeh Records, where they recorded "Wyatt Earp," with "Hey Little Schoolgirl" as its B-side. It received moderate success, but not the success Gaye and his band mates had hoped for. Later that year Harvey Fuqua, founder and co-lead singer of the landmark doo-wop group The Moonglows, recruited them, after the breakup of the original members, to be "The New Moonglows" which moved the formerly-named Marquees from Okeh to Chess Records. While there, the "new Moonglows" recorded background vocals for Chess recording stars Chuck Berry and Etta James. After "The Twelve Months of the Year", which featured a spoken monologue by Gaye, became a regional hit, the group issued "Mama Loochie", which was the first time Gaye sang lead on a record. The record was issued in late 1959 and became a hit in Detroit. Following a concert performance there, Gaye and other band members were arrested for small possession of marijuana. Afterwards, Fuqua decided to disband the group, keeping Gaye with him, as he favored him over the other members. In 1960, Harvey Fuqua had met Gwen Gordy and the couple embarked on both a personal and professional relationship. That year, the couple formed two record labels, the self-named Harvey Records, and Tri-Phi Records. Gaye was signed to the former label, whose other members included a young David Ruffin and Junior Walker. He provided drums for The Spinners' first hit, "That's What Girls Are Made For", which was released on Tri-Phi. Stories on how Gaye eventually met Berry Gordy and how he signed to Motown Records vary. One early story stated that Gordy discovered Gaye singing at a local bar in Detroit and that Gordy offered to sign Gaye on the spot. Gaye's recollection, and a story Gordy later reiterated, was that Gaye invited himself to Motown's annual Christmas party inside the label's Hitsville USA studios and played on the piano, singing "Mr. Sandman". Gordy saw Gaye from afar and, noting that Gaye was connected with Fuqua, began to make arrangements to absorb Fuqua's labels and bring all of the label's acts to Motown. Gordy said he immediately wanted to bring Gaye to Motown after seeing him perform, impressed by his vocals and piano playing. While working out negotiations, Fuqua would sell a 50 percent interest in Gaye to Gordy, as Gaye would find out later.^[12] After Gordy absorbed Anna and Harvey in March 1961, Gaye was assigned to Motown's Tamla division.

Gaye and Motown immediately clashed over material. While Motown was yet a musical force, Gaye set on singing standards and jazz rather than the usual rhythm and blues that fellow label mates were recording. Struggling to come to terms with what to do with his career, Gaye worked mainly behind the scenes, becoming a janitor, and also settled for session work playing drums on several recordings, which continued for several years. One of Gaye's first professional gigs for Motown was as a road drummer for The Miracles. Gaye developed a close friendship with the label's lead singer Smokey Robinson and they'd later work together. Though already a seasoned veteran of the road and almost exempt from Gordy's Artist Development, which began operating in 1961, Gaye was still required to attend schooling, which he refused. He eventually took advice from grooming director Maxine Powell to keep his eyes open while performing because "it looks like you're sleeping when you're performing".^[10] Gaye would later regret skipping the school saying he could've benefited more from it.^[10] Before releasing his first single in May 1961, he altered his last name to "Gaye", later stating that he added the "e" because "it sounded more professional" and to emulate what Sam Cooke had done before releasing his first secular record following his split from the Soul Stirrers. A famous story about the name change came from author David Ritz, Gaye's confidant in later years, who said Gaye had said that he wanted to "quiet the gossip" of his last name and to distance himself from his father.^[13]

In May 1961, Tamla released Gaye's first single, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide". The single flopped as a national release but was a regional hit in the Midwest, as was a follow-up single, the cover of "Mr. Sandman" (titled as just "Sandman" in Gaye's release in early 1962). In June 1961, Motown issued Gaye's first album, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye compromising Gaye's jazz interests with a couple of R&B songs. The album tanked and no hit single came of it. A third regional hit, "Soldier's Plea", an answer to The Supremes' "Your Heart Belongs to Me", was the next release in the spring of 1962. Gaye had more success behind the scenes than in front. Gaye applied drumming on several Motown records for artists such as the Miracles, Mary Wells, The Contours and The Marvelettes. Gaye was also a drummer for early recordings by The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas and Little Stevie Wonder. Gaye drummed on the Marvelettes hits, "Please Mr. Postman", "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789" (a song he co-wrote). Later on, Gaye would be noted as the drummer in both the studio and live recordings of Wonder's "Fingertips" and as one of two drummers behind Martha and the Vandellas' landmark hit, "Dancing in the Street", another composition by Gaye, originally intended for Kim Weston. Gaye said he continued to play drums for Motown acts even after gaining fame on his own merit. For Gaye's fourth single, the singer was inspired to write lyrics to a song after an argument with his wife, Anna Gordy Gaye (née Anna Gordy). While working out the song, Gaye mentioned he had his first "major" power struggle with Motown head Berry Gordy over its composition. Gordy insisted on a chord change though Gaye was comfortable with how he wrote it, eventually Gaye changed the chord and the song was issued as "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in September 1962. The song became a hit on the Hot Rhythm and Blues Sides chart reaching number 8 and eventually peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1963. A parent album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow, was released in December 1962, the same month that Gaye's fifth single, "Hitch Hike", was released. That song reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing Gaye his first top 40 single. His early success confirmed his arrival as a hit maker, and he landed on his first major tour as a performer on Motown's Motortown Revue.

Early success (1963–66)[link]

Gaye's career following his performances with the Motortown Revue assured him success. Gaye's next single, "Pride & Joy", became a major hit in the spring of 1963, reaching number-ten on the Billboard Hot 100, selling nearly one million copies. Later that year, Gaye repeated the success with the top 30 hit, "Can I Get a Witness", which found some leverage in the United Kingdom upon its release on Motown's UK label Stateside Records. Many of Gaye's early hits would later be heavily covered by acts such as The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and The Who, performers who admired Gaye and American R&B music in general. Gaye's hits also was a big influence on the UK's mod scene with several mod groups including the future Elton John's Bluesology and Rod Stewart's Steampacket covering Gaye's hits there. Gaye's early hits were also a big influence on American producers, including Phil Spector, who nearly had a car accident while pulling over upon hearing "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" for the first time.

Gaye's hits continued throughout 1964. Several top 20 pop hits from this period included "You Are a Wonderful One", "Try It Baby" and "Baby Don't You Do It" kept Gaye's momentum building. Gaye made his first public TV performance on American Bandstand in 1964 and later became a fixture on the show and on other programs such as Shindig! and Hullaballoo. His popularity further increased after Motown released his first duet project, an album with Mary Wells entitled Together. The duo had two hit singles, "Once Upon a Time" and "What's the Matter with You Baby". In late 1964, Gaye also appeared in the concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, where he performed his hits to an enthusiastic audience (with backing vocals by The Blossoms). Gaye reached the top 10 in early 1965 with "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which sold close to a million copies. Gaye eventually scored his first immediate million-sellers in 1965 with the Smokey Robinson compositions, "Ain't That Peculiar" and "I'll Be Doggone". These songs and other singles released during the 1965–66 period would be the result of Gaye's next release, Moods of Marvin Gaye.

Gaye struggled with his success. While deemed a "smooth song-and-dance ladies' man", he still aspired to perform more jazz work in his catalog. Because of his success, Motown allowed him to work on such recordings including When I'm Alone I Cry, Hello Broadway and a Nat King Cole tribute album, A Tribute to the Great Nat "King" Cole. All three albums flopped. Gaye tried performing the songs onstage but soon stopped once he discovered that the crowds weren't too appreciative of the material. One proposed standards project, which took over two years to record, was shelved due to session problems. Gaye's performances at the Copacabana in 1966 also led to conflict between Gaye and Gordy as Motown had recorded the album for purposes of releasing it in early 1967. However due to a struggle, Motown eventually shelved it until it was later released three decades later. In early 1967, Gaye scored his first international hit with the duet, "It Takes Two", with Kim Weston, who coincidentally had already left the label when it became a hit. Only one televised performance of the song showed Gaye singing the song to a puppet. That year, Motown hooked Gaye up with veteran Philadelphia-based singer Tammi Terrell, who had an early stint with James Brown. Gaye would later say of Terrell that she was his "perfect partner" musically.

[edit] Tammi Terrell and I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1967–69)

Terrell and Gaye's first major hit was the Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson composition, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". The duo quickly followed up with the top five hit ballad, "Your Precious Love". Despite rumors of a romantic relationship – Gaye was married to Anna Gordy and Terrell was dating Temptations lead vocalist David Ruffin – both singers denied such a relationship with Gaye saying later that they had a brother-and-sister relationship, a statement reiterated by Ashford & Simpson. Other hit singles the duo scored within an eighteen-month period included "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". Other hits such as "You Ain't Livin' till You're Lovin'" and "The Onion Song" found success in Europe. The duo's recording of "If This World Were Mine", the b-side of "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You", found modest success on the charts, the first sole Gaye composition to do so. The song later found major R&B success when Luther Vandross covered it with Cheryl Lynn over a decade later.

The duo was also a success together onstage, Terrell's easy-going nature with the audience contrasting from Gaye's laid-back approach. However, that success was short-lived. On October 14, 1967, while performing at Virginia's Hampden-Sydney College, Terrell collapsed in Marvin's arms. She had been complaining of headaches in the weeks leading up to the concert, but had insisted she was all right. However, after she was rushed to Southside Community Hospital, doctors found that Terrell had a malignant brain tumor.^[14]

The diagnosis ended her performing career, though she still occasionally recorded, often with guidance and assistance. Terrell ceased recordings in 1969 and Motown struggled with recording of a planned third Gaye and Terrell album. Gaye initially had refused to go along with it saying that he felt Motown was taking unnecessary advantage of Terrell's illness. Gaye only reluctantly agreed because Motown assured him recordings would go to insure Terrell's health as she continued to have operations to remove the tumor, all of which were unsuccessful. In September 1969, the third Gaye and Terrell duet album, Easy was released, with many of the songs said to have been subbed by Valerie Simpson, while solo songs recorded years earlier by Terrell, had overdubbed vocals by Gaye.

	"I Heard It through the Grapevine" noicon "I Heard It through the Grapevine" was recorded by Gaye in April 1967, several months before Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded it. The song features an horror-based Wurlitzer piano solo, percussion and horns. Gaye's recording of it paved the way for what later became "psychedelic soul".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Terrell's illness put Gaye in a depression; at one point he attempted suicide but was stopped by Berry Gordy's father.^{[citation needed]} He refused to acknowledge the success of his song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", released in 1967 by Gladys Knight & The Pips (his version was recorded before, but released after theirs), his first number-one hit and the biggest selling single in Motown history to that point, with four million copies sold.^{[citation needed]} His work with producer Norman Whitfield, who produced "Grapevine", resulted in similar success with the singles "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is". Meanwhile, Gaye's marriage was crumbling and he was bored with his music. Wanting creative control, he sought to produce singles for Motown session band The Originals, whose Gaye-produced hits, "Baby, I'm for Real" and "The Bells", brought success.

[edit] What's Going On (1970–72)

Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor on March 16, 1970. Gaye was so emotional at her funeral that he talked to her lying in state as if she was going to respond. Gaye insisted, following Terrell's death, that he would no longer record duets with any other female performer, nor was he ever going to perform on stage again since Terrell's collapse and subsequent death had spooked him. He already had apprehensions about performing, suffering bouts of stage fright throughout his performing career. Prior to Terrell's death, he had withdrawn from a scheduled performance citing an illness and was later sued for failure to appear. After Terrell's death he stopped doing any more live gigs and never really recovered completely from her death. He had an inspiration, dating back to 1968, to try out for the Detroit Lions football team.^[15] After he gained friendships with two of the Lions' players, Mel Farr and Lem Barney they encouraged him to get in shape and tryout, although the team ultimately wouldn't let him because they feared injuring one of the city's greatest singers.^[16] After helping to collaborate what became "What's Going On", he returned to Hitsville on June 1, 1970 to record the song, which was inspired by Gaye's brother's accounts of his experience in the Vietnam War and co-writer Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops' disgust of police brutality after seeing anti-war protesters attacked in San Francisco.

Despite releases of several anti-war songs by The Temptations and Edwin Starr, Motown CEO Berry Gordy prevented Gaye from releasing the song, fearing a backlash against the singer's image as a sex symbol and openly telling him and others that the song "was the worst record I ever heard". Gaye, however, refused to record anything that was Motown's or Gordy's version of him. He later said that recording the song and its parent album "led to semi-violent disagreements between Berry and myself, politically speaking." Eventually the song was released with little promotion on January 17, 1971. The song soon shot up the charts topping the R&B chart for five weeks.^[17][18] Eventually selling more than two million copies, an album was requested, and Gaye again defied Gordy by producing an album featuring lengthy singles that talked of other issues such as poverty, taxes, drug abuse and pollution. Released on May 21, 1971, the What's Going On album instantly became a million-seller crossing him over to young white rock audiences while also maintaining his strong R&B fan base. Because of its lyrical content and its mixture of funk, jazz, classical and Latin soul arrangements which departed from the then renowned "Motown Sound", it became one of Motown's first autonomous works, without help of Motown's staff producers. Based upon its themes and a segue flow into each of the songs sans the title track, the concept album became the new template for soul music.

Other hit singles that came out of the album included "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", making Gaye the first male solo artist to have three top ten singles off one album on the Billboard Hot 100. All three singles sold over a million copies and were all number-one on the R&B chart. International recognition of the album was slow to come at first though eventually the album would be revered overseas as a "landmark pop record". It has been called "the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices".^[19] The success of the title track influenced Stevie Wonder to release an album with similar themes, Where I'm Coming From, in April that year. Following the release of the album and its subsequent success, Wonder rejected a renewing offer with Motown unless he was allowed creative control on his recordings, which was granted a year later. Gaye's independent success not only related to Motown recording artists, other R&B artists of the era also began to rebel against labels to produce their own conceptual albums. The Jackson 5, one of Motown's final acts to benefit from the label's "glory years" (1959–72), tried unsuccessfully to get creative control for their own recordings and as a result left in 1975 for CBS Records.

Gaye's success was nationally recognized: Billboard magazine awarded him the Trendsetter of the Year award, while he won several NAACP Image Awards including Favorite Male Singer. Rolling Stone named it Album of the Year, and was nominated for a couple of Grammy Awards though inexplicably wasn't nominated for Album of the Year. In 1972, Gaye reluctantly stepped out of his stage retirement to perform selected concerts, including one at his hometown of Washington, D.C. performing at the famed Kennedy Center, a recording of the performance was issued on a deluxe edition re-release of the What's Going On album. Also in 1972, Gaye performed for Jesse Jackson's PUSH organization and also for a Chicago-based benefit concert titled Save the Children aimed at removing the plight of urban violence in Chicago's inner city. The latter performance was issued as part of a concert film released in early 1973, also titled Save the Children. Following its success, Gaye signed a new contract with Motown Records for a then record-setting $1 million, then the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist.^[10] With creative control, Gaye attempted to produce several albums throughout 1972 and early 1973 including an instrumental album, a jazz album, another conceptually-produced album of social affairs (the canceled You're the Man project) and an album with Willie Hutch co-producing. In late 1972, Gaye produced the score for the Trouble Man film and later produced the soundtrack of the same name. The title track was the only full vocal work of the album and was released as a single in the fall of 1972 eventually reaching number seven on the pop chart in the spring of 1973.

[edit] Let's Get It On and continued success in music (1973–77)

	"Let's Get It On" noicon "Let's Get It On" was written by Gaye and producer Ed Townsend, originally as a gospel song, and later as a protest song before eventually turning into a funk-oriented love anthem. It became Gaye's second number-one hit in 1973.
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In late 1972, Gaye left Detroit and moved to Los Angeles but relocated to an area where he was far away from Motown, purchasing a house at the so-called "bohemian hippie" enclave of Topanga Canyon, which was a hotbed for musicians looking to get away from the trappings of the music industry and Hollywood itself. He continued to record music at Los Angeles' Motown studios (Hitsville West) and on March 18, 1973, recorded "Let's Get It On", reputedly inspired by Gaye's new-found independence, after separating from Anna Gordy the previous year. The single was released as a single in June of the year and became Gaye's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also was a modest success internationally reaching number 31 in the United Kingdom. With the success of its recording, Gaye decided to switch completely from the social topics that were on What's Going On to songs with sensual appeal.

Released in August 1973, Let's Get It On consisted of material Gaye had initially recorded during the sessions of What's Going On. It was hailed as "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy."^[20] Other singles from the album included "Come Get to This", which recalled Gaye's early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the then-controversial "You Sure Love to Ball" reached modest success but was kept from being promoted by Motown due to its sexually explicit nature. With the success of What's Going On and Let's Get It On, Motown demanded a tour. Gaye only reluctantly agreed when demand from fans reached a fever pitch. After a delay, Gaye made his official return to touring on January 4, 1974 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. The recording of the performance, held by several music executives as "an event", was later issued as the live album, Marvin Gaye Live!. Due to Gaye's growing popularity with his increasing crossover audience and the reaction of the performance of "Distant Lover", which Motown later released as a single in late 1974, the album sold over a million copies. Gaye's subsequent 10-city tour, which took off that August, was sold out and demand for more dates continued into 1975 while Gaye had struggled with subsequent recordings. A renewed contract with Motown in 1975 gave Gaye his own custom-made recording studio.

To keep up with demand and hype, Motown released Gaye's final duet project, Diana & Marvin, an album with Diana Ross, which helped to increase Gaye's audience overseas with the duo's recording of "You Are Everything" reaching number-five in the UK, number-thirteen on the Dutch chart, and number 20 in Ireland, while the album itself sold over a million copies overseas with major success in the UK. The recording of Diana & Marvin had started in late 1971 and overdubbed sessions took place in 1972 but was shelved from a release until late 1973 following the release of Let's Get It On. Gaye toured throughout 1975 without new releases and collaborated in the studio producing songs for the likes of The Miracles (now without Smokey Robinson) and Yvonne Fair, helping to produce her version of Norman Whitfield's "Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On", featured on Fair's The Bitch is Black, while also assisting her in the background with his vocals. Later in 1975, Gaye shaved his head bald in protest to Rubin Carter's prison sentence. Gaye initially insisted he would remain bald until Carter's release though Gaye's hair and beard returned within a few months.

In 1976, Gaye released his first solo album in three years with I Want You. The title track became a number-one R&B hit, also reaching the top 20 of the national pop chart. The first of his albums to embrace the then popular disco sound of the time, Motown released a double-A 12' of "I Want You" alongside another smooth dancer, "After the Dance". The songs found success as a unit on the Billboard Hot Disco chart, reaching number-ten. By itself "After the Dance", which wasn't intended as a second single, eventually reached number fourteen on the R&B chart with minor pop traction, eventually reaching number 74. That year, Gaye faced several lawsuits with former musicians and also faced prison time for falling behind on alimony payments ordered by law following his first wife Anna Gordy filing legal separation after a 15-year marriage. Gaye avoided imprisonment after agreeing to do a tour of Europe, his first tour of such in little over a decade. His first stop was at London's Royal Albert Hall and then at the city's London Palladium, where a recording was later released in early 1977 as Live at the London Palladium. Gaye performed in France, Holland, Switzerland and Italy to packed audiences and then returned for several US tour dates though he often suffered from exhaustion from some of the US dates. Between 1975 and 1976, Gaye was recognized by major corporations including the United Nations for charitable work dedicated to children and to affairs related to black culture.

In the spring of 1977, Gaye released "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1", which gave him his third number-one US pop hit, the final one Gaye released in his lifetime. The song also topped the R&B and dance singles chart and also found some international success reaching the top ten in England. Released as the only studio track from the Palladium album, its success kept Palladium on the charts for a year eventually selling over two million copies. It was recognized by Billboard as one of the top-ten selling albums of all time that year.

[edit] Here, My Dear and his final days at Motown (1978–81)

In March 1977, his long, drawn-out court battle with former wife Anna Gordy ended. As a compromise to settle matters between the ex-couple over issues of alimony payments for their adopted son, Gaye's attorney until his death, Curtis Shaw, advised Gaye to remit a portion of the revenue that he was to get for his next studio album. Gaye entered the recording studio intending to produce a "lazy" album, but ended up with the sprawling double-album set, Here, My Dear, which was held up from release for over a year. Finally released after Motown's demand for new product in late 1978, the album was initially a flop, tanking after only a couple months on the charts. Its only single, "A Funky Space Reincarnation", peaked at number 23 on the R&B chart, in early 1979, becoming Gaye's first single since "Soldier's Plea" 17 years earlier to not hit the Billboard Hot 100.

Gaye became a figure on talk show circuits for most of 1979, mostly appearing on Dinah Shore's Dinah & Friends. He also toured in 1979, first in the United States, then in England and in Japan, the latter being the first time (and, as it turned out, the only time) he ever toured that country. As the year continued, Gaye found himself in trouble financially, and at home with second wife, Janis Hunter. The couple split up in 1979, nearly eighteen months after marrying, and by that fall, following a performance in Hawaii, Gaye decided to remain in the state, fearing he might be imprisoned for failing to pay the IRS millions in back taxes; in court, his attorney claimed that several items within the singer's luggage, including tax returns, were stolen from him while at an airport. Meanwhile, Gaye, now heavily in the throes of drug addiction, struggled to record. Reports stated that while in Hawaii, Gaye lived inside a bread truck. He initially had planned to release a standards album titled The Ballads but discarded it, fearing fans would be disappointed by no recognizable hits on it. The singer then intended to release an album of love songs aimed for the disco audience titled Love Man, but within a year, however, Gaye thought of expressing his feelings about a possible Armageddon, as well as his battles of the heart. Gaye changed the titles of all the songs, rewrote lyrics, and retitled the album, In Our Lifetime, recording the album tracks while living in London in the middle of his exile.

A 1980 European tour followed, after Gaye made a deal with British promoter Jeffrey Kruger, who had looked after Gaye's 1976–77 European tour and his Japanese engagement in 1979. Almost immediately, controversy arose, after Gaye failed to make the stage for Princess Margaret at the Royal Gala Charity Show. While Kruger recalls that Gaye showed up just as audiences were leaving, Gaye's musicians recalled that Gaye performed to the few that stayed for the performance though Princess Margaret had already left. Though Princess Margaret denied it, the international press printed the news as an "embarrassing snub", claiming that Gaye had deliberately arrived late. This led to a lawsuit between Gaye and Kruger that eventually settled out of court. While still in London, Gaye ran into problems when recordings of In Our Lifetime? were sent to Motown's offices back in Los Angeles, initially as rough mixes, to get Motown's response rather than intending to release it. However, desperate to release Marvin Gaye product, the label rushed the album out on January 15, 1981. Gaye was upset at the news, and accused the label of editing and remixing the album without his consent, putting out an unfinished song ("Far Cry"), altering the album art he requested, and removing the question mark from the title, muting its irony. Gaye vowed to never record another record for Motown. That summer, negotiations began to be made to release Gaye from the label. After several offers landed, Gaye accepted a deal for CBS Records, a deal that was finalized in March 1982.

Comeback and sudden death (1982–84)[link]

	"Sexual Healing" noicon "Sexual Healing" was written by Gaye alongside Odell Brown and David Ritz. Ritz said Gaye advised him to write a poem after telling the singer he needed "sexual healing" while living in Europe. The song became an international hit after its release in 1982.
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On the advice of Belgian concert promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye moved to Ostend, Belgium, in February 1981 where for a time he cut down on drugs and began to get back in shape both physically and emotionally. While in Belgium, Gaye began to make plans to renew his declining fortunes in his professional career, starting with a tour he titled "The Heavy Love Affair Tour" in England where he was greeted more warmly by the same London press that had criticized him of the Princess Margaret snub the previous year. The tour ended with two concert dates in Ostend. A documentary leading up to his Belgian concert performances titled Transit Ostend was initially released to just Belgian fans, and was later issued on VHS in bootleg copies following Gaye's death.

After signing with CBS' Columbia Records division in 1982, Gaye worked on what became the Midnight Love album. Gaye reconnected with Harvey Fuqua while recording the album and Fuqua served as a production adviser on the album, which was released in October 1982. The parent single, "Sexual Healing", was released to receptive audiences globally, reaching number-one in Canada, New Zealand and the US R&B singles chart, while becoming a top ten US pop hit and hitting the top ten in three other selected countries including the UK. The single became the fastest-selling and fastest-rising single in five years on the R&B chart staying at number-one for a record-setting ten weeks. Gaye wrote "Sexual Healing" while in Ostend. Curtis Shaw later said that Gaye's Ostend period was "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin." The now-famous video of "Sexual Healing" was shot at the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend.^[21] "Sexual Healing" won Gaye his first two Grammy Awards including Best Male Vocal Performance, in February 1983, and also won Gaye an American Music Award for Favorite Soul Single. It was called by People magazine "America's hottest musical turn-on since Olivia Newton John demanded we get "Physical".

“

I don't make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don't today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time.

”

NME – December 1982^[22]

The following year, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again for the Midnight Love album. In February 1983, Gaye performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California, accompanied by Gordon Banks who played the studio tape from stands.^[23] In March 1983, he gave his final television performance for Motown 25, reciting the history of black music and performed "What's Going On". He then embarked on a US tour in April to support his album. The tour, ending in August 1983, was plagued by Gaye's re-emerging cocaine addiction, increased cocaine-triggered paranoia and a bout with depression.

When the tour ended, he attempted to isolate himself by moving into his parents' house in Los Angeles. As documented in the PBS "American Masters" 2008 exposé, several witnesses claimed Marvin's mental and physical condition spiraled out of control. Groupies and drug dealers would show up every day, which according to his brother Frankie's wife Irene Gaye, "hounded" him. Some close to Marvin said he threatened to commit suicide several times. After his father returned from D.C. in October 1983, their arguments grew more contentious. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him when Gaye intervened in an argument between his parents over misplaced business documents. Coincidentally, the gun had been given to his father by Marvin four months previously. Doctors discovered Marvin's father had a brain tumor but he was deemed fit for trial. Charges for first-degree murder dropped when doctors revealed that Marvin's father had suffered bruises from his final fight with his son and was sentenced to five years of probation after accepting a plea bargain pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Marvin died a day before turning 45.^[24] Spending his final years in a retirement home, Marvin's father died of pneumonia in October 1998.

In 1987, Marvin was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also honored by Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. In 2005, the former D.C. native was inducted to the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.^[25] In 2007, two of Gaye's most important recordings, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "What's Going On", were voted Legendary Michigan Songs. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", his hit duet with Tammi Terrell, was also voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2011.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Gaye married twice. His first marriage was to Berry Gordy Jr.'s sister, Anna Gordy, who was 17 years his senior. Marvin and Anna were married on January 8, 1964 when Gaye was 24 and Gordy was 42. The marriage imploded after Marvin began courting Janis Hunter, the daughter of Slim Gaillard, in 1973. Anna filed for divorce in 1975; the divorce was finalized in March 1977. Gaye's erotic and disco-tinged studio album I Want You was based on his relationship with Hunter. In his book Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons of Marvin Gaye, author and music writer Michael Eric Dyson elaborated on the relationship between I Want You and the relationship Gaye had with Hunter, which influenced his music:

"I Want You" is unmistakably a work of romantic and erotic tribute to the woman he deeply loved and would marry shortly, Janis Hunter (Janis Gaye). Gaye's obsession with the woman in her late teens is nearly palpable in the sensual textures that are the album's aural and lyrical signature. Their relationship was relentlessly passionate and emotionally rough-hewn; they played up each other's strengths, and played off each other's weaknesses.^[27]

In October 1976, he married Janis, who was 17 years old when they met. However, the marriage dissolved within a year. After attempts at reconciliation, Janis filed for divorce in 1979. The divorce was finalized in February 1981. During this time, Marvin began dating a model from the Netherlands named Eugenie Vis.^[28] In 1982 Gaye became involved with Lady Edith Foxwell, former wife of the British movie director Ivan Foxwell, and spent time with her at Sherston, her Wiltshire estate. Foxwell ran the fashionable Embassy Club and was referred to in the media as "the queen of London cafe society." The story of their affair was told by Stan Hey in the April 2004 issue of GQ. The report quoted writer/composer Bernard J. Taylor as saying he was told by Foxwell that she and Gaye had discussed marriage.

Marvin Gaye was killed by his father on April 1, 1984, during an argument.^[29]

Gaye had three children. Marvin Pentz Gaye III (born 1965), by Denise Gordy, the niece of his first wife Anna Gordy. Marvin III was also adopted by his first wife Anna. The singer disclosed this in David Ritz's biography on Gaye, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, saying he was afraid of being criticized for not producing a child. Later, Gaye had two children with Janis Hunter, Nona Marvisa, nicknamed "Pie" by her dad (born September 4, 1974) and Frankie "Bubby" Christian Gaye (born November 16, 1975). Gaye introduced his daughter to a national audience during a show in 1975. Nona would do the same eight years later when her father was given a tribute by Soul Train. Nona has gone on to find success as a singer and actress. Gaye's eldest son was a music producer. Frankie is said to have taken work as an artist. Gaye also has two grandchildren: Marvin Pentz Gaye IV (born 1995), born on the anniversary of his grandfather's death;^[30] and Nolan Pentz Gaye (born 1997).

Musicianship[link]

Marvin Gaye's musical style changed in various ways throughout his 26-year career. Upon his early recordings as member of The Marquees and Harvey & the New Moonglows in the late 1950s, Marvin recorded in a doo-wop vocal style. After signing his first solo recording contract with Motown, Marvin persuaded Motown executives to allow him to record an adult album of standards and jazz covers. His first album, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, conveyed those genres including several doo-wop and blues songs.

The Motown Sound and psychedelic soul[link]

Starting with his first charted hit, 1962's "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" through 1967's "Your Unchanging Love", Marvin's music featured a blend of black rhythm and blues and white pop music that came to be later identified as the "Motown Sound". Marvin's 1962–64 hits reflected a dance-pop/rock and roll approach while his 1965–69 recordings reflected a pop-soul style. Backed by Motown's in-house band The Funk Brothers, pre-1970 Marvin Gaye recordings were built around songs with simple, direct lyrics supported by an R&B rhythm section with orchestral strings and horns added for pop appeal. Marvin's early hits were conceived by Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Mickey Stevenson and Holland–Dozier–Holland.

Marvin's sound started to change slightly in 1967 after he began working with producers Norman Whitfield, Ashford & Simpson and Frank Wilson. Whereas Marvin's early sound reflected a youthful exterior, later songs during that period including "You", "Chained", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is" were all recorded under the psychedelic soul sound of the late sixties and early seventies. "Psychedelic soul" mixed guitar-driven rock with soul-based grooves. Marvin's vocal style also changed during that period where he began singing in a gospel texture that had been only hinted at in previous recordings.

Social commentary and conceptual albums[link]

In 1971, Marvin issued his landmark album, What's Going On. The album and its tracks were responsible in the changing landscape of rhythm and blues music as the album presented a full view of social ills in America, including war, police brutality, racism, drug addiction, environmentalism, and urban decay. Beforehand, recordings of social unrest had been recorded by the likes of (Curtis Mayfield &) The Impressions, The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown, but this was the first album fully devoted to those issues. The album was produced under what is called a song cycle and because of its theme of "what's going on" was considered one of the first concept albums to be released in soul music. Marvin's 1972 soundtrack Trouble Man, based on the blaxploitation film of the same name, mainly featured instrumentals with a few vocal runs, including songs with social commentary. Marvin's 1972 recordings outside that album – including "Where Are We Going", "Piece of Clay", "You're the Man" and "The World Is Rated X" – also raised social issues and was personal in nature. The songs were to be included in the unreleased 1972 album, You're the Man, which was canceled after the modest reception of the title single. Marvin issued his next "concept album" with 1973's Let's Get It On, based on the spiritual and erotic side of love and sex. Marvin released a similarly themed funk album in 1976, I Want You, before switching to personal issues with the albums Here, My Dear (1978) and In Our Lifetime (1981). The former album focused on Marvin's problems in his first marriage, while the latter focused on his own life struggles. Marvin's albums between 1971 and 1981 reflected a period where, as an Allmusic writer said, his music "not only redefined soul music as a creative force but also expanded its impact as an agent for social change".^[31]

From funk to disco to contemporary R&B[link]

Starting in the early-seventies, Marvin's sound began to reflect the emerging sounds of funk and the later disco movement of the late 1970s. Marvin's double-sided 1976 single, "I Want You/After the Dance" and his 1977 hit, "Got to Give It Up" were his only successful attempts at recording disco-styled dance music whereas the 1978 single "A Funky Space Reincarnation", 1979's "Ego Tripping Out" and the 1981 singles "Praise" and "Heavy Love Affair" aimed at the funk-based urban audience. By itself, "I Want You", mixed funk with disco, soul and lite rock elements. With the release of 1982's triple-platinum Midnight Love and the massive platinum selling smash hit, "Sexual Healing", Marvin mixed the styles of funk and post disco with Caribbean and European-flavored pop music creating a mix that influenced the modern R&B sound. "Sexual Healing" was the biggest R&B hit of the 1980s – No.1 for 10 consecutive weeks. Some of Marvin's posthumous releases have been varied in nature: 1985's Dream of a Lifetime was produced mostly in an electro funk sound mostly in the first half of the album, while his posthumous "featuring" on rapper Erick Sermon's 2001 hit, "Music" brought him to a younger hip-hop audience.

Legacy and influence[link]

According to several historians, Marvin Gaye's career "spanned the entire history of rhythm and blues from fifties doo-wop to eighties contemporary soul."^[32] Critics stated that Gaye's music "signified the development of black music from raw rhythm and blues, through sophisticated soul to the political awareness of the 1970s and increased concentration on personal and sexual politics thereafter."^[33] Marvin's usage of multi-tracked vocalizing, recording songs of social, political and sexual issues, and producing albums of autobiographical nature have influenced a generation of recording artists of various genres. As an artist who broke away from the controlled atmosphere of Motown Records in the 1970s, he influenced the careers of label mates such as Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers and, later in Epic Records, Michael Jackson to gain creative control and produce/co-produce their own albums. The careers of later R&B stars such as Rick James, Prince, R. Kelly, D'Angelo, Raheem DeVaughn, Maxwell, Janet Jackson, George Michael, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Bobby V, Trey Songz and J. Holiday also were influenced by the music of Marvin Gaye. Marvin's erotically concept albums such as Let's Get It On and I Want You inspired similar albums released by Smokey Robinson, Barry White and his co-producer on I Want You, Leon Ware. Modern-day artists such as Teena Marie and Mary J. Blige have also referenced Marvin in their own songs. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him No.18 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".^[34]

Tributes and covers[link]

In 1983, Spandau Ballet recorded the single "True" as a tribute to Marvin and the Motown sound he helped established. That same year, electro-funk group R. J.'s Latest Arrival mentioned him with their dance hit, "Shackles on My Feet". DeBarge's 1983 hit, "All This Love" was musically influenced by Marvin's sound and was rumored that they had wanted Marvin to record the song himself. However, Marvin had left the label before they could approach him.

On April 2, 1984, the day after Marvin's death, Duran Duran dedicated their live performance of "Save a Prayer" while on their Sing Blue Silver tour and appearing on their Arena album to him. Tribute songs to the singer included Diana Ross' "Missing You" and The Commodores' "Nightshift" became hits with each song reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart. Other artists who have either paid tribute to Marvin in a song or referenced him have included close friend and former Motown label-mate Edwin Starr, who released "Marvin" the month after his death, Teena Marie's "My Dear Mr. Gaye", Todd Rundgren's "Lost Horizon", the Violent Femmes' 1988 single "See My Ships", Maze featuring Frankie Beverly's 1989 R&B hit, "Silky Soul", ABC's 1987 single "When Smokey Sings" (Gaye's "What's Going On (song)" is sampled for the Miami Mix) and George Michael's "John and Elvis Are Dead" where Marvin is mentioned in one the final lines from the repeated chorus. Stevie Wonder wrote the song "Lighting Up the Candles" as a tribute to Gaye following his death and performed the song originally at Gaye's funeral service. Wonder later recorded the song for the Jungle Fever soundtrack.

In 1992, Israeli artist Izhar Ashdot dedicated his song "Eesh Hashokolad" to Gaye. Two tribute albums, 1995's Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye (which featured Nona's version of "Inner City Blues") and 1999's Marvin Is 60 featured covers of Marvin's most famous material. Since the 1960s, Marvin's songs have been covered by a variety of artists. The Rolling Stones and The Who recorded "Baby Don't You Do It" early in their careers. The Band also recorded "Baby Don't You Do It" numerous times under the title "Don't Do It"; the different versions, both studio and live, appear on several of their albums and box sets (the only one to be released as a single came from Rock of Ages), as well as in their 1976 concert film The Last Waltz. Rod Stewart during his early tenure with Steampacket covered "Can I Get a Witness". His 1965 hit, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" was covered three times by Junior Walker in 1966, again in 1975 by James Taylor, and again in 2002 by gospel singer Helen Baylor. In Baylor's version she substituted the word "baby" for Jesus.

Gaye's 1968 hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has been frequently covered with versions recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Roger Troutman, Edwin Starr and The California Raisins. Donny Hathaway performed a live version of "What's Going On" for his 1972 Live album while Cyndi Lauper recorded a top forty version of "What's Going On" in 1987, the song was re-recorded by a variety of contemporary pop, R&B and rap artists in 2001(again, including Nona) for AIDS benefit and was later dedicated to the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks. A few years after that, rock band A Perfect Circle covered the song in their own hard rock version. The singer's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" was covered by rock band The Strokes which featured Eddie Vedder on lead vocals. R&B singer Angela Winbush covered "Inner City Blues" in 1994 and was recorded in a slightly different version by Gil-Scott Heron in the 1970s. Aaliyah covered "Got to Give It Up" on her album One in a Million.

Gospel–soul legends Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin have each covered "Wholy Holy" from the What's Going On album while "Let's Get It On" was famously sampled by Shaggy on his breakthrough single, 1994's "Boombastic". Versions of "Sexual Healing" have been recorded by Soul Asylum, Ben Harper, Max-A-Million, Kate Bush, Neil Finn, Sarah Connor and Ne-Yo. Michael McDonald, Diana Ross and Amy Winehouse have all covered or redone their own versions of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", Marvin's 1967 hit with Tammi Terrell while Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn reinterpreted the Marvin/Tammi single, "If This World Were Mine" in 1982. Mary J. Blige and Method Man, with permission, sampled an interpolation of "You're All I Need to Get By" for their 1995 hit, "You're All I Need/I'll Be There for You". In June 2008, D'Angelo alongside Erykah Badu recorded Gaye's hit duo with Terrell, "Your Precious Love" for his "The Best So Far"...compilation album.

On April 2, 2006, on what would have been the singer's 67th birthday, a park near the neighborhood where Marvin grew up at in Washington, D.C. was renamed after him after a discussion with the City Council. "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" was covered by John Mayer in his Album As/Is, released in 2004. The cover also featured DJ Logic. Elton John's song "Club at the End of the Street" also mentions Marvin Gaye. On the 25th anniversary of Marvin Gaye's death, the singer's hometown of Washington, D.C. again honored the singer by renaming a street he grew up on called "Marvin Gaye Way".

Musical achievements and posthumous releases[link]

Gaye scored 41 Top 40 hit singles on Billboard's Pop Singles chart between 1963 and 2001, 60 Top 40 R&B singles chart hits from 1962 to 2001, 18 Top Ten pop singles on the pop chart, 38 Top 10 singles on the R&B chart,^[35] three number-one pop hits and thirteen number-one R&B hits and tied with Michael Jackson in total as well as the fourth biggest artist of all-time to spend the most weeks at the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart (52 weeks). In all, Gaye produced a total of 67 singles on the Billboard charts in total, spanning five decades, including five posthumous releases.

The year a remix of "Let's Get It On" was released to urban adult contemporary radio, "Let's Get It On" was certified gold by the RIAA for sales in excess of 500,000, making it the best-selling single on Motown in the United States. Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is the best-selling international Motown single, explained by a re-release in Europe following a Levi 501 Jeans commercial in 1986.

On June 19, 2007, Hip-O Records reissued Gaye's final Motown album, In Our Lifetime as an expanded two-disc edition titled In Our Lifetime?: The Love Man Sessions, bringing back the original title with the question mark and included a different mix of the album, which was recorded in London and also including the original songs from the Love Man album, which were songs later edited lyrically for the songs that made the In Our Lifetime album. The same label released a deluxe edition of Gaye's Here, My Dear album, which included a re-sequencing of tracks from the album from producers such as Salaam Remi and Bootsy Collins.

His 1983 NBA All-Star performance^[36] of the national anthem was used in a Nike commercial featuring the 2008 US Olympic basketball team. Also, on CBS Sports' final NBA telecast to date (before the contract moved to NBC) at the conclusion of Game 5 of the 1990 Finals, they used Gaye's 1983 All-Star Game performance over the closing credits. When VH1 launched on January 1, 1985, Gaye's 1983 rendition of the national anthem was the very first video to be aired. Most recently, it was used in the intro to Ken Burns' Tenth Inning documentary on the game of baseball.

In 2008, Gaye earned $3.5 million, and took 13th place in 'Top-Earning Dead Celebrities' in Forbes Magazine.^[37]

In a MusicRadar.com poll, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", one of his most famous songs, was voted No.1 and greatest Motown song and his "What's Going On" made the top five.^[38]

Documentaries and movies[link]

A documentary about Gaye – What's Going On: The Marvin Gaye Story – was a UK/PBS co-production, directed by Jeremy Marre and was first broadcast in 2006; two years later, the special re-aired with a different production and newer interviews after it was re-broadcast as an American Masters special. Gaye is referenced as one of the supernatural acts to appear in the short story and later television version of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes in "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band".

A play by Caryl Phillips called A Long Way from Home, focusing on Gaye's relationship with his father and his last years in Ostend, was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in March 2008. It featured O. T. Fagbenle as Gaye and Kerry Shale as Marvin Gay Sr., with Rhea Bailey, Rachel Atkins, Damian Lynch, Alibe Parsons, Ben Onwukwe and Major Wiley. It was directed by Ned Chaillet and produced by Chris Wallis.

So far, three movies are currently being planned on Marvin Gaye's life. One movie, Sexual Healing, is based on the post-Motown career of his later years, with Jesse L. Martin playing Marvin and James Gandolfini playing Marvin's Belgium-based mentor, concert promoter Freddy Cousaert.^[39] Another film, simply titled, Marvin, is also in plans for production with F. Gary Gray in helm to direct the film.^[40] This film, unlike Sexual Healing, will focus on Marvin's entire life story because unlike Sexual Healing, the second film was allowed rights to Marvin's Motown catalog. Musicians Common and Usher and actor Will Smith have either been rumored to or have aspired to play the singer possibly in the second film. A third film on Gaye is reportedly being produced by Motown with director Cameron Crowe.^[41]

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

	Book: Marvin Gaye
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Marvin Gaye portal

• 1965: T.A.M.I. Show (documentary)
• 1969: The Ballad of Andy Crocker (television movie)
• 1971: Chrome & Hot Leather (television movie)
• 1972: Trouble Man (cameo; soundtrack)
• 1973: Save the Children (documentary)

Videography[link]

• Marvin Gaye: Live in Montreux 1980 (2003)^[42]
• The Real Thing: In Performance (1964–1981) (2006)

Marvin Gaye in popular culture[link]

In advertising[link]

• During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Nike ran ads focused on the United States' Men's Basketball Team featuring Marvin Gaye's 1983 performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the NBA All-Star Game. The message is: the team found inspiration in the way Marvin Gaye performed the song.

• "A Funky Space Reincarnation," from his 1978 album "Here, My Dear," was used in the Dior J'Adore perfume commercial that features Charlize Theron.

In music[link]

• Singer Diana Ross honors Marvin Gaye in the 1984 song titled "Missing You."
• Singer Teena Marie pays tribute to Marvin Gaye with her song titled "My Dear Mr. Gaye."
• In 1997, R&B singer Aaliyah did a cover to Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" which featured Slick Rick.
• In the song "Hörst Du mich?" by German Hip Hop band Fettes Brot, the first verse is dedicated to Marvin Gaye.^[43]
• The Commodores paid tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson on their hit "Nightshift" in 1985.
• The Prefab Sprout song "When the angels", from their 1985 album Steve McQueen, is a tribute to Marvin Gaye.^[44]
• "See My Ships", a song from 3 (the 1989 Violent Femmes album), the shooting of Marvin Gaye is used in a double-entendre to express anxiety about a final judgement by God (the 'father'): "Mercy mercy me, Marvin Gaye, he was shot by his father, O my father have mercy on me"^[45]
• The Avett Brothers reference Marvin Gaye in their song "The Day Marvin Gaye Died"
• Rapper Tupac Shakur referenced Gaye in his song "Keep Ya Head Up".
• Rapper Big Sean recorded a song used on his Finally Famous album titled "Marvin & Chardonnay" featuring Kanye West and Roscoe Dash.
• Rapper Drake recorded "Marvin's Room" in reference to producing the song in Marvin Gaye's studio.
• Rapper Charles Hamilton referenced Marvin in his song "Stay On Your Level":
• Rapper Tyler, The Creator referenced Marvin in his song "Yonkers".
• Rapper Immortal Technique referenced Marvin and "What's Going On" in his song "Crossing the Boundary".
• Rapper B. Dolan referenced Marvin in his song "Marvin (Can't Remember)".
• Rapper Cormega referenced Marvin in his song "Journey".
• R&B singer R. Kelly mentions Gaye at the end of "If I Could Make The World Dance" on his 2004 "Happy People/U Saved Me" album. Kelly states "Marvin Gaye inspired me to write that one y'all".
• Jazz composer & multi-instrumentalist Don Byron's String Quartet No. 2; Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye, I-IV, a tribute to the life of Marvin Gaye, was released by the string quartet ETHEL on the album Heavy (Innova, 2012).

Onscreen[link]

Film

• He played "Jim" in the 1971 biker film Chrome and Hot Leather, which also featured Larry Bishop.

Television

• In The Sopranos season 6, episode 1 ("Members Only"), Uncle Junior shoots Tony Soprano and Vito Spatafore later remarks: "He Marvin Gaye'd his own nephew”.

In poetry[link]

• On multi-genre performer B. Dolan's 2010 album, Fallen House Sunken City (Strange Famous Records), "Marvin" is a poem about the last days of Marvin Gaye.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Davis, Sharon (1991). Marvin Gaye: I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Croydon, Surrey: Bookmarque Ltd. ISBN 1-84018-320-9
• Dyson, Michael Eric (2004). Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons of Marvin Gaye. New York/Philadelphia: Basic Civitas. ISBN 0-465-01769-X.
• Gambaccini, Paul (1987). The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time. New York: Harmony Books.
• Garofalo, Reebee (1997). Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-205-13703-2. 
• Gaye, Frankie with Basten, Fred E. (2003). Marvin Gaye: My Brother. Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-742-0
• Heron, W. Kim (April 8, 1984). Marvin Gaye: A Life Marked by Complexity. Detroit Free Press.
• Posner, Gerald (2002). Motown : Music, Money, Sex, and Power. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50062-6.
• Ritz, David (1986). Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye. Cambridge, Mass: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81191-X
• Turner, Steve (1998). Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-4112-1
• Ward, Ed, Geoffrey Stokes and Ken Tucker (1986). Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 0-671-54438-1. 
• White, Adam (1985). The Motown Story. London: Orbis. ISBN 0-85613-626-3

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Marvin Gaye

R&B and Soul Music portal

• Marvin Gaye at AllRovi
• Marvin Gaye at Allmusic
• Marvin Gaye at the Internet Movie Database
• Marvin Gaye Biography
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