Significations et usages de Marvin_Gaye

Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye in 1973
Background information
Birth name	Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.[1]
Also known as	Prince of Soul, Prince of Motown
Born	(1939-04-02)April 2, 1939 Washington, D.C.
Died	April 1, 1984(1984-04-01) (aged 44) Los Angeles, California
Genres	R&B, soul, smooth soul, doo-wop, funk, quiet storm
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, composer, musician, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion, clavinet, synthesizers, piano
Years active	1958–1984
Labels	Motown (Tamla-Motown), Columbia
Associated acts	The Moonglows, Harvey Fuqua, Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, The Originals, Diana Ross

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]

  Early life

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 minister at the House of God (the House of God headquarters is located in 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 his eldest son was four, Marvin Sr. was bringing Gaye with him to sing for church congregations. Gaye's early home life was marked by violence as his father would often strike him for any shortcoming. Gaye and his three siblings were bed-wetters as children.^[10] Gaye would later compare his father's dominance over the family as of one of "tyrannic control" and said he was convinced that he would eventually "become a child suicide statistic" had it not been for his mother's love and encouragement.^[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 passed for promotion as the Chief Apostle (head overseer) of the House of God Inc. Gaye's father never kept a job and developed alcoholism, which made Gaye's home life more difficult.

Learning how to play piano, organ and drums at a young age, Marvin soon discovered R&B and a subgenre known as doo-wop. Entering Cardozo High School, he joined several 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] Returning home, Gaye and Reese Palmer formed the doo-wop quintet, the Marquees.

  Career

  Early career (1958–1962)

  A 1959 promotional picture of Harvey and the Moonglows. Gaye is located in the right of a seated Fuqua.

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. The song was only modestly successful and later in the year, Diddley introduced the Marquees to friend Harvey Fuqua, who was looking for a group to replace members of his original group, The Moonglows, who had broken up due to tensions within the group. Fuqua took them under his wing and changed their name to "Harvey & The Moonglows", signing them to Chess Records in 1959. There, the group would record several songs including "Twelve Months of the Year" and "Mama Loochie" and would sing background for Diddley, Chuck Berry and Etta James.

In 1960, Fuqua suddenly disbanded the group and relocated from Chicago to Detroit, where he had found work as a songwriter and producer for Gwen Gordy's Anna Records. Fuqua brought Marvin with him and had him signed to Anna as a staff session musician. He would also earn pay stocking records in the label's building. After Harvey and Gwen formed the Harvey and Tri-Phi record labels, Marvin worked behind the scenes as a drummer on those labels, playing drums on the Spinners' debut Tri-Phi single, "That's What Girls Are Made For". Marvin invited himself to an annual Christmas party at Motown CEO Berry Gordy's house and impressed Gordy with his performances. After Berry Gordy sought interest in signing Marvin to Motown, Fuqua sold 50% of his interest in the singer.^[12]

Influenced by the crossover pop successes of Nat King Cole and Ray Charles, Marvin aspired to perform jazz songs and standards rather than the typical R&B recorded for the fledgling label. In May 1961, Marvin issued his first single, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide", which didn't chart. Prior to its release, Marvin added an "e" to his last surname, assuming it would make him look "more professional". In his biography of Marvin, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, author David Ritz noted the change was personal, citing reasons for the change to be from gossip over the original name's meaning and to distance himself from his domineering father.^[13] That June, Motown's subsidiary, Tamla Records, issued Marvin's debut album, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye. The record, like his first single, failed to chart. Marvin supported himself by playing with Motown's road band on drums, supporting artists such as The Miracles and blues artist Jimmy Reed.

After Motown started setting up an artist development course, Marvin required little training but was still told to attend the school, which he refused, something he said he regretted later.^[10] The only clear advice he took was to keep his eyes open while he performed because, according to Maxine Powell, "it looked like [he] was sleeping when [he was] performing."^[10] Marvin's first solo success came as a composer of The Marvelettes' "Beechwood 4-5789". Earlier, Marvin played drums on the group's debut hit, "Please Mr. Postman" and its later hit, "Playboy". He continued session work as a drummer after establishing himself in the label, contributing drums to his composition of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" as well as Little Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips". Later in 1962, he scored his first hit with his fourth single, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", which reached No. 8 R&B and reached the top 50 of the pop chart, peaking at No. 46. His next single, "Hitch Hike", reached the top 40 of the pop charts. Both songs were featured in Marvin's second album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow, released in December 1962.

  Early success (1963–1966)

Starting in late 1962, Marvin was a mid-headliner of the Motortown Revue, a series of concert performances that took place in the chitlin' circuit. Despite the early intensity of his hit singles, Gaye feared live performing, choosing to sit on a stool and sing rather than dance. Marvin's next hit came with "Pride and Joy", which sold nearly a million copies and peaked at No. 10 at the Hot 100. Other hits followed including "Can I Get a Witness", "You Are a Wonderful One", "Try It Baby" and "Baby Don't You Do It", all of which helped to make him Motown's best-selling male artist surpassing Marv Johnson.

In 1964, Motown released Marvin's first duet album with singer Mary Wells on the album, Together. The album became Marvin's first to chart, peaking at No. 42 and featured the hits, "Once Upon a Time" and "What's the Matter with You Baby". Marvin released a string of million-selling singles in 1965 including "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar". His profile was further raised by appearances on American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hollywood A Go-Go and The T.A.M.I. Show. His recordings by then influenced the UK mod scene and groups who performed as part of the scene, including The Who performed songs of Marvin's at clubs. The production of "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" surprised American producer Phil Spector who nearly had a car accident after first hearing the song.

Despite his reputation as a ladies man in R&B music, Marvin was not satisfied, aspiring to perform jazz music and pop standards despite the failure of his first album. Motown allowed him to record jazz material for the album, When I'm Alone I Cry while he recorded pop standards for Hello Broadway and paid tribute to Nat King Cole on the album, A Tribute to the Great Nat "King" Cole. In 1966, he even performed at the Copacabana and had planned to issue a live album from the sessions. Despite his best efforts, Gaye's jazz inspired albums failed to chart and the live album was shelved for unknown reasons. Marvin soon retired the jazz standards from his live act after studying his audience's expressions when he performed them. His 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, featured the musician performing in a variety of genres. That year, he and Kim Weston released the album, Take Two and the song, "It Takes Two". The song became a hit reaching the top twenty in both the US and UK. Weston soon left and she was replaced by veteran singer Tammi Terrell to be his new duet partner.

  A screenshot of a 1967 performance by Gaye and Terrell during taping of the Today Show.

  Tammi Terrell and I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1967–1969)

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 cancer ended her career as a live performer though she continued to record under supervision and often with guidance and assistance. Terrell ceased recordings in 1969 due to her continued issues with her illness and Motown struggled with recording a planned third Gaye/Terrell album. Though he initially refused to go along with Motown's plan, he only reluctantly agreed after Motown assured him recordings would go to pay for Terrell's surgeries as she continued to have unsuccessful operations to remove the tumor. 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"   "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".
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In October 1968, Motown issued a year-old version of the Norman Whitfield-Barrett Strong composition, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Despite Gordy's fears it wouldn't succeed, the song became an international hit, becoming Marvin's first number-one hit in both the US and UK charts. Despite its success, Gaye was quoted saying he felt he "didn't deserve" its success. Following its success, Gaye continued to work with Whitfield and Strong throughout 1969 releasing the albums, M.P.G. and That's The Way Love Is and had hits with "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", "That's the Way Love Is" and, in the UK, a version of "Abraham, Martin & John". In 1969 and 1970, he proved to be as successful as a producer when he produced The Originals' hits "Baby I'm for Real" and "The Bells".

  What's Going On (1970–1972)

Tammi Terrell succumbed to complications of brain cancer on March 16, 1970. Gaye was the only Motown artist to attend her funeral and spoke at her eulogy. Gaye insisted afterwards that he wouldn't record with another female performer, fearing something bad may happen with them. Fearing his own mortality, Gaye also refused live performing and began suffering bouts of stage fright. Acquaintances later claimed the musician never recovered from her death. Gaye sought a try out to join the Detroit Lions football team, something that had been an inspiration of his for a couple of years.^[15] While the Lions allowed him to try out, the team decided not to enlist him in fears of injury.^[16]

Gaye befriended two of the Lions teammates at the time, Mel Farr and Lem Barney. On June 10, 1970, Marvin returned to Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studios to record his new composition, "What's Going On", which came about after inspiration came from Gaye's brother Frankie's accounts of the Vietnam War and co-writer Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops' anger at witnessing police brutality in San Francisco. Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy feared a backlash against Gaye's fan base and his ladies' man reputation and shelved the record for a year. Refusing to record anything that was of Motown's or Gordy's version of him, he refused to return to the studio, only doing so to test out other songs he had composed with no desire to release them at the time. Eventually "What's Going On" was released on January 17, 1971 and quickly shot to number-one on the R&B chart, staying there 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 and successfully crossing over to fans of AOR stations while maintaining his R&B fan base. Because of its lyrical content and its mixture of funk, jazz, classical and Latin music 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.

The album spawned two more top ten hits, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)". All three songs would sell over a million copies and all had lengthy stays at number-one on the R&B chart. It was later hailed as "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. Another Motown act inspired by Gaye's success, The Jackson 5, tried unsuccessfully to allow Motown to release their own compositions on an album but was rebuffed leaving the group to leave four years after the release of What's Going On.

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. Gaye later 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] 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.

  Let's Get It On and continued success in music (1973–1977)

	"Let's Get It On" "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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  Gaye performing live at the Oakland Coliseum on January 4, 1974 during his comeback 1974–75 tour.

In 1971, Marvin left Detroit, relocating to Los Angeles. Following the move, he recorded much of Trouble Man in Motown's Hitsville West studios. In March 1973, deciding to switch from social issues to sexual topics, Gaye recorded what later became one of his signature anthems, "Let's Get It On". The song was released that June and became Gaye's second number-one hit in the US. Its parent album, also titled Let's Get It On, consisted of material Gaye had initially recorded during the sessions of What's Going On and was released that August. 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 suggestive "You Sure Love to Ball" reached modest success but was kept from being promoted by Motown due to its sexually explicit nature.

Motown soon demanded a tour. On January 4, 1974, Gaye performed at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. The performance was later recorded for Gaye's second live album, Marvin Gaye Live! The album sold over a million copies and featured a show-stopping rendition of "Distant Lover", which later inspired a single release where it became a top 40 hit in 1974. While Marvin's new Tamla contract gave him creative control, he reluctantly agreed to work on his final duet recordings with Diana Ross. The Diana & Marvin album was released in the fall of 1973 and became an international success. Meanwhile success of Gaye's concert tour caused Motown to add more dates into 1975. A renewed contract with Motown in 1975 allowed the musician to build his own custom-made recording studio.

In 1976, Gaye released his next album, I Want You. The title track became a top 20 hit while a 12-inch version of the song and "After the Dance" became a hit on disco charts. In the summer of 1976, Gaye embarked on his first European tour in years. A performance culled from the London Palladium in London resulted in the release of Live at the London Palladium in 1977. The album included the studio track, "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1", which became Gaye's third and final number-one US hit and helped the album sell over two million copies, becoming one of the top ten best-selling albums in the United States.

  Here, My Dear, In Our Lifetime and his final days at Motown (1978–1981)

In late 1978, Marvin released his so-called "divorce" album, Here, My Dear, inspired by the fallout of his marriage to Anna Gordy. The album included the top 40 R&B single, "A Funky Space Reincarnation", but became Gaye's first album to not sell over a million copies, initially flopping on the charts both commercially and critically. The album had been released after he had agreed to remit a portion of the album's sales to Gordy to pay for child support of their son, Marvin III.

Marvin toured throughout 1979 in the United States, Europe and Japan and released another minor R&B hit, "Ego Tripping Out", one of the first in which he detailed his drug abuse. Relocating to Hawaii after a fallout of his second marriage to Janis Hunter, drug addiction and issues with the IRS, Gaye tried working on his next album, Love Man. After a 1980 European tour, Marvin moved to London and switched the direction of Love Man with questions of a possible Armageddon and addressing his own personal problems retitling the album as In Our Lifetime?. In January 1981, Tamla released the In Our Lifetime album. When he found of its release, a perturbed Gaye 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.

Following this, Gaye told the press he vowed never to record for Motown again. Later that summer, negotiations began to be made to buy Gaye's contract out of Motown. CBS Records eventually bought out Gaye's Tamla contract in March 1982.

  Midnight Love and final performances (1982–1984)

	"Sexual Healing" "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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Following his move to Ostend, Belgium in early 1981, Gaye embarked on a mini-tour of England, ending this tour with two performances in Ostend. A documentary leading up to the Belgium performances, Transit Ostend, would later be released to just Belgian fans and would later be issued on VHS in bootleg copies following the musician's death. His attorney until his death, Curtis Shaw, said Gaye's Ostend period was "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin". Following this tour, he and a couple of his musicians, Gordon Banks and Odell Brown, began working on material together. After Marvin signed with CBS' Columbia subsidiary, he, Banks and Brown worked on what became the Midnight Love album starting in May 1982. Gaye later recruited his past collaborator Harvey Fuqua to work on the album as an advisor of the album's production, later adding background vocals to Gaye's signature hit, "Sexual Healing".

"Sexual Healing" was written by Gaye and Odell Brown, with David Ritz later getting credit for the song's title. The song, released in September of that year, became an immediate success, reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts, staying there for a record ten weeks. The song crossed over to the pop charts, peaking at No. 3 in early 1983, and became a number-one hit in Canada and New Zealand while reaching the top five in the UK. The video to the song 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]

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 performance in front of his old mentor Berry Gordy and the Motown label for Motown 25, performing "What's Going On". He then embarked on a US tour to support his album. The tour ended in August 1983 but was plagued by cocaine-triggered paranoia and illness. His last performance ever was in Los Angeles that month. Following the concert's end, he retreated to his parents' house in Los Angeles.

  Personal life

  Marriages, relationships and children

In 1964, Marvin married his first wife, Anna Gordy in Detroit, following a two-year courtship. Gaye's relationship with Gordy inspired most of his sixties works as well as the 1973 track, "Just to Keep You Satisfied" and the Here, My Dear album. Though it wasn't confirmed, Gordy sometimes accused Marvin of having extramarital affairs with his duet partners, including Tammi Terrell, with whom Marvin shared a close friendship with. Following their legal separation in early 1973, Gaye met Janis Hunter at Hitsville West. After a four-year courtship with Hunter, they married in October 1977 in New Orleans, seven months after Gaye's divorce to Gordy was finalized.

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.^[24]

Gaye and Hunter's marriage, however, wasn't successful. In February 1981, Hunter and Gaye were officially divorced. Following this, Gaye began dating Dutch model Eugenie Vis from 1980 until 1982.^[25] 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.

Gaye had three children. His eldest child, Marvin P. Gaye III (c. 1965) was the result of a non-sexual arrangement concocted by the Gordy family with Denise Gordy, Anna's niece. In his Marvin Gaye biography, Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye, Steve Turner quoted a Gordy relative in stating that Denise Gordy was the only female Gordy member to successfully produce children at the time and was willing to help her aunt. Gaye talked of the struggle to produce a child with Anna to David Ritz in Divided Soul and confirmed that Marvin III was adopted by Anna Gordy following his son's birth. Gaye had two children with Janis Hunter: daughter Nona (c. 1974) and son Frank (c. 1975). Both Marvin III and Nona pursued entertainment careers in their adulthoods. In addition, Marvin is the grandfather of three boys including Marvin IV (born April 1, 1995)^[26] and Nolan Pentz (c. 1996).

  Drug addiction

Gaye was introduced to cocaine in the early 1970s sometime after the death of Tammi Terrell. By the late 1970s, it had become an addiction. It was alleged Gaye's cocaine spending habit led to a lot of his financial troubles. In 1980, Gaye told an interviewer that he tried a suicide attempt by attempting to overdose on cocaine stating, "I just wanted to be alone and blow my brains on high-octane toot. It would be a slow but relatively pleasant death, certainly less messy than a gun."^[10] Gaye's addiction subsided after moving to Belgium in 1981, under the advice of concert promoter Freddy Couseart. He remained sober until his return to the United States in late 1982. His addiction led to several issues in his final concert tour and cocaine increased a paranoia inside him in which he felt he was being watched and that someone wanted to kill him. At his autopsy following his death, it stated that cocaine and PCP, or "angel dust", was found in the singer's system.^[27]

  Death

On Christmas Day, 1983, Marvin gave his father an unlicensed .38 to protect him from probable intruders. On April 1, 1984, Gaye was fatally shot by his father after he intervened between his parents in a screaming dispute over misplaced financial documents. Marvin's father later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five years of probation after accepting a plea bargain.

Marvin Gaye died one day before turning 45.^[28][29]

  Aftermath

On April 5, 1984, Marvin's funeral was attended by 10,000 mourners including his old Motown colleagues and most of his family and friends. The musician's remains were later cremated and his ashes were spread to the Pacific Ocean. He has a burial plot at Los Angeles' Forest Lawn Cemetery. Several tribute songs dedicated to Marvin were composed and released within months after his death including those from Edwin Starr ("Marvin"), Duran Duran (the live version of "Save a Prayer"), Diana Ross ("Missing You"), Todd Rundgren ("Lost Horizon"), Teena Marie ("My Dear Mr. Gaye") and The Commodores ("Nightshift").

In 1985, Harvey Fuqua produced two posthumous albums to fulfill Marvin's CBS contract including Dream of a Lifetime and Romantically Yours.

  Awards and accolades

During his lifetime, Gaye was nominated a total fourteen times for a Grammy Award, winning his only two for "Sexual Healing" in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Instrumental Performance categories in February 1983. The singer acknowledged this during his acceptance speech for his Best R&B Male Vocal win stating, "I've waited a very long time, twenty-something years to win an award such as this." Anna Gordy later stated that Gaye felt he "should've won more". Gaye also won a single American Music Award in 1983 for the "Sexual Healing" song beating out other competitors including Evelyn King's "Love Come Down" and Aretha Franklin's "Jump to It". At the 1985 American Music Awards, in a year following his death, Diana Ross among others gave a tribute to Gaye in their package of stars who had died the previous year.

In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was accepted by his eldest son Marvin III and Anna Gordy. He was also honored by Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. Gaye was posthumously given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

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. 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". In 2007, D.C. opened a restaurant titled simply Marvin. A similar restaurant is located in Belgium.

  Musicianship

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

From his first hit, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", most of Gaye's earliest sixties recordings included a strong gospel influence and was recorded under a different variety of genres including R&B, doo-wop and blues. Since he was one of Motown's earliest artists, he's often credited as contributing to Detroit soul and the Motown Sound, which itself was a blend of rhythm and blues and pop music. Since soul music was in its infancy stages when Gaye began recording hits, he's often listed as the genre's most important artists. After the release of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" in which he sung closer to his vocal register than in previous recordings, Gaye's mid-sixties music was typified as "sophisticated soul", with examples of this from his works with Holland-Dozier-Holland and Ashford & Simpson on his duet recordings with Tammi Terrell.

The recording of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" signaled several changes in Gaye's sound. The music of the song, composed and produced by Norman Whitfield, was one of the earliest examples of psychedelic soul, a genre which mixed guitar-driven rock with soulful harmonies and rhythms. This sound was further bolstered by Gaye's recordings with Frank Wilson on the songs, "You" and "Chained" as well as his later works with Whitfield during this period. Gaye also was inspired vocally by his Motown peers, including David Ruffin and Levi Stubbs, adapting the same gospel-infused growl in his vocal as they had done in theirs later explaining that "[he] had heard something in their voices something [his] own voice lacked".^[30] He further explained, "the Tempts and Tops' music made me remember that when a lot of women listen to music, they want to feel the power of a real man."^[30]

  Social commentary and conceptual albums

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. Before, these topics were only discussed briefly in some Temptations recordings as well as The Impressions. The album and its material would later inspire Stevie Wonder's similar songs of social issues. A year before the release of What's Going On, Gaye covered the Dion hit, "Abraham, Martin & John", which became a hit in the United Kingdom. In 1972, Gaye recorded the political "You're the Man", which was a criticism against the political campaigns of that year. A full album also titled You're the Man was later shelved due to the indifference in the label's promotion of the title track, some alleged, due to Gordy's support of then-president Richard Nixon and Gaye's comments that he wanted to "get Tricky Dicky". Following his death, Motown released songs from the You're the Man sessions including "The World Is Rated X", the Vietnam War-inspired Christmas song "I Want to Come Home for Christmas", "Piece of Clay", and "Where Are We Going", which showcased social pleas. Later issued on his Dream of a Lifetime album, the track "Life's Opera" also featured social commentary.

With What's Going On, Gaye and his engineers had put together a song cycle, segueing most of the songs into another. Due to this, it became one of R&B music's first concept albums. Gaye's next album to follow this direction was the sensual Let's Get It On, which based on the spiritual and erotic sides of love and sex in what David Ritz later explained as Gaye's attempt to marry the two opposite worlds of love and sex in Christian terms. With Leon Ware, Gaye's next conceptual love album, I Want You, would follow in 1976. Afterwards, Gaye's final two Motown albums, 1978's Here, My Dear and 1981's In Our Lifetime were concept albums that focused on Marvin's troubled life with Here, My Dear focusing mainly on his fallout of his first marriage while also including songs that discussed his spirituality and issues with drug abuse. The main focus of In Our Lifetime focused on Marvin's thoughts of a possible Armageddon that he was told would come in 20 years at the time and feeling the "good" and "evil" sides of his personality were in constant conflict. 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]

  Influence on modern pop music

Overtime, Marvin's music especially after What's Going On influenced certain forms of modern day pop music while playing an important role in developing other genres at the time. His recordings of "Inner City Blues", "Let's Get It On" and "Got to Give It Up" influenced the success of funk music, while the overall sound of his albums, Let's Get It On and I Want You paved the way for the later-established quiet storm genre alongside recordings by Barry White, The Isley Brothers and Smokey Robinson. His 1977 single "Got to Give It Up" influenced the sound of Michael Jackson as he developed his own sound through that recording on songs such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" and "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough". The concept of Here, My Dear would influence later similar albums including Usher's Raymond v. Raymond. The music of Gaye's 1972 soundtrack to Trouble Man influenced early hip-hop with several hip-hop musicians later sampling bits from the tracks for their own songs, one of the earliest examples being DJ Jazzy Jeff's "A Touch of Jazz" in 1988. The soundtrack's music was constantly used during the Four Brothers film. The music of Gaye's final album, Midnight Love incorporated synthesizer-driven R&B music and also included elements of reggae and electro funk^{[disambiguation needed]}. The "Sexual Healing" track was one of the first instances in which the Roland TR-808 synthesizer instrument was used in a pop recording though the sound was only used in electronic and hip-hop music.^[32] Gaye's music has also been a main source of many hip-hop songs over the years.

  Legacy and influence

According to several historians, Marvin Gaye's career "spanned the entire history of rhythm and blues from fifties doo-wop to eighties contemporary soul."^[33] 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."^[34]

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 his one-time label mates such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to gain creative control and produce their own albums.

Several musicians who later cited Marvin as a major influence on their music included a variation of musicians from different genres including The Isley Brothers, Rick James, Prince, Teena Marie, George Michael, D'Angelo, Maxwell, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Bobby Valentino, Trey Songz and J. Holiday.

Marvin's erotically concept albums such as Let's Get It On and I Want You inspired similar albums by Smokey Robinson and Leon Ware as well as later musicians such as R. Kelly and Maxwell. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him No.18 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".^[35]

  Tributes and covers

  Cover versions of Marvin Gaye songs

From the time Marvin Gaye started having hit songs in the 1960s, he was frequently covered by other acts. Judging from his influence on the mod scene in the UK, beat groups such as an early incarnation of The Who as well as Rod Stewart's early group Steampacket and Elton John's band Bluesology covered the musician's material. The Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield also recorded some of Gaye's songs including "Hitch Hike" and "Can I Get A Witness" respectively. His 1965 hit "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" was covered first by Junior Walker & The All Stars a year later and again by James Taylor, whose version returned the song to the top ten in 1975. Another version by Helen Baylor was recorded in a gospel version. His hit version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was covered by artists of various genres from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Edwin Starr to The Slits to Roger Troutman. The Who and The Band covered "Baby Don't You Do It", which was often featured on complications from The Band as "Don't Do It". Aretha Franklin covered the 1971 song, "Wholy Holy" from the What's Going On album on her acclaimed Amazing Grace album. Robert Palmer covered "Mercy Mercy Me" and "I Want You" in a medley in 1991. Singers Madonna, Diana Ross and Phil Perry covered "I Want You" while Fourplay covered "After the Dance".

His Tammi Terrell-featured composition, "If This World Were Mine" was first recorded by Slade under their earlier name, Ambrose Slade, and was later covered by Luther Vandross in 1982, who featured Cheryl Lynn on his version. Another song that has been frequently covered in years since was "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". The music of the song was later sampled for Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry On Their Own". Marvin's 1982 hit "Sexual Healing" has been covered numerous times by artists such as Ben Harper, Soul Asylum and Ne-Yo. "Inner City Blues" was on the charts again in 1994 after singer Angela Winbush covered it. The song had been covered 20 years before by Gil Scott Heron; in 2004, John Mayer covered the song on his album, As/Is. Cyndi Lauper released her version of "What's Going On" in 1987 entering numerous charts; an all-star lineup of musicians later got together to re-record the song for an AIDS charity in 2001, a year later, A Perfect Circle covered the song; a 1972 live version of the song by Donny Hathaway was featured on his live album and a 2002 version by Chaka Khan and The Funk Brothers later won them a Grammy Award. "Mercy Mercy Me" was covered first in 1990 by Motown singer Milira and covered again by The Strokes in 2006 with Eddie Vedder singing lead. Late singer Aaliyah covered the 1977 hit "Got to Give It Up" on her One in a Million album.

  Tribute recordings

In 1983, a year before his death, pop band Spandau Ballet referenced Gaye's name in their hit, "True". Almost immediately after his death, several of the musician's contemporaries, peers and admirers recorded songs in tribute to him including Teena Marie and the Commodores. Two years later, the band Maze released the album, Silky Soul, which featured the title track of the same name which was their tribute to Gaye interpolating the melody and harmony from "What's Going On". In 1991, Stevie Wonder included the tribute song "Lighting Up the Candles" on his soundtrack to the film, "Jungle Fever". The Violent Femmes' 1988 song "See My Ships" referenced the singer's death. 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. Marvin is mentioned in George Michael's song "John and Elvis are Dead", Tupac Shakur's "Keep Your Head Up" and "Thugz Mansion" and in Elton John's song "Club at the End of the Street".

  Musical achievements and posthumous releases

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,^[36] 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^[37] 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.^[38]

In a MusicRadar 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.^[39]

  Documentaries and movies

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.

Marvin so far has been the subject of four proposed films, including three biopics and a documentary. One of the first biopics, which focused on Gaye's post-Motown career, was to have started Jesse L. Martin and James Gandolfini, titled "Sexual Healing", after Marvin's best-selling hit.^[40] However, the film is likely not to be made, due to musical rights issues. The same issue came up in the other films, including projected films by F. Gary Gray^[41] and Cameron Crowe.^[42] A documentary produced with sister Zeola has also been postponed from release. Entertainers including musicians Common and Usher and actor Will Smith have either been approached or aspired to play the musician in the films.

  Discography

  Filmography

	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

• Marvin Gaye: Live in Montreux 1980 (2003)^[43]
• The Real Thing: In Performance (1964–1981) (2006)

  Marvin Gaye in popular culture

  In advertising

• 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

• 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.^[44]
• 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.^[45]
• "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"^[46]
• 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

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

• 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

  Further reading

• 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

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