David Ritz

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For the corporate CEO, see Ritz Camera Centers.

David Ritz is a very successful author who based his books on soul music legends like Ray Charles, Etta James, The Neville Brothers, Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin.

However, Ritz is probably most notable for his work with the legendary Marvin Gaye. The two first met in 1978 shortly after the release of Gaye's tormented Here, My Dear album after Ritz had publicly defended Gaye's album as a body of work after a Los Angeles Times critic had panned the album (it wasn't a commercial success either).

Ritz began giving out interviews with Gaye as part of an autobiography Gaye was working on. Those interviews became the basis to Ritz's most successful book, Divided Soul: The Life & Times of Marvin Gaye, which Ritz released in 1985, a year after Gaye was tragically killed by his father.

According to himself, Ritz also collaborated with Gaye and Odell Brown on Gaye's legendary 1982 single, Sexual Healing. Originally, Gaye forgot to credit Ritz because of a publishing complaint that never got straighten out but eventually, Ritz finally got his credits later on. Ritz also mentioned to Gaye to name the song because after looking at Gaye's extensive porn collection, he had told Marvin that he needed "sexual healing".

Ritz also has taken part in several other albums by other artists, most notably Janet Jackson on her Damita Jo album for several of her interludes on the album. Ritz had also written an essay for Jackson on her 1995 greatest hits compilation. He has also written liner notes and has done essays on Gaye albums after they were re-released.

Though Ritz has written for every soul legend, it's his book on and work with Gaye which he would be mostly remembered for.