Diana & Marvin

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Diana & Marvin

LP by Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
Released	October 26, 1973
Recorded	1972-1973
Genre	Soul
Label	Motown M803V1
Producer	Hal Davis
Professional reviews
AMG link
Diana Ross chronology
Touch Me in the Morning (1973)	Diana & Marvin (1973)	Last Time I Saw Him (1974)
Marvin Gaye chronology
Let's Get It On (1973)	Diana & Marvin (1973)	Marvin Gaye Live! (1974)

Diana & Marvin was a successful duets project by legendary soul singers Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released in 1973 by Motown.

At this point, both Ross and Gaye were in different areas in their careers. Ross had become the biggest female pop star outside of Cher and Barbra Streisand, after a string of hit singles, hit albums, and critical acclaim from her hit film Lady Sings the Blues. Gaye, on the other hand, had become a musical visionary releasing the classic records What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and Trouble Man.

The project had been planned as early as the fall of 1971 shortly after Gaye had released the What's Going On album. During the first recording sessions, a pregnant Ross complained to Motown chief Berry Gordy that Gaye wouldn't stop smoking marijuana in the studio. Even after Gordy tried to appeal to Gaye, Gaye stood his ground and refused to stop smoking for Ross. As a result, most of the album was recorded in separate studios in 1972.

When the album was released, the US market response towards Diana & Marvin was rather disappointing reaching only #26 on Billboards Hot 200 album chart, in light of two of the most successful artists of an entire era co-operatd together on one album. Moreover, the duets did not live up to the standards set by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and both artists basically were reaching a very different fan base altogether during the early seventies. However, the album became an international smash yielding different singles in both the US ("You're a Special Part of Me", "Don't Knock My Love", "My Mistake") and the UK ("Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", "You Are Everything"). Especially in Britain the album proved to be far more successful than in the States. During its 47-week chart tenure in 1973-74, the album topped at UK #6 and exceeded sales of 100,000 copies. In 1981 it re-entered the British charts again. The singles "You Are Everything" and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" hit No´s 5 and 25 in the UK, respectively. Eventually, the album managed to sell close to a million copies worldwide.

Several of the album's songs, including "Stop, Look, Listen" and "You Are Everything" were cover versions of Stylistics songs. The Ross/Gaye version of "Stop, Look, Listen" would later be sampled in 2002 for both Ja Rule and Ashanti's hit "Mesmerize" and Smilez and Southstar's hit "Tell Me", creating controversy when both songs entered the market at the same time. A year later, singers Michael McDonald and Toni Braxton redid the Ross/Gaye version of "Stop, Look, Listen" for McDonald's second album of Motown covers titled "Motown II" in 2004.