| Marvin Gaye | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. |
| Born | April 2, 1939 Washington, D.C., United States |
| Died | April 1, 1984 (aged 44) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | R&B, rock 'n' roll, Motown, doo-wop, soul, quiet storm, psychedelic soul, pop, funk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, composer, musician, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion, clavinet, synthesizers |
| Years active | 1958–1984 |
| Label(s) | Motown (Tamla-Motown), Columbia |
| Associated acts | The Moonglows, Martha and the Vandellas, Tammi Terrell, The Originals, Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross, Harvey Fuqua |
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and instrumentalist. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After a year as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties.
Due to solo hits including "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, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown"[1] and "The Prince of Soul".[2]
Notable for fighting the hit-making but restrictive Motown process in which performers and songwriters and producers were kept separate[3], Gaye proved with albums like his 1971 What's Going On and his 1973 Let's Get It On that he was able to produce music without relying on the system, inspiring fellow Motown artists such as Stevie Wonder[4] and Michael Jackson[5] to do the same.
His mid-1970s work including the Let's Get It On and I Want You albums helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the late seventies, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death at the hands of his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time[6], And ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time[7].
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Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. was born at 12 p.m.[8] on April 2, 1939 at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.. His father, Marvin Gay Sr. of Kentucky, was a minister at a Seventh-day Adventist Church sect called the House of God. It advocated strict conduct and mixed teachings of Orthodox Judaism and Pentecostalism. His mother, Alberta Cooper Gay, of North Carolina, was a domestic mother.
The eldest son of Gay Sr.'s children, Marvin has a half brother, Michael Cooper (b. 1935). Marvin's other siblings included eldest sister Jeanne (b. 1937), Frankie (1941-2001) and Zeola "Sweetsie" (b. 1945). The Gays raised their children at the southwest section of D.C. at the Simple City projects[9] and, after Marvin turned 14, lived in the segregated section of Washington, D.C.'s Deanwood neighborhood in the northeastern section of the city.
As a teen, he caddied at Norbeck Country Club in Olney, Maryland. As a child in his father's church, Gaye sang and played instruments in the choir. During high school, he listened to doo-wop and joined the DC Tones as a drummer.[10] After dropping out of 11th grade at Cardozo High School, Gaye joined the United States Air Force in hopes of flying jets. After faking mental illness,[11] he was discharged. His sergeant stated that Gaye refused to follow orders.[12]
After returning to D.C., Gaye reformed the D.C. Tones as The Marquees and Bo Diddley signed them to the New York Okeh Records, where they recorded "Wyatt Earp", with "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" as its B-side. It flopped.
Diddley introduced the group to Harvey Fuqua, of the R&B/doo-wop group The Moonglows. Fuqua recruited them to be The New Moonglows in 1959 and signed them to Chess Records. Gaye and his group sung background on records by Chuck Berry and Etta James and had a modest hit with "The Twelve Commandments of Love". "Mama Loochie" (1959) was Gaye's first lead single.
After the Moonglows disbanded in 1960, Fuqua brought Gaye to Detroit and he was signed to the local Anna Records label, founded by Gwen Gordy. After Motown Records' Berry Gordy absorbed Anna, Gaye was moved to Motown's Tamla subsidiary. Gaye found that Fuqua had sold 50% percent of his stake in Gaye to the label[13] Gaye worked as a session drummer for The Miracles, The Contours, Martha and the Vandellas, The Marvelettes and others, notably on The Marvelettes' 1961 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" and Little Stevie Wonder's live version of 1963 hit, "Fingertips Pt. 2". Both singles reached number one of the pop singles chart.
After recording at Motown, Gaye changed his name from Marvin Gay to Marvin Gaye, adding the 'e' to separate himself from his father, to stop gossip about his sexuality, and to imitate his idol, Sam Cooke, who also added an 'e' to his name.[14] Gaye and Berry clashed over music to record. Through help from Gaye's girlfriend, Gordy's sister Anna, Berry allowed him to record a standard album.
Motown started Artist Development to look after artists. Gaye rebelled against receiving the same tuition as his Motown peers, though he'd later regret that decision[15]. Eventually he stopped "grooming school" though he took its director Maxine Powell's advice to not perform with his eyes closed as if "to appear that he wasn't asleep".[16]
In June 1961, Gaye issued his first solo recording, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, the second album by Motown. The record featured Broadway standards and jazz-rendered show tunes, and also yielded the R&B ballad single, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide". The record failed. Gaye released two more failed singles, a cover of The Chordettes' "Sandman" and "Soldier's Plea" in 1962. Gaye would find his first success as a co-songwriter on the Marvelettes' 1962 hit, "Beechwood 4-5789".
Gaye scored his first hit single "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in September. The song, co-written by Gaye, was an autobiographical pun on his nonchalant, moody behavior. Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson and featuring Martha and the Vandellas (then known as "The Vels"), the recording became a hit on the Hot R&B Songs chart. Martha and the Vandellas would also sing background on Gaye's subsequent 1962 album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow.
The single would be followed by his first Top 40 singles "Hitch Hike", "Pride and Joy" and "Can I Get a Witness", which charted for Gaye in 1963. The success continued with the 1964 singles "You Are a Wonderful One" (which featured background by The Supremes), "Try It Baby" (which featured backgrounds from The Temptations), "Baby Don't You Do It" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which became his signature song.
Gaye contributed to writing Martha and the Vandellas' 1964 "Dancing in the Street". His work with Smokey Robinson on the 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, spawned consecutive top ten singles in "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar", both of which became the singer's first Billboard charted number-one hits of his career peaking at the top spot on the R&B singles chart. Gaye became a favorite on the teen shows American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hullaballoo and The T.A.M.I. Show. He also became one of the few Motown artists to perform at the Copacabana. A live album from the Copacabana performances, however, wouldn't be issued in nearly 40 years.
A number of Gaye's hits for Motown were with female artists such as Kim Weston and Mary Wells; the first Gaye/Wells album, 1964's Together, was Gaye's first charting album. However, it was Gaye's work with Tammi Terrell that became the most memorable. Terrell and Gaye had a good rapport and their first album, 1967's United, birthed the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (covered by Diana Ross and former Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald) and "Your Precious Love".
Real-life couple Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided the writing and production for the Gaye/Terrell records. While Gaye and Terrell were not lovers — though rumors persist — they portrayed lovers on record. Gaye claimed that for the songs he was in love with her. On October 14, 1967, Terrell collapsed into Gaye's arms while they were performing at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) homecoming in Hampton, Virginia (in Virginia's Tidewater region, not at Hampden-Sydney College, in mid-state Virginia). She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and her health continued to deteriorate.
Motown decided to carry on with Gaye/Terrell recordings, issuing the You're All I Need album in 1968, which featured "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". By the final album, Easy in 1969, Terrell's vocals were mostly by Valerie Simpson. Two tracks on Easy were archived Terrell solo songs with Gaye's vocals overdubbed.
Terrell's illness put Gaye in a depression; he refused to acknowledge the success of his song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (sample), previously recorded in 1967 by Gladys Knight & The Pips, his first #1 hit and the biggest selling single in Motown history to that point, with four million copies sold. 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.
Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor on March 16, 1970. Gaye was so emotional at her funeral that he talked to the remains as if she were going to respond. He went into seclusion and did not perform in concert for nearly two years. Gaye told friends he had thought of quitting music, at one point trying for the American football team the Detroit Lions (where he met acquaintances Mel Farr and Lem Barney), but after the success of his productions with the Originals, Gaye entered the studio on June 1, 1970 and recorded "What's Going On", "God is Love", and "Sad Tomorrows" - an early version of "Flying High (In the Friendly Sky)". Gaye wanted to release "What's Going On", Gordy refused, calling the single "the worst record I ever heard". Gaye threaten to leave Motown unless the record was released. Gordy eventually relented and the song was released with little publicity in January 1971. Despite no backing from Motown, the single became a hit, peaking at a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B charts for five weeks.[17][18] Gordy requested an entire album of similar tracks.
The What's Going On album became one of the highlights of Gaye's career and is his best-known work. Both in terms of sound (influenced by funk and jazz) and lyrical content, it was a departure from his earlier Motown work. Two more of its singles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", became Top 10 pop hits and #1 R&B hits. The album became one of the most memorable soul albums and, based upon its themes, the concept album became the frontier for soul music. It has been called "the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices".[19]
After the release of What's Going On, Motown renegotiated a contract with Gaye that allowed him creative control. The deal was worth $1 million, making Gaye the highest-earning black artist.[20] He moved from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1972 after being offered a chance to write the score to a blaxploitation film. Writing, arranging and producing the movie Trouble Man, Gaye issued the soundtrack and title song in 1972. The soundtrack and single became hits, the single peaking at the top ten in early 1973.
Gaye decided to switch from social to sensual with Let's Get It On in 1973. The album was a departure for its sensual appeal. Yielded by the title track (sample) and tracks such as "Come Get to This", "You Sure Love to Ball", and "Distant Lover", Let's Get It On became Gaye's biggest selling album during his lifetime, surpassing What's Going On. Also, with the title track, Gaye broke his own record at Motown by surpassing the sales of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The album would be hailed "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy."[21]
Gaye began working on his final duet album, this time with Diana Ross for the Diana & Marvin project, an album of duets that began recording in 1972, while Ross was pregnant with her second child. Gaye refused to sing if he couldn't smoke in the studio, so the album was recorded by overdubbing Ross and Gaye at separate sessions. Released in fall 1973, the album yielded the US Top 20 hit singles "You're a Special Part of Me and "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" as well as the UK versions of The Stylistics's "You Are Everything" at #5 and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" at #25, respectively.
In 1976, Gaye released the I Want You LP, which yielded the title track as the number-one R&B single, and the modest charter, "After the Dance." Album tracks such as "Since I Had You" and "Soon I'll Be Loving You Again" geared Gaye towards more funky material.
In 1977, Gaye released the funk single, "Got to Give It Up", which went to number-one on the pop, R&B and dance singles charts and helped his Live at the London Palladium album sell two million copies, becoming one of the top ten best-selling albums of the year. The following year, after divorcing his wife, Anna, he agreed to remit a portion of his salary and sales of his upcoming album as alimony. The result was 1978's Here, My Dear, which addressed the sour points of his marriage and almost led to Anna filing a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. That album tanked and Gaye struggled. By 1979, besieged by tax problems and drug addictions, Gaye filed for bankruptcy and moved to Hawaii, where he lived in a bread van.
In 1980, he signed with British promoter Jeffrey Kruger to do concerts overseas with the promised highlight of a Royal Command Performance at London's Drury Lane in front of Princess Margaret. Gaye failed to make the stage; by the time he showed up, everyone had left. While in London, he worked on In Our Lifetime? When Motown issued the album in 1981, Gaye accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, releasing an unfinished song ("Far Cry"), altering the album art he requested and removing the question mark from the title - muting its irony. A special edition of the album was released in early 2007.
After being offered a chance to clear things up in Ostend, Belgium, he moved there in early 1981. Still upset over Motown's decision to release In Our Lifetime, he negotiated a release from the label and signed with Columbia Records in 1982, releasing the Midnight Love album late that year. The album included "Sexual Healing" (sample), which was Gaye's last hit.
The single reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart, where it stayed for ten weeks, later crossing to number three on Billboard's Hot 100. The single sold two million copies in the U.S. earning a platinum certification. The song also gave Gaye his first two Grammy Awards (Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, Best R&B Instrumental) in February 1983. It was nominated for Best R&B Song but lost to George Benson.
The following year, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again, this time 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 a drum machine.[22] In March 1983, he gave his final performance in front of his old mentor and label for Motown 25, performing "What's Going On". He then embarked on a U.S. tour to support his album. The tour, ending in August 1983, was plagued by health problems and Gaye's bouts with depression, and fear over an attempt on his life.
When the tour ended, he isolated himself by moving into his parents' house. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday, Gaye's father shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun he had given him four months before. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998.[23] In 1987, Gaye was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.
Gaye married twice. His first marriage was to Berry Gordy, Jr.'s sister, Anna Gordy, who was 17 years his senior. The marriage imploded after Marvin was courting the teenage daughter of Slim Gaillard, Janis Hunter, 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. 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 relentlessy passionate and emotionally rough-hewn; they played up each other's strengths, and played off each other's weaknesses.[24]
—Michael Eric Dyson
In October 1977, 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 Holland named Eugenie Vis. 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. Marvin Pentz Gaye, III (b. 1965) was adopted by Marvin and his first wife Anna. The singer disclosed the information in the David Ritz best-seller, 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" Christan 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 (b. 1995) was born on the anniversary of his grandfather's death[25] and Nolan Pentz Gaye (b. 1997).
In 1983, the British group Spandau Ballet recorded the single "True" as a tribute to Gaye and the Motown sound he helped establish. The day after Gaye died, Duran Duran dedicated their live performance of Save a Prayer on Arena. A year after his death, The Commodores made reference to Gaye's death in their 1985 song "Nightshift", as did the Violent Femmes in their 1988 song "See My Ships". Diana Ross paid tribute with her Top 10 single "Missing You" (1985), as did Teena Marie, a former Motown artist, with her album track "My Dear Mr. Gaye". The soul band Maze featuring Frankie Beverly recorded "Silky Soul" (1989) in honor of their mentor. He was also mentioned in the choral verse of George Michael's "John and Elvis Are Dead", on his album, Patience.
In 1992, the Israeli artist Izhar Ashdot dedicated his song "Eesh Hashokolad" to Gaye.
In 1995, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Speech of the group Arrested Development and Gaye's daughter Nona, paid tribute to Gaye with the tribute album, Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye, which included a documentary of the same name that aired on MTV. In 1999, R&B artists D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Brian McKnight and Will Downing paid their respects in a tribute album, Marvin Is 60. In October 2001, a cover of "What's Going On", produced by Jermaine Dupri, was issued as a benefit single, credited to "Artists Against AIDS Worldwide". The single, a reaction to the tragedy of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well as to AIDS, featured Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, Monica, Nelly Furtado, Alicia Keys, Aaron Lewis of the rock group StainD, Nas, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, P. Diddy, ?uestlove of The Roots, Britney Spears, and Gwen Stefani. The cover featured Nona Gaye, who sang one of the song's lines, "Father, father/we don't need to escalate".
In 1987, Gaye was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with his first wife Anna Gordy and son Marvin III accepting for him. He was given his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. In 1996, he was awarded the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored in song by admirers Annie Lennox and Seal. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #18 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[26]
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,[27] 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.
In 2005, A Perfect Circle released "What's Going On" as part of an anti-war CD titled eMOTIVe. The next year, it was announced that The Strokes were going to cover Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" on their next album. In October 2005, a discussion was delivered at Washington, D.C.'s City Council to change the name of a park located at Gaye's childhood neighborhood from Watts Branch Park to Marvin Gaye Park, and was offered so for $5 million to make the name change a reality. The park was renamed on April 2, 2006 on what would've been Gaye's 67th birthday.
Gaye's career "spanned the entire history of rhythm and blues from fifties doo-wop to eighties contemporary soul." [28] 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."[29]
A documentary about Gaye - What's Going On: The Marvin Gaye Story - was a UK/PBS USA co-production, directed by Jeremy Marre. 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". In 2006 ,Motown Records and Universal Music released "Marvin Gaye–The Real Thing In Performance: 1964–1981" A DVD collection featuring 16 vintage T.V. performances of Marvin's greatest hits. (The foreign version features 25 hits) .
A Marvin Gaye biopic, Marvin - The Marvin Gaye Story, is set for production in 2008 by Duncan McGillivray (Chairman of Film by Humans Production Co., LLC) with F. Gary Gray, the director of The Italian Job as director and singer Roberta Flack supervising the music.[30] It will be a biopic of the entire life story with all the key Motown and family members in Gaye's life. Another biopic, titled Sexual Healing, is set to start filming in 2008 with Jesse L. Martin playing Gaye, James Gandolfini playing Gaye's mentor, Freddy Couseart.[31] Gandolfini recently announced that he would be producing the film through his Attaboy Films company.
A play co-composed by Gaye's sister Zeola is currently playing. 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 ct 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[32] of the national anthem was used in a Nike commercial featuring the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
Top Ten Albums
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U.S. and UK Top Ten Singles
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gaye, Marvin |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gay, Marvin Pentz, Jr. |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 2, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Washington, D.C., United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 1, 1984 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Los Angeles, California, United States |