Nona Gaye

Nona Marvisa Gaye (born September 4, 1974) is an American singer, former fashion model, and actress. The daughter of soul music legend Marvin Gaye and granddaughter of jazz great Slim Gaillard, she began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s. As an actress, she is best known for her portrayal of Zee in the 2003 science fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Biography

Early life and career

Gaye is the only daughter of singer Marvin Gaye and his wife Janis Gaye. She is Marvin's second child – her brother Marvin III (sometimes referred to as Marvin Gaye, Jr.) was from Gaye's first marriage while her younger brother Frankie was born within a year after her. As a baby, Nona was brought out on stage by her father during a concert. At eight, she formally introduced her father on Soul Train during a tribute episode to the singer.

Gaye released her first album, Love for the Future, on Atlantic Records in 1992, a month after her 18th birthday. The album featured the top 20 hit "I'm Overjoyed" as well as "The Things That We All Do For Love". The following year, Gaye was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. She signed to Ford Modeling Agency in 1994, and became the new face of Armani.

For three years, Gaye both collaborated with and dated singer-songwriter Prince. During this time, she recorded at least four songs with him. A duet, "1000 Hugs and Kisses" and solo track, "Snowman" are currently unreleased, but have made their way into circulation amongst fans. Another duet, "Love Sign", was released on the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album in 1994, along with another track with no Prince contribution, "A Woman's Gotta Have It". Gaye provided backing vocals on "We March" for Prince's 1995 album, The Gold Experience, and on the title track to the Girl 6 soundtrack, released in 1996. Gaye has candidly admitted that during this time she had a long personal battle with drug abuse, which she successfully kicked in 1996.^[3]

In addition to these projects, she starred in a Prince-produced European TV special called The Beautiful Experience, consisting of a loose storyline to promote new material from Prince (most of which would be released at some point over the next few years).

Later career

Gaye appeared alongside other artists to re-record and release her father's single "What's Going On" for AIDS research in 2001. That same year, she began her acting career, debuting in Michael Mann's Ali. In 2002, she replaced Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash shortly after the filming of the Matrix sequels began, for the role of Zee, the wife of Harold Perrineau's character Link.

At one point, she worked with R. Kelly on two as-yet-released singles, "Work It" & "Just Because", which interpolates the Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head".

In July 2006, Gaye was added to the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent as a replacement for Courtney B. Vance as the new Assistant District Attorney. However, just as the series began production for its sixth season,^[4] she left the show, citing "creative differences". Gaye was replaced by Theresa Randle, who left after filming only two shows.

In 2008, three previously recorded tracks by Gaye appeared for sale at AmieStreet.com in EP form. The EP was entitled Language of Love and contains the tracks "Quarter To Three" and "Midas Lover", along with the title track.

Filmography

Film

Video games

Awards/nominations

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2006, Best Actress: The Gospel (Nominated)
  • 2002, Best Supporting Actress: Ali (Winner)

• Image Awards
  • 2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: The Matrix Revolutions (Nominated)

Discography

Albums

• Love for the Future (Third Stone/Atlantic, 1992)
• Language of Love (AmieStreet.com, 2008)

Singles

• "I'm Overjoyed" (Third Stone/Atlantic, 1992)
• "The Things That We All Do for Love" (Third Stone/Atlantic, 1993)
• "Love Sign" (duet with Prince) (NPG, 1994)

References

External links

• Nona Gaye at the Internet Movie Database
• Nona Gaye at AllMusic