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45s.com -- Recording Artist Information: Marvin Gaye
Date Born April 2, 1939 Location Washington, D.C. Deceased April 1, 984 - shot by his father Music R&B singer Charted Pop/Rock Hits 56 Period Active October 20, 1962 to 1982 Biggest Hits I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Let's Get It On, Got To Give It Up, What's Going On, Sexual Healing Music List and Data Search Music List Notable Information Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1987.
Other Names Other Web Sites Collins' Oldies Site: Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. The following information was obtained from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
Marvin Gaye made an amazing contribution to soul music in general and the Motown sound in particular. In his early days at Motown, he played drums and piano on tour and in the studio for the likes of the Miracles and the Marvelettes . He wrote and cowrote songs for himself and other Motown artists, including the all-time soul classic, "Dancing in the Street," by Martha and Vandellas. As a solo artist, he recorded in a variety of , ranging from crooning pop balladeer to gritty soul singer to socially conscious auteur of ambitious concept albums. At every stage in his multifaceted career, he projected an air of honesty and conviction driven by a fervid idealism. In the words of biographer David Ritz, Gaye's voice was that of "an angel trapped in a man."
He was born Marvin Pentz Gay (he would later add the "e" to his surname) on April 2, 1939, in Washington D.C. His father was an Apostolic preacher, while his mother worked as a domestic. The family grew up in the poverty of the southwest Washington projects. Gaye sought to escape both his father's stern hand and the realities of the ghetto through music. His primary influences were rhythm & blues and black vocal groups, including such performers as Rudy West (of the Five Keys), Clyde McPhatter (of the Drifters), Ray Charles and Little Willie John. In 1958, Gaye's first group, a doo-wop quartet called the Marquees, got tapped by Harvey Fuqua - leader of the Moonglows, a Detroit vocal group - to replace the original members of the Moonglows. Through Fuqua's acquaintance with Berry Gordy, Gaye wound up at Motown.
Though he initially envisioned himself a supper club singer who dreamed of becoming "the black Frank Sinatra," Gaye succeeded at Motown as a soul man who trained his talent upon a younger audience. In 1962, he wrote and produced a series of hits for Mary Wells that included "You Beat Me to the Punch" and "Two Lovers." Gaye's first success under his name came that same year with "Stubborn Kind of Fellow." From that point forward, Gaye entered the Top Forty no less than 40 times, both on his own and with various duettists, including Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. He connected with uptempo dance tunes ("Hitch Hike," "Can I Get a Witness," "I'll Be Doggone") and more romantic fare that spotlighted his mid-range tenor ("How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You," "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"). Gaye's scored his greatest triumph with his edgy, sinuous version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," produced and co-written by Motown staffer Norman Whitfield and released in 1968. A Number Two pop single (Number One R&B), it sold four million copies and became Motown's biggest-selling single of the Sixties.
From 1967 to 1969, Gaye and Terrell reigned as R&B's hottest duo, cutting hit after hit with the songwriting and production team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Their hot streak, which included "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You," ended tragically when Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms during a 1967 performance in Virginia. Three years later, she died of a brain tumor, and Gaye remarked, "I felt that I had somehow died with her."
Subsequently, Gaye reinvented and redefined himself to become Motown's first truly autonomous artist. His artistry reached its peak with 1971's What's Going On, an audacious concept album that mused on such issues as Vietnam, drugs, inequality and the environment against a free-flowing musical backdrop that drew on jazz, pop and the classics. Besides establishing a new credibility for Motown in a more album-oriented age, it yielded three influential and politically potent hit singles: "Inner City Blues," "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and the title track. After this groundbreaking work, Gaye shifted his concerns from the street to his own life and intermittently produced other moody masterpieces, including the unabashedly erotic Let's Get It On (1973) and the idiosyncratic deconstruction of his failed marriage to Anna Gordy, Here, My Dear (1978).
After 20 years at Motown, Gaye left the label for Columbia, where he staged a major comeback with Midnight Love (1982) and its Number Three single, "Sexual Healing." Like much of Gaye's work throughout his brilliant career, it veered between the sensual and the spiritual. Despite his renascent success, both on the charts and as a live performer, Gaye remained troubled by drug problems and depression. He moved into his parents' home, where he frequently quarreled with his father, much as he had throughout his teenage years. On April 1, 1984, a Sunday morning, he was shot to death at point-blank range by his father during an argument.
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