Marvin Gaye Biography, Facts

"Years back, when we were still in Detroit, Berry saw my acting potential, even before he started pushing Diana. He wanted to do the Sam Cooke story and have me play the lead. This was in 1964 when Sam had just died. I told Berry the idea was morbid. I got the chills thinking about it. There was no way I´d even consider the role. It made me extreamly nervous to even think about a soul singer who gets shot to death." - Marvin Gaye

Career:

Gaye's career resurgence brought with it an increased reliance on cocaine; finally, his personal demons forced him back to the U.S., where he moved in with his parents in an attempt to regain control of his life. Tragically, the return home only exacerbated his spiral into depression; he and his father quarrelled bitterly, and Gaye threatened suicide on a number of occasions. Finally, on the afternoon of April 1, 1984 - one day before his 45th birthday - Gaye was shot and killed by the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr. in the aftermath of a heated argument. In the wake of his death, Motown and Columbia teamed to issue two 1985 collections of outtakes, Dream of a Lifetime - a compilation of erotic funk workouts teamed with spiritual ballads - and the big-band inspired Romantically Yours. (Vulnerable, a collection of ballads which took over 12 years to complete, finally saw release in 1996.) With Gaye's death also came a critical re-evaluation of his work, which deemed What's Going On to be one of the landmark albums in pop history, and his 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame permanently enshrined him among the pantheon of musical greats.

Detailed Biography of Marvin Gaye / Early Years:

Marvin Pentz Gay II was born April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C. Later in life he changed his name to Marvin Gaye. His father, Reverend Marvin Gay Sr, was an ordained minister in the House of G-d, described as 'Hebrew Pentecostal' it was a strange mix of Christianity and Judaism. Reverend Gay was a frighteningly tough disciplinarian.

Early Career:

Marvin Gaye started singing in the church as an infant. He also took up the piano and drums. At 15, he joined the 'doowop' group, The Rainbows. Marvin also sang with The Moonglows.

After high school, Marvin joined the United States Air Force and then, after being discharged, joined several doo wop groups, settling on The Marquees, a popular local group in D.C.. With Bo Diddley, The Marquees released a single, "Wyatt Earp" in 1958 on Okeh, and were then recruited by Harvey Fuqua to become The Moonglows. "Mama Loocie", released in 1959 on Chess Records, was Gaye's first single with the Moonglows. After a concert in Detroit, Michigan, Gaye was recruited for a solo career by Motown Records.

Marvin Gaye worked with The Miracles, The Contours, Martha & the Vandellas, and other Motown acts as a session drummer and part-time songwriter. He is the drummer on Little Stevie Wonder's 1963 #1 hit "Fingertips--Pt. 2", and co-wrote Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' 1964 hit "Dancing In The Street" and The Marvelettes' 1962 hit "Beechwood 4-5789". Popular and well-liked around Motown, Gaye already carried himself in a sophisticated, gentleman-like manner, and had little need of training from Motown's in-house Artist Development director Miss Maxine Powell. Gaye married Berry Gordy's sister Anna in 1961.

Gaye's first three Motown singles were all unsuccessful; he finally scored a minor hit with his fourth attempt, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", in 1962. 1963's "Hitch Hike" and "Can I Get a Witness" were also minor hits. These earlier records featured a "churchiness". In 1963, "Pride & Joy" became a smash hit. Gaye wanted instead to be a pop singer in the vein of Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra, but settled for a blend of the styles of those artists with the passionate soul singing of performers such as Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson.

Late Career:

Not only did Marvin Gaye score as a solo artist, but proved himself a polished duet partner. "What's the Matter With You, Baby" with Mary Wells, "It Takes Two" with Diana Ross enjoyed widespread popularity. But it was his pairing with Tammi Terrel that created a series of classics - "You're All I Need to Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", "You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'", "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" - remarkable for their sweeping lyricism. Norman Whitfield became Mavin's main motivator in the mid-to-late sixties. Their relationship was difficult. Two head-strong men who nearly came to blows, they created sounds combining passionate yearning and restless anger. Whitfield's songs appealed to Gaye in their reflection of the turmoil of Marvin's marriage to Anna. And their most formidable collaboration, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", expressed an anguish not before heard in Marvin's voice.

Marvin articulated his declaration of independence in 1971. Now he would produce himself, singing his own songs, setting his own agenda. The result was a landmark in world pop, "What's Going On", a stunningly complex construct - and one of the first concept albums - in which Gaye's views of Vietnam, ecology, racism and religion are fashioned into haunting musical modes. What's Going On became one of the most memorable soul albums of all time, and, based upon its themes, the concept album became the next new frontier for soul music.

Schock: From high social consciousness to a celebration of wild eroticism:

The shift from "What's Going On" to "Let's Get It On" in 1973 delighted Gaye's fans and served to strengthen his image as both unpredictable iconoclast and mysterious love man. While making "Let's Get It On", 33 year-old Marvin met Janis Hunter who, at 16, would become the second great love of his life. (Marvin and Anna adopted one son, Marvin III; before divorcing Anna, Marvin whould have two children with Janis, Frankie and Nona, now a singer in her own right).

Marvin teamed up with Diana Ross for Diana & Marvin, an album of duets that began recording in 1971, while Ross was pregnant with her first child, Rhonda. Gaye, a longtime marijuana user, refused to put out his joints out for the pregnant Ross, who immediately complained to Berry Gordy about the issue. Gaye refused to sing if he couldn't smoke in the studio, and the duets album was recorded by overdubbing Ross and Gaye at separate studio session dates.

Marvin Gaye released "I Want You" and the album of the same name by himself as his marriage finally ended in 1975. In between the controversy surrounding him, Gaye released the seminal funk/disco single, "Got to Give It Up", which went to No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts in 1977. in 1978, the exquisite epic document of the decay of his marriage to Anna. Its theme, "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You", was esepecially poignant; by the time the album was out, Marvin's second marriage was also in shambles, precipitating a collapse in his psyche and career. After a failed single and a rapidly failing new marriage to a teenage girl, Gaye moved to Hawaii. Tax problems and drug addictions haunted him, and after failing to get Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson to loan him money to take care of the tax issues, Gaye was forced to move to Ostend, Belgium in 1981.

He poured his agonized conflicts into his final album for Motown in 1981, "In Our Lifetime", and nearly hit bottom in London. His salvation, if only temporary, came with a move to Ostend, Belgium, where he and I, based on arhythm track by Odell Brown, wrote the lyrics to "Sexual Healing".

Death of Marvin Gaye:

Gaye's refound fame pushed him even deeper into drug addiction and he attempted to isolate himself by moving into his parent's house. He threatened to commit suicide several times after numerous bitter arguments with his father, Marvin, Sr. On April 1, 1984, one day before his forty-fifth birthday, Gaye was shot and killed by his father in an argument, becoming a famous victim of filicide.