Marvin Gaye

Lushly romantic and powerfully affecting, sexually suggestive and intensely political, Marvin Gaye used his tenor voice to reshape popular music. Born April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C., the self-taught vocalist grew up singing in the church of his father, the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr. After joining the doo-wop group Moonglows while still in high school, Gaye relocated to Detroit and in 1961 signed with Motown Records. He had his first hit the next year with “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” and continued to record a string of solo successes during the sixties, including his first Top Ten single, 1963’s "Pride and Joy" and Motown’s best-selling “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” In 1964, Gaye began recording duets with Mary Wells and then Kim Weston. His greatest duets, however, were with Tammi Terrell, such as their 1967 classics “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Your Precious Love,” as well as 1968’s "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By." It was in 1971 though, with the release of his self-produced What’s Going On, that Marvin Gaye truly redefined the sound of soul music – thick and percussive, deeply sophisticated and socially conscious, the album stands as a masterpiece of the genre. He released Let’s Get It On in 1973, which found him discussing far more personal matters than that of his earlier, more broad-based political works; the album’s widely-loved title track, for example, seductively explores such themes as lust and simmering eroticism. In 1982, Gaye signed with Columbia Records, and shortly after won his first Grammy Award (for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance) for Midnight Love’s smash hit, “Sexual Healing.” On April 1, 1984, the world was devastated to learn of the tragic death of Marvin Gaye, who after a heated argument was shot and killed by his father. In 1996, Gaye was posthumously honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.



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