Marvin gaye biography. Biography. One of the greatest albums of all time - nine unusual and timeless chamber soul songs

Marvin Gaye was born in 1939 in Washington into a Christian family. WITH three years sang in the church choir, then as a teenager learned to play the organ. By the age of 15, he mastered the keyboards and drums and performed with various black street groups, including The Rainbows and the Moonglows, who played rhythm and blues. In 1957, he joined the Marquees group, which performed romantic jazz ballads and even released one album. In 1961, Marvin was noticed by Berry Gordy, founder of the record label Motown Records, who was struck by his beautiful young voice with a three-octave range and offered a contract.

From 1962 to 1965, Marvin Gaye continued to work primarily in the rhythm and blues style, his most famous compositions There were “Can I Get a Witness” (1963) and “Stubborn Kind of Fellow”, which was included in the TOP10 list. Then, according to the idea of ​​Motown producers, Marvin begins recording a duet with such famous performers as Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. His compositions included mostly romantic blues and rhythmic dance jazz suites, including the famous “Baby Don’t Do It” (1967). In 1970, after tragic death After losing his last partner Tammi Terrell to a stroke on stage, Marvin dramatically changes his style. His new album"What's Going On" (1971), a mixture of jazz, funk and classical, addressed many serious issues such as racism and drug addiction. Despite Motown Records' misgivings, the album was a huge success. The funk song “Mercy, Mercy Me” was especially popular. With the release of this album, Marvin Gaye gradually achieved creative and financial independence from Motown. And the next album, “Let’s Get It On” (1973), becomes his most successful work.

Marvin Gaye paved the way to the stage for many talented funk performers. It was he who brought the young Stevie Wonder to the stage, and in 1973 his joint album with Diana Ross was released.

Unfortunately, the evil that Marvin fought in his songs did not bypass him either. His recordings from the late 1970s reveal his increasingly destructive addiction to cocaine. Fleeing tax problems, in 1980 Marvin moved to Europe, where one of his last lifetime live albums, “In Our Lifetime,” was soon released.

His last album, “Midnight Love” (1982), and the song “Sexual Healing” from it were awarded a Grammy Award in the category “Best Male Vocal Rhythm & Blues.”

Marvin's father, a priest, believing that the singer's profession was a disgrace for his family, in one of the quarrels at the family table... shot Marvin. April 1, 1984.

In 2008, American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Marvin 6th on its list of the greatest singers of all time, and 18th out of 100 greatest artists of all times.

What does it sound like

Almost all of the 1960s Motown songs recorded by black artists from Detroit always sounded the same: until about 1965, they were recorded R'n'B hits driven by repeated guitar or piano chords, after which they became richly arranged high pop music. with obligatory strings and winds. Even though Gaye's hits are superficially indistinguishable from the rest of the label's material, he seems to be the strangest performer on Motown's entire hit roster at the time. The reason for this is his unique, completely unimitable voice. From the very beginning, the gay man did not fit into the framework of that characteristic (emphasis on the second syllable) voice that Motown boss Berry Gordy was endlessly searching for. He could never deliver the high melodrama of Diana Ross from The Supremes, the street brashness of David Ruffin from The Temptations, the deep sensuality of Left Stubbs from the Four Tops, and even less so the refined teenage tenderness of first Stevie Wonder and then Michael Jackson. Passed through church choirs and doo-wap Gay developed a special style - a wild voice that changes during one song from baritone to tenor, a very gospel voice. Of the singers of similar stature from the 1960s, he can only be compared to Wilson Pickett - but while he sounded like a Neanderthal at the microphone, Gay sounded more like a man stunned by life's endless problems. Actually, many of his early hits are about just such problems: Gay scours the United States in search of a girl who ran away from him (“Hitch Hike,” which influenced everyone from Lou Reed to Johnny Marr with its guitar rhythm), learns from unfamiliar people about betrayal (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, almost best song of all times and peoples), is trying to get along with thoughts of breaking up (“Can I Get a Witness,” by far the wildest song on early Motown). Even in lyrical or relatively calm things, in which Gay speaks about one and indivisible love, notes of internal dissatisfaction and lack of reconciliation with oneself are still heard in his voice.

Place in history

It was Gay, along with Smokey Robinson, who was the first superstar of Motown - and in many ways shaped the famous sound of the label, which at the beginning of its history released comic records, lounge jazz, country, and much more, and raised its internal bar to the prohibitive height. Released in 1970 "Super Hits" - still best collection his hits. Motown's albums of those years were traditionally a weak point, although - to be fair - Berry Gordy once tried not very successfully to make Gay an album artist (see the albums "Moods of Marvin Gaye" or "M.P.G.").

Example

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"

Compilation of the best duets of Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell - the greatest of the Motown star tandems of the sixties

What does it sound like

Marvin Gaye was not only an important solo artist for Motown, but also the most suitable singer on the roster for recording mixed-sex duets, a popular segment of pop music in the sixties. Back in 1964, his collaborations with Mary Wells “Once Upon a Time” and “What’s the Matter With You Baby"became all-American hits. Two years later, thanks to the heavy R'n'B "It Takes Two", Gay repeated his success together with Kim Weston, and in 1967 he finally found a permanent partner - the not very successful solo singer Tammy Terrell, the girlfriend of David Ruffin from The Temptations. Gay and Terrell wrote their duets separately from each other - which can be heard from the not-so-successful mixes of the songs themselves - but this did not in the least prevent one from feeling 100% chemistry in their voices (baseless rumors about their romance followed immediately after the couple’s first hit). Most of the duo's material was, however, of second freshness, but at least "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" are classics of sixties duets, standing on the same level as Lee's "Some Velvet Morning" Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra or “Je t'aime... moi non plus” by Gainsbourg and Birkin.

Place in history

"Greatest Hits" gives the best insight into Gay's career as a duetist - a career that was important but short-lived and tragic. Terrell, whom Gay, according to the recollections of Motown employees, treated like his own sister, was diagnosed with brain cancer back in 1967, at the age of twenty-two - which by the end of the decade had turned her into a wheelchair a blind and deaf woman, and a year later he killed. Gay took his partner’s illness very hard - he went into a year and a half depression, from which, however, he emerged as a completely different person.

Example

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

One of the greatest albums of all time - nine unusual and timeless chamber soul songs

What does it sound like

In mid-1969, when Terrell was already quite ill, Berry Gordy persuaded Gay to record another joint album with her - “Easy”, published in September of that year. It was the recording of this record that became the starting point for Gay in his crusade against Motown's policies, which effectively controlled the lives of the label's artists. At first, he simply stopped communicating with Gordy (even the fact that Gay’s wife was Anna Gordy, Berry’s sister, did not help the Motown boss), and then he completely announced that he was leaving music. He spent the spring of 1970 training with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League and thinking about a career in sports, but as a result of the training he turned out to be too old and weak for a career as an American football player, which, according to all of Gay’s biographers, became very difficult for him. a serious blow. Around the same time, the previously apolitical Gay began to closely follow political events inside the USA - according to Anna Gordy, this interest was explained by the singer’s meeting with his brother, who had returned from Vietnam at that time. In the summer, being in a completely deafening depression, he recorded “What’s Going On” - a sad piano soul song about the uncertainty within the country, between the lines of which the drama of the uncertainty of Gay’s own life was easily read. Berry Gordy refused to release the song as a single - and Gay had no choice but to boycott the label. “What’s Going On” hit the market only at the beginning of 1971 - and became Motown’s best-selling song in its entire history. Amazed by the success of the song, Gordy booked a studio for Gay and - for the first time in the history of the company, which always relied on in-house producers - gave the musician complete carte blanche to record.

The very title of “What’s Going On” makes it easy to guess the state in which Gay was during recording: the songs here seem to be out of focus. Each of them contains a melody that inherits all the hallmarks of the Motown hits of the 1960s, but it is not always heard behind the unusual arrangements, atypical for any soul album of those years: instead of funk, bass, flirtations with psychedelic soul - here are rare and accurate piano chords, muffled percussion sound, light and lyrical saxophone. The blur of focus is also enhanced by Gay’s voice, firstly, who sang much softer than on his previous hits, and secondly, during the course of the record, several times he launched into lengthy half-sung, half-spoken monologues.

Place in history

Now “What’s Going On” sounds like a precursor to a million different things, from the introspective Stevie Wonder albums of the mid-1970s to the soft black radio music of the late 1980s and early 1990s; in 1971 it sounded like the most avant-garde pop music ever. However, one only has to hear three singles from this record - the title track, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)” - to understand that this is the avant-garde that in no way does not run away from the listener, but on the contrary, reaches out to him. On "What's Going On" Gay doesn't say anything important - most of his lyrics are about his ex in the early 1970s commonplace peaceful political protest, ecology and the difficult life of African-Americans of the lower classes - but he says all this more convincingly and sensitively than many.

Example

"What's Going On"

The soundtrack to Ivan Dixon's blaxplotation "Trouble Man" - made in the wake of the success of the music of Isaac Hayes for "Shaft" and Curtis Mayfield for "Superfly" and is almost entirely instrumental

What does it sound like

"Trouble Man" is a fairly masterful, but completely typical soundtrack for its time, for a niche film for African-Americans. Funky bass, sharp crescendos, an atmosphere of heavy night fatigue subtly present in the music - everything here seems to have been made based on the same “Shaft”. The only exception is the plangent blues “Trouble Man,” which Gay delivers with the impeccable conviction of a man in trouble.

Place in history

There is no need to be surprised that this album is present in Gay’s discography. Firstly, this was the era. Secondly, Gay himself just started in Motown as an instrumentalist (mainly a drummer), arranger and producer - and “Trouble Man” gives a full picture of these talents.

Example

The sexiest soul album in history

What does it sound like

The best way to describe this record is a quote from its booklet, written by Gay himself: “There is nothing wrong with consensual sex. I think we're being too hard on him. Genitals are just part of the amazing human body. SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. Taken together, they complement each other. But sex and love are two completely different human needs, and we should think about them that way.” “Let’s Get It On” is really an album not about love, but about sex, about desire, about bodily craving. Slow, ballad driven, driven by very typical guitar inclinations, it is quite similar to “What’s Going On” in terms of its slightly ghostly sound, but is as far removed from its predecessor as possible in mood, texture and form. The melodies here are much more tangible, the groove is much more sensual, in the lyrics there is not a drop of topicality, care or search for truth, but exceptional hedonism. The key thing is “Distant Lover”, just the slowest and most attractive, the most suitable music in the world not for sex itself, but for the caresses that occur after it.

Place in history

“Let’s Get It On” is important for the contextual understanding of Gay as an individual. Growing up in an extremely religious environment, as a child Gay perceived any thoughts of physical love as exclusively sinful - as a result, as an adult he suffered from problems with potency and indecisiveness in relationships with women. This record is also an important attempt for Gay himself to overcome his own complexes. It couldn't be more intimate.

Example

"Let's Get It On"

An album of Gay's duets with Diana Ross, another Motown superstar.

What does it sound like

After Tammy Terrell's death, Gay vowed never to record duets again - but in the wake of the sudden success of "What's Going On" and under the influence of Anna Gordy, he somewhat revised his views. A record of duets with Diana Ross, created according to the good old principle of the Motown factory - other people's songs, third-party producers, control over every step of the performer - looked to him from the outside like quick way expand your audience even further without straining yourself. The second one didn’t work out very well - although both Ross and Gay had enormous experience working in the Motown system, the album sessions turned out to be absolute hell for both of them, who turned out to be completely different people. The first one turned out better - the record actually sold a million copies, and Berry Gordy was very pleased. Nowadays, “Diana & Marvin” cannot be listened to as anything other than an attempt to make a quick buck. The song material here is rather weak, the arrangements tend towards music of the lower category for housewives, and no chemistry is felt between the performers themselves - Gay for some reason screams all the time, and during the recording Ross, who is pregnant, seems to be preparing for motherhood and singing lullabies.

Place in history

Despite its rather low quality, this is still the only joint record of two pop music legends of its kind - and this alone is of considerable cultural interest.

Example

"My Mistake (Was to Love You)»

The best live album in Gay's discography

What does it sound like

It's hard to believe, but Gay, one of the most charismatic black singers of the sixties, was not a particularly good performer when he was a full-time performer on the Motown roster. concert performer. There are two principal documentary evidence of this: the 1963 concert album “Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage” and the recording of his concert at the Copacabana club, made in 1966, but released only forty years later. Both of these records are, to put it mildly, not “Live at the Harlem Square Club” by Sam Cooke or “In Person at the Whiskey a Go Go” by Otis Redding: the incredible introvert Gay was clearly afraid of a large audience and big stage and struggled for a long time to suppress these phobias. "Live!", recorded during the Let's Get It On tour, introduces us to a seasoned Gay - and performing in front of a mostly black audience in Oakland. Such a Gay is also far from an ideal concert performer (in particular, through a nine-minute medley of old Motown hits that he clearly dislikes, he makes his way with the ease of a man fulfilling court-imposed debt obligations), but at least he is already able to forget about the audience and sing as if only for himself . The proof is a gorgeous version of “Distant Lover”, spliced ​​with the theme from “Trouble Man” and performed not as a suggestive ballad, but as a real church hymn.

Place in history

Gay later released another live album - “Live at the London Palladium”, traditionally considered better than “Live!”. This, however, is far from an indisputable point of view: firstly, there is even more classic Motown on it than on Live! - in addition to a nine-minute solo medley, there is also an eleven-minute (!) medley of duets, both of which Gay performs on obvious autopilot - and secondly, the song material on him is clearly weaker than that, which is presented on “Live!”

"Distant Lover"

Another Marvin Gaye album about sex, this time about sex for love: while recording “I Want You,” Gaye was literally obsessed with a woman named Janice Hunter

What does it sound like

Like a much funkier and more powerful version of "Let's Get It On" with one big exception - the almost complete absence of truly standout songs. If you subtract the infectious title track and the instrumental version of the song “After the Dance” (strikingly similar to Alexander Zatsepin’s music for “The Secret of the Third Planet”), the bottom line on “I Want You” is deeply sentimental and not fully structured songs that sometimes break off at the most unexpected moments and, in a bad way, devoid of any shame. Several times throughout the record, the listener is offered a recording of a certain woman orgasming - a cheap move that would have worked for anonymous soundtracks to seventies porn films, but here it comes across as a calculated and clichéd trick that pushes too hard on the conceptual side of the record.

Place in history

Leaving aside the subjective view of the author of this “textbook” on “I Want You”, it is impossible not to mention that the record is generally considered an absolutely classic - along with “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On”. If only for this reason it is worth listening to - it is possible that the author’s heart is simply deaf to the fusion of drive and tenderness that is usually heard in “I Want You”.

Example

What does it sound like

Devastated by an apparent lack of finances resulting from a reckless spending habit and a serious cocaine addiction, Gay saw the work on Here, My Dear as a quick way to earn the money he owed his first wife after his divorce - the record was expected to be released short and will consist mainly of various kinds of pop standards. However, as soon as the sessions for the album had just begun, the musician suddenly became immensely carried away by the work - and he began to compose something completely different. The result was a double album of half-improvised songs in the format of diary entries - with lyrics that openly talked about Gay's everyday and marital problems. Naturally, “Here, My Dear” failed miserably. Naturally, critics adore him - including the author of these lines. Even more spontaneous than “What’s Going On”, even less structured than “I Want You”, narcissistic and betraying the singer’s completely non-status self-pity, “Here, My Dear” is a concentration of all the shortcomings of Gay’s music of the seventies - and brings them to the point of no return, turning them into advantages. Key, repeated in different options Already three times the song on “Here, My Dear” is called “When did you stop loving me? When did I stop loving you? - and the music of the record seems to be looking for an answer to this to no avail. eternal question. Although the basis of the album is classic light funk, Gay breaks into doo-wap at various moments, quotes his old songs, turns to cosmic motifs clearly borrowed from George Clinton, and leaves the listener alone with multi-minute saxophone solos. This whole kaleidoscope of light styles is accompanied by lyrics clearly composed by Gay on the fly about complete collapse and disappointment in life, which cannot be prevented by newfound love (“Falling In Love Again”), resulting in not even a record, but a monodrama of unheard-of power.

Place in history

“What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On” are unattainable peaks in Gay’s work, but “Here, My Dear” is a key album for understanding him as a person. A deeply imperfect person - but, unlike many, not afraid to expose these imperfections to the general public.

Example

"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"

A disco album purported to be a concept record about God and the world through the eyes of Marvin Gaye, remixed and remastered by Motown without the musician's permission

What does it sound like

Immediately after “Here, My Dear,” Gay, already completely bankrupt and even breaking up with Janice Hunter, under the command of an army of Motown producers, recorded a full-fledged disco album called “Love Man” - but managed to withdraw it at the last moment, left for London and, armed with kilograms of cocaine, he remade the record into a concept album about the structure of all living things. Then some not very clear things happened: somehow the entire master of the album ended up with Motown, which remixed the finished songs and removed the song “ Far Cry"and changed the already finished design of the record, at the same time removing its title from the plan - “In Our Lifetime?” - question mark. After this, Gay finally broke with his label and stopped communicating with it in any way - and called the resulting record “ridiculous.” In 2007, “In Our Lifetime?” was re-released on two discs, which contain Gay’s original mix, the Motown version, the Love Man album, and even the single “Ego Tripping Out,” recorded before the musician left for London. So what's the end result? Firstly, Gay's anger can clearly be attributed to his poor health and drug addiction - if between his version of "In Our Lifetime?" and the label's mix there are differences, then fairly minimal. Secondly, the album “Love Man” turns out to be not as bad as one might expect. Yes, this is a shameless attempt to force Gay into the confines of club disco - but, with the exception of the terrible lyrics, it is, frankly, a good attempt; not Donna Summer, but not Rod Stewart either. As for “In Our Lifetime?” itself, this record plays even more strongly on the contrast of music (disco, but much less obvious and in some places even close to what the ZE Records label released in those years) and lyrics (absolutely depressive and sometimes even frighteningly gloomy) than “Here, My Dear”, which turns out to be almost the funkiest and most danceable in Gay’s discography - and without any bad songs at all.

Place in history

Gaye's most underrated album. "In Our Lifetime?" - this is far from “What’s Going On”, but it is not at all clear why the reputation of this recording does not go beyond the amusing incident in the career of a great singer.

Example

Gay's last lifetime album, which suddenly returned him to the charts

What does it sound like

After the story with “In Our Lifetime?” Gay moved to live in Belgium - where he recorded his final record. Dedicated, as in better times, sex and rhythm, “Midnight Love” is no longer even soul, not funk, not disco, but real synthpop with Caribbean motifs. Drum machines are knocking, synthesizers are singing - and the extremely perky-sounding Gay plays the role of a man in whose house the best party in the world is about to begin. At first this makes a strange impression: it is impossible to believe that this frivolous, filled with intonations of songs for Hollywood films eighties about surfing and romance novels on golden beaches, the album truly belongs to the pen of Gay, who always strived for high spiritual drama. Then you get used to it - and it turns out that the lightness of “Midnight Love” only benefits this record. This is best seen in the main hit “Sexual Healing” - a surprisingly beautiful and personal song, without its strange arrangement it would lose its naturalness and would probably become a little more ponderous.

Place in history

Two years after the release of “Midnight Love,” Gay was shot and killed by his own father - and the last disc of the singer, who went through a lot of troubles and saw a lot of troubles, turned out to be, ironically, the most inconsistent with his biography. Therefore, if there is anything to close the story about Gay, it is his performance of the US anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. An incredible performance - and a good indication of the caliber of man he was.

By the age of 15, he mastered keyboards and drums and performed with various black street groups, including “The Rainbows” and “Moonglows”, who played rhythm and blues. In 1957, he joined the group "Marquees", which performed romantic jazz ballads and even released one album. In 1961, Marvin was noticed by Berry Gordy, the founder of the record label Motown Records, who was struck by his beautiful young voice, three octaves deep, and offered a contract.

From 1962 to 1965, Marvin Gaye continued to work primarily in the style of "rhythm and blues", his most famous compositions were "Can I get a witness" (1963) and "Stubborn kind of fellow", which was included in the TOP10. Then, according to the idea of ​​Motown producers, Marvin began recording a duet with such famous performers as Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. Among his compositions were mainly romantic blues and rhythmic dance jazz suites, including the famous "Baby don't do it" (1967). In 1970, after the tragic death of his last partner Tammi Terrell from a stroke right on stage, Marvin dramatically changes his style. His new album "What's going on" (1971), which was a mixture of jazz, funk and classical, touched on many serious issues, such as racism and drug addiction. Despite Motown Records' misgivings, the album was a huge success. The funk composition "Mercy, mercy me" was especially popular. With the release of this album, Marvin Gaye gradually achieved creative and financial independence from Motown. And the next album, “Let’s get it on” (1973), becomes his most successful work.

Marvin Gaye paved the way to the stage for many talented funk performers. It was he who brought the young Stevie Wonder to the stage, and in 1973 his joint album with Diana Ross was released. Unfortunately, the evil that Marvin fought in his songs did not bypass him either. His recordings from the late 1970s reveal his increasingly destructive addiction to cocaine. Fleeing tax problems, in 1980 Marvin moved to Europe, where one of his last live albums, “In our lifetime,” was soon released. His last album “Midnight love” (1982) and the composition “Sexual healing” from it were awarded a Grammy Award in the category “Best Male Vocal in the Style of Rhythm & Blues”. At the end of 1983, Marvin Gaye fell into a long drug-induced depression and began to constantly talk about suicide. Unable to bear his torment any longer, Marvin's father shot and killed his son in April 1984.

Discography:

1961 - The soulful of Marvin Gaye

1963 - That stubborn kind of fellow

1964 - When I "m alone I cry

1964 - Together (with Mary Wells)

1964 - Hello Broadway, this is Marvin

1965 - How sweet it is to be loved by you

1965 - A tribute to the great nat king cole

1966 - Moods of Marvin Gaye

1966 - Take two (with Kim Weston)

1967 - United (with Tammy Terrell)

1968 - I heard it through the grapevine

1968 - You"re all I need (to get by) (with Tammy Terrell)

1969 - Easy (with Tammy Terrell)

1970 - That's the way love is

1971 - What's going on

1972 - Trouble man (film soundtrack)

1973 - Let's get it on

1973 - Diana & Marvin

1976 - I want you

1977 - At the London Palladium (live)

1978 - Here my dear

1981 - In our lifetime

According to Rolling Stone magazine, this musician was ranked 6th on the list of “The Greatest Singers of All Time” and 18th on the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born in Washington on April 2, 1939. His father served as a priest, and therefore it is not surprising that the boy began his career in a church choir. Quite quickly, Marvin was entrusted with solo roles, and a little later, at home, he mastered the piano and drums. After graduating from school and serving in air force, Gaye returned to the American capital, where he began performing with street doo-op groups. When Marvin was working with The Rainbows, Bo Diddley organized the guys to release a single, and this in turn led to the ensemble being accompanied by the then famous singer Harvey Fuqua. Renamed The Moonglows, the group moved to Chicago, where they recorded discs for Chess, and when the group was on tour in Detroit, Gaye's graceful tenor and three-octave range were noted by local impresario Berry Gordy, who pushed the musician to Motown ".

At first, Marvin had to work in this office as a session drummer, and his first singles failed. Only on his fourth attempt (the "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" EP) Gay managed to attract attention, but already in 1963, two of his dance numbers, "Hitch Hike" and "Can I Get A Witness", broke into the Top 30. A little later Marvin also hit the top ten (" Pride And Joy"), but at the same time, the singer, who was striving to perform romantic ballads, discovered that Motown, contrary to his wishes, wanted to turn him into a machine for producing hits.

From that moment on, the confrontation between the artist’s creative ambitions and the demands of the label gradually intensified, but this did not prevent him from further conquering the charts. Gaye was especially good at duets, and the albums he recorded with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell were popular in great demand. Repeatedly, Marvin’s singles (both solo and collaborative) ended up in the top ten, and about 40 of his Motown minions made it into the Top 40. If the end of the 60s went very well for the singer, the advent of the 70s brought serious problems to Gaye - first he was shocked by the death of his partner Terrell, and then his family life. For some time, Marvin disappeared from view, and then, having reconsidered his views on music, he returned with the self-produced concept album "What"s Going On. Here traditional soul was combined with elements of funk, classical and jazz, and lyrics written by faces of a participant in the Vietnam War, touched upon the problems of drug addiction, poverty, corruption and other pressing issues.

Three accompanying singles, including the title track, reached the Top 10, giving the artist some welcome creative freedom. Having worked well on the soundtrack to the film "Trouble Man" and sending the composition of the same name to the top ten, Gaye some time later presented to the public the program full of sexuality "Let's Get In On". This album became the most commercially successful in Marvin's career, and the title the song rose to the very top of Billboard.

In the same 1973, Gaye released his last duet record (this time with Diana Ross), and three years later his solo funky long play “I Want You” was released. Unfortunately, creative success The singer's career was undermined by his divorce from Berry's sister, Anna, which resulted in Marvin spending more time in court than in the studio. In 1978, Gaye released a double, “Here, My Dear,” in which he described his relationship with his ex-wife, but intimate details brought to light led to new lawsuits, as a result of which the artist found himself on the verge of bankruptcy. In an attempt to avoid visits from tax officials, Marvin took refuge in Hawaii, and then completely left for Europe. Having settled in the Old World, the singer prepared the philosophical record “In Our Lifetime”, with which his collaboration with “Motown” ended.

At that time, Gaye was already heavily addicted to cocaine, but he found the strength and, with the support of Columbia Records, returned his name to the charts with the work “Midnight Love.” Unfortunately, the return of success did not remove the drug addiction, and to get rid of his demons, Marvin came to his parents. However, this step only worsened the problem, and after one of the family quarrels, Gay Jr. was shot by his own father. Several posthumous records were released in 1985 and 1997, and in 1987 Marvin’s name was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Marvin Pentz Gaye was born in 1939 in Washington into a Christian family. From the age of three he sang in the church choir, then as a teenager he learned to play the organ. By the age of 15, he mastered the keyboards and drums and performed with various black street groups, including The Rainbows and the Moonglows, who played rhythm and blues. In 1957 he joined the group “Marquees”, which performed romantic… Read all

Marvin Pentz Gaye was born in 1939 in Washington into a Christian family. From the age of three he sang in the church choir, then as a teenager he learned to play the organ. By the age of 15, he mastered the keyboards and drums and performed with various black street groups, including The Rainbows and the Moonglows, who played rhythm and blues. In 1957, he joined the Marquees group, which performed romantic jazz ballads and even released one album. In 1961, Marvin was noticed by Berry Gordy, founder of the record label Motown Records, who was struck by his beautiful young voice with a three-octave range and offered a contract.

From 1962 to 1965, Marvin Gaye continued to work primarily in the rhythm and blues style, his most famous compositions being “Can I get a witness” (1963) and “Stubborn kind of fellow”, which was included in the TOP10 rb. Then, according to the idea of ​​Motown producers, Marvin began recording a duet with such famous performers as Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. Among his compositions were mainly romantic blues and rhythmic dance jazz suites, including the famous “Baby don’t do it” (1967). In 1970, after the tragic death of his last partner Tammi Terrell from a stroke on stage, Marvin dramatically changed his style. His new album "What's going on" (1971), which was a mixture of jazz, funk and classical, addressed many serious issues such as racism and drug addiction. Despite Motown Records' misgivings, the album was a huge success. The funk composition “Mercy, mercy me” was especially popular. With the release of this album, Marvin Gaye gradually achieved creative and financial independence from Motown. And the next album “Let’s get it on” (1973) becomes his most successful work.

Marvin Gaye paved the way to the stage for many talented funk performers. It was he who brought the young Stevie Wonder to the stage, and in 1973 his joint album with Diana Ross was released.

Unfortunately, the evil that Marvin fought in his songs did not bypass him either. His recordings from the late 1970s reveal his increasingly destructive addiction to cocaine. Fleeing tax problems, in 1980 Marvin moved to Europe, where one of his last lifetime concert albums, “In our lifetime,” was soon released.

His last album “Midnight love” (1982) and the composition “Sexual healing” from it were awarded a Grammy Award in the category “Best Male Vocal in the Style of Rhythm & Blues”.

Marvin's father, a priest, believing that the singer's profession was a disgrace for his family, in one of the quarrels at the family table... shot Marvin. April 1, 1984.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Marvin 6th on its list of the greatest singers of all time, and 18th out of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

Discography:

1961 - The soulful of Marvin Gaye
1963 - That stubborn kind of fellow
1964 - When I'm alone I cry
1964 - Together (with Mary Wells)
1964 - Hello Broadway, this is Marvin
1965 - How sweet it is to be loved by you
1965 - A tribute to the great nat king cole
1966 - Moods of Marvin Gaye
1966 - Take two (with Kim Weston)
1967 - United (with Tammy Terrell)
1968 - I heard it through the grapevine
1968 - You’re all I need (to get by) (with Tammy Terrell)
1969 - Marvin Gaye & His girls (with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammy Terrell)
1969 - Easy (with Tammy Terrell)
1969 - Marvin Pentz Gaye
1970 - That's the way love is
1971 - What's going on
1972 - Trouble man (film soundtrack)
1973 - Let's get it on
1973 - Diana & Marvin
1976 - I want you
1977 - At the London Palladium (live)
1978 - Here my dear
1981 - In our lifetime
1982 - Midnight love