Rememberg Marv Gaye's Inic 'What's Gog On' : NPR

Contents:

• MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE
• DEVON GILFILLIAN RE-RERDS MARV GAYE'S 1971 ALBUM 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
• ‘SUGAR SHACK,’ AN INIC PATG FEATURED ON A MARV GAYE ALBUM VER, SELLS FOR $15.3 LN
• MARV GAYE ALBUMS RANKED
• MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON' ALBUM COVER WAS A TOTAL ACCINT
• REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
• MARV GAYE

MARV GAYE

Marv Gaye is different, different for one simple reason: he had immense talent, not jt as a sger but also as a songwrer that set him on a higher plane, as well as a social nscience that advoted change. “Back the early Birds days we played a lot of Motown stuff – “ Need Your Lov’ (Want You Back) (Marv Gaye) and Needle In A Haystack (Velvelett). Marv Gaye was one that succumbed to the prsure, both private and public.

Before his tragic ath at the hands of his father, Marv Gaye created some of the most inic albums of the 1970s.

Early his reer, Motown was uncerta jt how to posn Marv Gaye. His new directn and newfound social nscns is bt heard on the h, ‘Abraham Mart & John’ which Gaye ma his own, spe the origal beg rerd by rock and roll survivor Dn (of the Belmonts fame). ” Marv Gaye.

MARV GAYE

One of the most gifted, visnary, and endurg talents ever lnched to orb by the Motown h mache, Marv Gaye blazed the trail for the ntued evolutn of popular black mic. Marv Pentz Gay, Jr. The send of three children born to the Reverend Marv Gay Sr., he began sgg church at the age of three, quickly beg a soloist the choir.

Gaye later took up piano and dms and mic beme his pe om the nightmarish reali of his home life – throughout his childhood, his father beat him on an almost daily basis.

After graduatg om high school, Gaye enlisted the U.

DEVON GILFILLIAN RE-RERDS MARV GAYE'S 1971 ALBUM 'WHAT'S GOG ON'

While tourg the Midwt, the group performed Detro, where Gaye’s graceful tenor and three-octave vol range, won the tert of fledgelg imprar Berry Gordy, Jr. Upon mountg a solo reer, Gaye stggled to fd his voice and early sgl failed.

Wh 1963’s ‘Pri and Joy’, Gaye sred his first Top Ten smash, but often found his role as a hmaker stiflg – his sire to bee a crooner of lh romantic ballads, ran direct opposn to Motown’s all-important emphasis on chart succs and the ongog battle between his artistic ambns and the label’s mands for a mercial product, ntued throughout Gaye’s long tenure wh the pany.

Wh 1964’s Together, a llectn of duets wh Mary Wells, Gaye sred his first chartg album; the duo also notched a number of h sgl together, cludg ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘What’s the Matter Wh You, Baby? As a solo performer, Gaye ntued to enjoy great succs, srg three superb Top Ten hs 1965; ‘A’t That Peculiar’, ‘I’ll Be Doggone’ and ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)’. However, Gaye’s greatt duets were to be wh Tammi Terrell, wh whom he sred a seri of massive hs, penned by the team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, cludg 1967’s ‘A’t No Mounta High Enough’ and ‘Your Prec Love’, followed by 1968’s ‘A’t Nothg Like the Real Thg’ and ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’.

‘SUGAR SHACK,’ AN INIC PATG FEATURED ON A MARV GAYE ALBUM VER, SELLS FOR $15.3 LN

The team’s succs was tragilly cut short 1967 when, durg a ncert appearance Virgia, Terrell llapsed to Gaye’s arms on-stage, the first evince of a bra tumour that abptly end her performg reer and fally killed her on March 16, 1970.

Her illns and eventual loss, left Gaye eply shaken, marrg the chart-toppg 1968 succs of ‘I Heard It Through the Grapeve’, his biggt h and arguably the pnacle of the Motown sound.

At the same time, Gaye was forced to pe wh a number of other personal problems, not the least of which, was his cmblg marriage.

MARV GAYE ALBUMS RANKED

A highly percsive album, which rporated jazz and classil elements, to fe a remarkably sophistited and fluid soul sound, What’s Gog On was a nceptual masterpiece that brought Gaye’s eply held spirual beliefs to the fore. Explorg issu rangg om poverty and discrimatn to the environment, dg abe, and polil rptn; chief among the rerd’s ncerns was the nflict Vietnam, as Gaye stctured the songs around the pot of view of his brother Frankie, himself a soldier recently returned om bat.

Gaye was vdited, when the majtic tle track reached the No. The album’s succs guaranteed Gaye’s ntued artistic ntrol over his work helped loosen the res for other Motown artists, most notably Stevie Wonr, to also take mand of their own sti. Consequently, 1972, Gaye changed directns aga, agreeg to sre the blaxploatn thriller Trouble Man.

The long-simmerg eroticism implic much of Gaye’s work reached s boilg pot wh 1973’s Let’s Get It On, one of the most sexually charged albums ever rerd.

MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON' ALBUM COVER WAS A TOTAL ACCINT

Let’s Get It On also marked another signifint shift Gaye’s lyril outlook, movg him om the polil arena to a eply personal, even sular stance, which ntued to fe his subsequent work.

REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'

The dissolutn of his marriage threw Gaye to a tailsp and he spent much of the mid-’70s divorce urt.

MARV GAYE

To bat Gaye’s absence om the stud, Motown released the 1977 stopgap Live at the London Palladium, which spawned the sgle ‘Got to Give It Up, Pt.

As a rult of a 1976 urt settlement, Gaye was orred to make good on missed alimony payments by rerdg a new album, wh the tentn that all royalti earned om s sal would then be award to his ex-wife.