Marv Gaye's 'What's Gog On?' turns 50 | CNN

Contents:

• FEBARY 13, 1983: THE AFTERNOON MARV GAYE REVOLUTNIZED THE SGG OF THE NATNAL ANTHEM
• 50 YEARS AFTER MARV GAYE ASKED, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON?’ AMERI STILL SEARCHG FOR AN ANSWER
• MARV GAYE’S WIFE REVEALS HOW HE TORTURED HER
• THE SPIR, THE FLH AND MARV GAYE
• 10 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE: 'I WAS TERRIBLY DISILLNED WH LIFE'
• KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU
• THE NELSON GEE MIXTAPESUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"TWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV GAYE","SCRIPTN":"ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 'WHAT'S GOG ON' I REVIS EARLY '80S TERVIEWS WH THE SOUL MIC IN","IMAGE":[{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":"}],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2021-05-21T12:18:08+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2021-05-21T12:18:08+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"NELSON GEE","URL":","SCRIPTN":"#THENELSONGEEMIXTAPE ORR VIA $28.","INTIFIER":"ER:6310957","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"THE NELSON GEE MIXTAPE","URL":","SCRIPTN":"BLACK MIC, BLACK CULTURE AND AMERI.","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":1000},"INTIFIER":"PUB:51234","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"SAMEAS":["]}}SHARE THIS POSTTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV GAYEON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 'WHAT'S GOG ON' I REVIS EARLY '80S TERVIEWS WH THE SOUL MIC INNELSON GEEMAY 21, 20219SHARE THIS POSTTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERSHARE
• INSI MARV GAYE'S TOXIC MARRIAGE WH WIFE JANIS HUNTER
• HONOR THY BROTHER-IN-LAW: A VIS WH MARV GAYE
• THAT TIME TOM JOYNER INTERVIEWED MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE
• REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
• MARV GAYE ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ TV SPECIAL AIRS THIS WEEKEND

FEBARY 13, 1983: THE AFTERNOON MARV GAYE REVOLUTNIZED THE SGG OF THE NATNAL ANTHEM

He even went so far as to say both Richard Pryor and Marv Gaye were timate wh The Godfather himself, Marlon Brando. While Pryor’s widow nfirmed the ic slept wh Brando, relativ of the “What’s Gog On” sger are fur wh Jon for makg such claims publicly, and while they neher nfirm nor ny ’s legimacy, speakg on the matter at all is a ser problem for Gaye’s sister, Zeola Gaye. Zeola go on to say she and her fay are workg to perserve Gaye’s legacy, and she ref to let be tarnished over a mor he n’t even addrs himself.

While Pryor hted at his bisexualy his stand-up, Gaye claimed “Sexually, men don’t tert me,” bgraphy, Divid Soul: The Life of Marv Gaye. But seeg myself as a woman is somethg that trigu me.” – om the book “Divid Soul: The Life of Marv Gaye” /GqWBt8wsuz.

50 YEARS AFTER MARV GAYE ASKED, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON?’ AMERI STILL SEARCHG FOR AN ANSWER

As a child, mician Devon Gilfillian remembers his father, a profsnal weddg sger, harmonizg wh Marv Gaye’s inic “What’s Gog On” album their livg room. In a recent terview for a new CNN documentary about Gaye’s work, tled “What’s Gog On: Marv Gaye’s Anthem for the Ag, ” the Grammy-nomated artist and activist relled redisverg the album jt before headg to a prott Nashville last summer. Janis Hunter was a mother of two her early 20s when her longtime lover, father of her children and one of the world’s most lted-after soul sgers, Marv Gaye, suggted an amoro liaison wh another uple.

She refed, the uple left and Gaye told her how he really felt about the fantasy that his proddg had ma real.

“After the Dance, ” a memoir by Gaye’s mistrs-turned-wife Jan Gaye, wrten wh David Rz, rells a love affair propelled by jt the sorts of md gam.

MARV GAYE’S WIFE REVEALS HOW HE TORTURED HER

Marv Gaye’s immense, unniable talent for sgg and songwrg, and his equally impossible-to-dismiss sex appeal, were acpanied by creasgly heavy dg e — eebasg e eventually did him — and erratic moods, a nstant tug of war between thrills, love, lt and terror.

Her mother, Barbara, was iends wh Ed Townsend, Gaye’s producer, and he brought her to the stud to watch Gaye rerd. Mutually enamored, Gaye brought Hunter to an Italian rtrant Hollywood, where he bribed the waer $20 to brg his unrage date aprit sours.

Soon after, they ma love for the first time Gaye’s sparse one-bedroom apartment, which had a “hio gold uch” where Gaye’s assistant, a junkie named Abe, had taken up rince. Soon, Hunter began to see how Gaye thrived on the emotnal turmoil of those around him and learned the pth of his jealoy and posssivens.

THE SPIR, THE FLH AND MARV GAYE

But if Gaye grew quickly acceptg of his dghter, his attu toward Hunter — specifilly her new, jt-gave-birth body — changed.

10 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT MARV GAYE

Gaye got over his body hangups (for a while), and they settled to fay life, spendg their days high on ke and pot as Gaye wrote and produced new mic. She didn’t tell Gaye for fear of startg a fight, but time, she learned the effect may have been oppose.

Gaye veloped a hab of steerg Hunter toward other men, whether out of some perverse masochism or genue light. Notg a chemistry between Hunter and Maze sger Frankie Beverly, Gaye did everythg he uld to set up an illic liaison between the two. When Beverly me for a vis, Gaye not only booked him a room at a lol motel but booked the adjog room for Hunter, sayg he need her out of the hoe so he uld foc on mic.

MARV GAYE: 'I WAS TERRIBLY DISILLNED WH LIFE'

After a long, ugly and expensive legal battle, Gaye was fally divorced om Anna Gordy, and married Hunter — now Jan Gaye — October 1977.

Gaye — now almost 40 — plaed to his 22-year-old wife about her saggg breasts and her stretch marks, explag, “There’s a big difference between pleasure and excement.

They had vic fights, cludg one time when Gaye, behd the wheel wh both kids the r, began to swerve and threatened to “drive this thg off the road! Soon after, Gaye left Jan and the kids behd on a planned trip to Hawaii wh his fay, begng a pattern that would repeat over the years of Gaye leavg LA and his fay behd, only to implore them to jo him once at his statn. In time, torn by Gaye’s cel treatment, Jan slept wh Beverly and also hooked up wh Teddy Penrgrass, Gaye’s ma mil rival.

KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU

Courty of Jan Gaye The next five years saw Gaye, Jan and their children embroiled nasty back-and-forth battl, cludg, after Jan brought the kids to see Gaye Hawaii, his refg to let Frankie leave, g Jan to not see her son for over a year. Gaye, out of his md on e, would tell Jan that the “end days” were approachg or acce her of sendg her father or gang members to try to kill him.

THE NELSON GEE MIXTAPESUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"TWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV GAYE","SCRIPTN":"ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 'WHAT'S GOG ON' I REVIS EARLY '80S TERVIEWS WH THE SOUL MIC IN","IMAGE":[{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":"}],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2021-05-21T12:18:08+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2021-05-21T12:18:08+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"NELSON GEE","URL":","SCRIPTN":"#THENELSONGEEMIXTAPE ORR VIA $28.","INTIFIER":"ER:6310957","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"THE NELSON GEE MIXTAPE","URL":","SCRIPTN":"BLACK MIC, BLACK CULTURE AND AMERI.","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":1000},"INTIFIER":"PUB:51234","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"SAMEAS":["]}}SHARE THIS POSTTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV GAYEON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 'WHAT'S GOG ON' I REVIS EARLY '80S TERVIEWS WH THE SOUL MIC INNELSON GEEMAY 21, 20219SHARE THIS POSTTWO CONVERSATNS WH MARV COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERSHARE

“That I lost myself someone else — someone as remarkable as Marv Gaye — is no longer e for self-nmnatn. Marv Gaye's reer was nothg short of legendary, cementg himself as one of Motown's most succsful male artists wh untls unfettable hooks, and all after years of early mercial failur and workg as a ssn mician. Marv Gaye thks terms of feelgs, so if you ask him to scribe his father’s church, you won’t get a physil scriptn.

Gaye performed often the early and middle Sixti: tours that took him to 36 ci 40 days —the famo, blisterg Motown schle. Gaye had racked up a seri of hs wh Tammi Terrell, songs like “A’t No Mounta High Enough” and “I Could Build My Whole World around You.

Early this year Marv Gaye was propelled by a strange set of obligatns to do his first real ncert over five years. In the halcyon days of the Sixti, when Marv Gaye sgl were sellg almost as fast as they uld make them, Motown ed to ll Marv , give him ten songs, and turn on the tap.

INSI MARV GAYE'S TOXIC MARRIAGE WH WIFE JANIS HUNTER

So, after alg wh Marv Gaye for nearly 13 years, Motown had a fe fix on both the extent of his talent and the nature of his pricns. It is this apparent distance between the pany and the sger that giv rise to perdic mors that Marv Gaye is lookg to sign wh another pany.

“This, ” an executive om another rerd pany said, “is not the way to treat an artist of Marv Gaye’s stature.

HONOR THY BROTHER-IN-LAW: A VIS WH MARV GAYE

It broke on the fourth number, but Marv sang through , soundg harsh and reedy like the Marv Gaye of 1965. Gaye, acrdg to his personal manager, Ronald Ross, has had offers om the three major film studs as well as a few pennt producers. Motown says will release an album om the Oakland ncert soon and that, sometime this year, there will be a special four-rerd Marv Gaye anthology album, cludg all the hs om 1961 on.

Someone tells Marv that a Colism guard told Frankie Gaye that he hadn’t seen such crowd reactns sce the Beatl played Oakland. Two weeks after the Oakland date, Marv Gaye was San Diego to watch his man, Lee Mandgo, go a ten-round ma event wh Duane Bobick at the New Colism.

THAT TIME TOM JOYNER INTERVIEWED MARV GAYE

In the yellow adobe drsg room wh the unshad sgle bulb swgg om a rd above, Gaye is tellg his man to get there, jab twice and back out. A month later, Gaye’s manager, Ronald Ross, announced that Marv will do at least 20 live dat, 20 different ci, startg mid-April. Marv Gaye add the “e” to the end of his name to dispel mors of his homosexualy and to distguish himself om his father, Marv Gay Sr., wh whom he did not get along.

Before sgg his own h for Motown Rerds, a young Marv Gaye spent his early years at Motown as a dmmer for The Suprem, Stevie Wonr, The Marvelett and more.

Marv Gaye performed most of his legendary duets (“A’t No Mounta High Enough, ” “You’re All I Need To Get By”) wh sger Tammi Terrell.

MARV GAYE

You may or may not know that Marv Gaye’s first wife, Anna, is the elst sister of mic in and Motown founr Berry Gordy, makg Marv an official member of the Motown fay. ” The week of his ath, Gaye jumped out of a movg r but only got mor Gaye scribed his prsn durg an terview a year before his ath.

Gaye’s tate is notorly protective of his legacy and only two stars have been lucky enough to get their blsg for a bpic. Mayor Marn Barry clared April 2 (the sger’s birthday) Marv Gaye Day, celebratg the life and legacy of the the inic soul sger. After meetg Motown songwrer and producer Leon Ware, and imprsed by new mic Ware was producg for his own solo album, Gaye cid to strike up a productn partnership.

Durg the rerdg procs, the love of his life, Janis Gaye, also provid a nstant source of emotnal spiratn. The rultg LP, I Want You, beme another signature album Gaye’s sterlg llectn of releas, explorg them of sensualy, sctn, eroticism and rnal passn. Wh the assistance of Ware and Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, as well as an assemblage of top-notch micians, Gaye was able to reach new creative heights, firmly cementg his stat as soul mic’s leadg man the mds of both ntemporary artists and his fans, who celebrated LP sgl like “After the Dance, ” “Sce I Had You, ” and the number one h “I Want You.

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

In celebratn of what would have been Marv Gaye’s 77th birthday on April 2nd, 2016, RBMA spoke wh Leon Ware and Janis Gaye about their important supportg rol the creatn of I Want You. Marv Gaye Nottg Hill, London, 1976 John Mihan/Eveng Standard/Getty Imag When and where did you first meet Marv Gaye?

MARV GAYE ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ TV SPECIAL AIRS THIS WEEKEND

Marv Gaye - After the Dance Of urse, there was a huge sexual aspect to , but was so smooth and elegantly done that people uldn’t say was vulgar. Marv Gaye - Feel All My Love Insi As you went by the wag area where the micians hung out, if you ma a left, you would go down this ty hallway to the ntrol room.

I was raised by a soul mic lovg, fger snappg, Saturday night party-givg mother who had a particular affectn for “love men” like Otis Reddg, Al Green and that major y Marv Gaye. The flight out, the migrae, the show, the terview and the near tape disaster ma for an troductn to the Bay Area I have never next time I saw Marv Gaye perform was memorable too, but horribly so. [To read the entire terview wh Marv Gaye purchase The Nelson Gee Mixtape, a llectn of terviews, say and old articl, which is available only via for $28.

No doubt two-time Grammy-wng soul sger-songwrer Marv Gaye belongs among the 20th century's most acplished and fluential micians.