Marv Gaye's 'What's Gog On' turns 50 — secrets behd the h

Contents:

• WHAT'S GOG ON
• SERI OF VIRTUAL EVENTS KICKG OFF TONIGHT WILL CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARV GAYE’S INIC ALBUM, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’
• HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ CHANGED THE SOUND OF R&B FOREVER
• MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ TURNS 50 — SECRETS BEHD THE H ALBUM
• REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
• 50 YEARS AFTER MARV GAYE ASKED, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON?’ AMERI STILL SEARCHG FOR AN ANSWER

WHAT'S GOG ON

Gay, Sr., for nceivg, havg and lovg me. Alberta Gay, Mr. Gay, Sr., Anna Ruby, Gordy Gaye, Marv Pentz Gaye III, Mike Cooper, Frankie Gay, Pl and Gerald Comedy, Zeola “Sweetsie” Gay, Mable Jean Gay, Clarence Pl, Aunt Zeola, Parisee Monyel, Harvey Fuqua and Gee Maxilian.

Marv Gaye. MicWhat’s Gog On by Marv GayeMarv Gaye at Goln Wt Studs Los Angel, California, 1973. Gaye brought forth om a tradn of black Amerin mic the geo, world-changg [power] of rilience the face of untenable circumstanc, and troduced a new template for a morn polil, environmentally nontatnal rerd.

I’m thkg about the Amerin occupatn of Afghanistan over the past two s and the children – the girls and the gay people pecially – who grew up unr that occupatn wh accs to the ter and to a dream of potential eedom. Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of Marv Gaye’s inic album, What’s Gog On.

SERI OF VIRTUAL EVENTS KICKG OFF TONIGHT WILL CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARV GAYE’S INIC ALBUM, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’

Marv Gaye--seen here performg Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1980--created the album Rollg... To explore and celebrate this inic artist and his groundbreakg album, the 92nd Street Y New York is offerg Marv Gaye: What’s Gog On, a seri of virtual events that will beg tonight, curated by seven-time Grammy Award-wng bassist, artistic director, broadster and tor Christian McBri. The seri will ntue wh a send streamg ncert June 5 featurg such classic Gaye songs as “Let’s Get It On” and “You’re All I Need, ” led by mic director Ray Angry.

Dubbed Motown’s “Prce of Soul, ” Gaye pliantly livered h after h for the label the 1960s. But by 1970, reelg om the tragic ath of his beloved duet partner Tammi Terrell and the harrowg stori his brother shared upon his return om Vietnam, Gaye’s yearng to addrs eper issu his mic pelled him to fight for creative ntrol. He met ristance om Motown founr and chief Berry Gordy, who later me to ll Gaye “the tt sger – the tt artist – I’ve ever known.

"Throughout his entire reer, Marv Gaye reprented a high level of micianship, artistic bety and vulnerabily that transcend so-lled genre and touched generatns, ” said McBri. Tonight’s ncert, “Marv Gaye: What’s Gog On at 50, ” at 7 p. EDT on May 23, McBri will lead a roundtable discsn on the legacy of the album, wh a group of distguished wrers and experts on Gaye.

HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ CHANGED THE SOUND OF R&B FOREVER

They will clu his bgrapher, David Rz, thor of Divid Soul: The Life of Marv Gaye; legendary mic journalist Nelson Gee, who terviewed Gaye durg his lifetime; noted wrer and cric Angelika Beener; and mic director Steven Reeke, creator of a symphonic ncert based on What’s Gog On which featured John Legend. For the ee listeng party, “Marv Gaye: The Essential Tracks, ” at 5 p.

He will play Gaye’s most sential rerdgs and share sights to his parable artistry and the micians he later fluenced, om Prce to Jt Timberlake and Legend, among sr of others. McBri’s playlist will clu some of Gaye’s most lible hs, “What’s Gog On, ” “Let’s Get It On, ” “I Heard It Through the Grapeve, ” “I Want You, ” “Mercy Mercy Me” and his inic duets wh Tammi Terrell.

MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ TURNS 50 — SECRETS BEHD THE H ALBUM

EDT on June 5, “Let’s Get It On: The Soul of Marv Gaye, ” mic director Angry–-pianist, producer, arranger and go-to mician for artists cludg Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Christa Aguilera and the Roots—has assembled a band as well as three sgers who will give voice to Gaye’s songs, cludg Victory Boyd, a bker Central Park before beg disvered and champned by Jay-Z. They will take on songs that reflect Gaye's personal stggl and fed soul mic the 1970s, cludg “Let’s Get It On, ” “I Want You, ” “Distant Lover” and “Trouble Man. When Marv Gaye brought the tle track of 1971’s What’s Gog On to Motown founr Berry Gordy, Gordy reportedly said was the worst thg he’d ever heard.

Gaye untered.

Even Elvis was sgg prott songs (1969’s “In the Ghetto”)—why uldn’t Marv Gaye?

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

As Sly & The Fay Stone channeled their anger to to bter funk (1971’s There’s a Rt Go’ On), Gaye sublimated his lh strg sectns and Lat percsn—signals not jt of mil gentlens, but cultural sophistitn. The revelatn is that polil mic don’t have to be nontatnal— n be mellow and vg too, the provce not jt of radils, but the same mixed, middle-class dienc that had been buyg Gaye’s albums all along.

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

You tch more fli wh honey than wh vegar, and as Gaye seems to say on What’s Gog On, you don’t have to be a hippie to be worried by what you see—you jt have to be human.

Then along me Marv Gaye’s “What’s Gog On, ” a 1971 game-changer that turns 50 on May 21.