45 Years Ago: Marv Gaye Stirs Up a Storm on 'I Want You'

Contents:

• “I WANT YOU” BY MARV GAYE
• 45 YEARS AGO: MARV GAYE STIRS UP A STORM ON ‘I WANT YOU’MICHAEL GALLUCCIMICHAEL GALLUCCIPUBLISHED: MARCH 16, 2021TAMLASHARETWEETMARV GAYE WAS STILL A PRETTY GOOD PLACE, PERSONALLY AND PROFSNALLY, EARLY 1976 AS HE WAS PREPPG THE RELEASE OF HIS 14TH ALBUM, I WANT YOU.HIS LAST UPLE OF ALBUMS – 1971'S WHAT'S GOG ON AND 1973'S LET'S GET IT ON – WERE CRIL AND MERCIAL HS, WH THE LATTER LP'S TLE TRACK GOG ALL THE WAY TO NO. 1. IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO RERDS, HE WROTE AND PRODUCED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR TROUBLE MAN. A TLY SOLO ACHIEVEMENT, TROUBLE MAN SERVED AS SOME SORT OF NSOLATN AFTER WHAT'S GOG ON'S SEQUEL, YOU'RE THE MAN, WAS SHELVED BEE OF S POLIL LEANGS.GAYE ALSO EMBARKED ON A SUCCSFUL TOUR AND RERD THE LAST OF HIS POPULAR DUET ALBUMS, THIS ONE WH DIANA ROSS, AROUND THIS TIME. WH TWO YEARS, WOULD ALL E TUMBLG DOWN, AS A MSY DIVORCE, DG ABE, ANOTHER NCELED RERD AND DWDLG SAL PILED UP. BUT 1976, ALL WAS STILL RELATIVELY GOOD.BACK 1970, WHEN HE WAS ASSEMBLG THE SONGS AND IAS THAT WOULD RULT WHAT'S GOG ON, GAYE WAS LEADG A NEW ARTIST-DRIVEN MPAIGN AT MOTOWN, WHICH SLOWLY AND TENTATIVELY BEGAN TO LOOSEN S GRIP ON SOME S STABLE OF STARS. GAYE – WHO'D BEEN AROUND OM NEARLY THE START OF THE PANY, SGG ON HIS OWN HS AS WELL AS PENNG SONGS FOR OTHERS – WASN'T GIVEN TOTAL NTROL OF HIS MIC UNTIL TROUBLE MAN, BUT FOR THE MOST PART HE WAS TSTED WH HIS VISN.THG IS, GAYE DIDN'T ALWAYS TST THAT VISN HIMSELF. IN SOME WAYS, THAT LED TO YOU'RE THE MAN REMAG UNRELEASED AT THE TIME ( FALLY GOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE 2019). AND WHEN HE WAS PUTTG TOGETHER MIC FOR HIS NEXT ALBUM 1975, HE SOUGHT HELP OM PRODUCER LEON WARE, A MOTOWN STAFFER WHO'D RECENTLY SRED SOLO HS FOR MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE SMOKEY ROBSON-LS MIRACL. HE END UP PLAYG A BIG PART  SHAPG WHAT EVENTUALLY BEME I WANT YOU.BUT THE ALBUM'S RE – LIKE LET'S GET IT ON, THE SONGS WERE ABOUT SEX – WAS ALL GAYE. HIS MARRIAGE TO THE SISTER OF HIS MOTOWN BOSS BERRY GORDY WAS GOG THROUGH S FAL STAG AS HIS RELATNSHIP WH JANIS HUNTER, WHOM HE MET DURG THE LET'S GET IT ON SSNS WHEN SHE WAS 17, WAS HEATG UP. TRACKS LIKE "FEEL ALL MY LOVE INSI" AND "SOON I'LL BE LOVG YOU AGA" (WHICH CLUD THE LE "I'M GONNA GIVE YOU SOME HEAD") REFLECTED HIS TENTNS.LISTEN TO MARV GAYE'S 'I WANT YOU'GAYE AND WARE HOLED UP THE ARTIST'S NEWLY OPENED MARV'S ROOM STUD LOS ANGEL, WHERE THEY, ALONG WH MOTOWN'S FUNK BROTHERS SSN MICIANS, SPENT CHUNKS OF 1975 AND EARLY 1976 WORKG ON THE ALBUM. LIKE HE'D BEEN DOG ON HIS PREV RERDS, GAYE MULTI-TRACKED HIMSELF SGG DIFFERENT PARTS.HE ALSO BEGAN EXPERIMENTG WH A SYNTHIZER, WHICH PLEMENTED THE NEW MIL DIRECTN WARE STARTED STEERG TOWARD. MORE EXPANSIVE AND SWEEPG THAN MUCH OF GAYE'S PREV WORK, MANY OF THE SONGS ON I WANT YOU TOOK A SLOW-BURN APPROACH TO S MELDG OF SOUL, FUNK AND DIS. (THE OPENG TLE TRACK, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A THIRD OVER BEFORE GAYE STARTS SGG.) ELEMENTS OF JAZZ AND DOO-WOP ALSO FOUND THEIR WAY TO THE MATERIAL, BRIDGG GAYE'S '60S AND EARLY '70S MIC WH A NEW FUTURE.THIS ALL ADD UP TO A SLIGHTLY DISJOTED BUT MOSTLY PTIVATG ALBUM THAT SEEMED LIKE ANOTHER TURNG POT FOR THE ARTIST, EVEN UPON S RELEASE ON MARCH 16, 1976. THE THREE-YEAR BREAK SCE HIS LAST LP CERTALY HAD SOME EFFECT HERE, BUT THE MIL LEAP HAD ALMOST AS MUCH TO DO WH GAYE AND WARE'S BED VISN.THERE WEREN'T A WHOLE LOT OF ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE I WANT YOU AT THE TIME, BUT THE S SCE, THE ALBUM'S "QUIET STORM" SOUND SPIRED A GENRE, AS WELL AS AN ENTIRE MOVEMENT OF NEO-SOUL ARTISTS THE '90S AND BEYOND. THE EP BASS, SPACEY SOUNDSP AND GROOVE-BASED BEATS A WAY WERE JT A STEP OR TWO AHEAD OF THE BURGEONG DIS SCENE, BUT THE OVERALL PICTURE SEEMS MUCH WIR NOW.NOT THAT THE ALBUM WAS APPRECIATED AS MUCH BACK THEN. IT H NO. 1 ON BILLBOARD'S SOUL CHART AND NO. 4 ON THE LP CHART (AS THEY WERE LLED AT THE TIME) AND DID MANAGE TO SELL A LN PI. SOMEONE OF GAYE'S STATURE ALMOST ALWAYS CHARTED WELL G OFF A PREV SUCCS, AND THE ALBUM'S FIRST SGLE, THE TLE TRACK, MA TO NO. 1 AND 15, ON THE RPECTIVE SOUL AND POP CHARTS – WHICH ALSO HELPED STIR TERT.BUT I WANT YOU DIDN'T CLICK WH FANS THE WAY WHAT'S GOG ON AND LET'S GET IT ON DID. THOSE NTROVERSIAL LYRICS CERTALY DIDN'T HELP SPREADG THE WORD ON RAD OR NNECTG WH MORE NSERVATIVE-MD LISTENERS. AND SPE THE NO. 1 STUD SGLE "GOT TO GIVE IT UP" OM THE OTHERWISE LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM ALBUM 1977, THE NEXT YEAR'S HERE, MY DEAR AND 1981'S IN MY LIFETIME NTUED A DOWNWARD TURN GAYE'S REER THAT EVENTUALLY PICKED UP WH 1982'S MIDNIGHT LOVE AND PECIALLY THE "SEXUAL HEALG" SGLE BEFORE HIS 1984 ATH.IT WASN'T LONG, THOUGH, BEFORE I WANT YOU AND, EVEN MORE NOTABLY, HERE, MY DEAR BEME RNERSTONE RERDS GAYE'S LATE REER. THE LATTER WAS AN TENTNALLY UNMERCIAL DOUBLE RERD SIGNED TO NTRACTUALLY FULFILL A DIVORCE-SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT. I WANT YOU, AT TIM, N SOUND LIKE A SIAR MERCIAL KISS-OFF, BUT ME OM AN ENTIRELY OPPOSE SPOT GAYE'S LIFE, WHEN HE WAS A MUCH BETTER PLACE. IT'S DIFFICULT, 'S HORNY AND 'S FELY NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT 'S ALSO ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHG REALLY EXCG AT TIM. TOP 100 '70S ROCK ALBUMS
• KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU
• I WANT YOU (MARV GAYE SONG)

“I WANT YOU” BY MARV GAYE

Ware origally tend to rerd himself, but after Motown CEO Berry Gordy heard a rough versn of , he nvced Ware to give the song to Marv Gaye rerd the song 1975, the sger was spired by his relatnship wh his neteen-year-old girliend Janis Hunter.

The uple met two years earlier when Gaye, who was at the time married to Berry Gordy's sister Anna, was workg on the Let's Get It On album at the LA-based Hsville Wt rerdg stud. Gaye was immediately stck by the teenager and they started sually datg afterwards.

A year after Gaye rerd this song, the uple married, but their relatnship was mostly tumultuo and by 1979, they had Barn' Sugar Shack patg was adapted to be the ver of Gaye's I Want You album. Barn died on April 27, 2009 after a brief Palmer had a UK top ten h 1991 wh a medley of this song and another Marv Gaye number, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Elogy). " Diana Ross also vered the song on her 2007 I Love You Gaye was nomated for a Grammy Award for Bt R&B Male Vol Performance wh "I Want You" but lost to Stevie Wonr for "I Wish.

45 YEARS AGO: MARV GAYE STIRS UP A STORM ON ‘I WANT YOU’MICHAEL GALLUCCIMICHAEL GALLUCCIPUBLISHED: MARCH 16, 2021TAMLASHARETWEETMARV GAYE WAS STILL A PRETTY GOOD PLACE, PERSONALLY AND PROFSNALLY, EARLY 1976 AS HE WAS PREPPG THE RELEASE OF HIS 14TH ALBUM, I WANT YOU.HIS LAST UPLE OF ALBUMS – 1971'S WHAT'S GOG ON AND 1973'S LET'S GET IT ON – WERE CRIL AND MERCIAL HS, WH THE LATTER LP'S TLE TRACK GOG ALL THE WAY TO NO. 1. IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO RERDS, HE WROTE AND PRODUCED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR TROUBLE MAN. A TLY SOLO ACHIEVEMENT, TROUBLE MAN SERVED AS SOME SORT OF NSOLATN AFTER WHAT'S GOG ON'S SEQUEL, YOU'RE THE MAN, WAS SHELVED BEE OF S POLIL LEANGS.GAYE ALSO EMBARKED ON A SUCCSFUL TOUR AND RERD THE LAST OF HIS POPULAR DUET ALBUMS, THIS ONE WH DIANA ROSS, AROUND THIS TIME. WH TWO YEARS, WOULD ALL E TUMBLG DOWN, AS A MSY DIVORCE, DG ABE, ANOTHER NCELED RERD AND DWDLG SAL PILED UP. BUT 1976, ALL WAS STILL RELATIVELY GOOD.BACK 1970, WHEN HE WAS ASSEMBLG THE SONGS AND IAS THAT WOULD RULT WHAT'S GOG ON, GAYE WAS LEADG A NEW ARTIST-DRIVEN MPAIGN AT MOTOWN, WHICH SLOWLY AND TENTATIVELY BEGAN TO LOOSEN S GRIP ON SOME S STABLE OF STARS. GAYE – WHO'D BEEN AROUND OM NEARLY THE START OF THE PANY, SGG ON HIS OWN HS AS WELL AS PENNG SONGS FOR OTHERS – WASN'T GIVEN TOTAL NTROL OF HIS MIC UNTIL TROUBLE MAN, BUT FOR THE MOST PART HE WAS TSTED WH HIS VISN.THG IS, GAYE DIDN'T ALWAYS TST THAT VISN HIMSELF. IN SOME WAYS, THAT LED TO YOU'RE THE MAN REMAG UNRELEASED AT THE TIME ( FALLY GOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE 2019). AND WHEN HE WAS PUTTG TOGETHER MIC FOR HIS NEXT ALBUM 1975, HE SOUGHT HELP OM PRODUCER LEON WARE, A MOTOWN STAFFER WHO'D RECENTLY SRED SOLO HS FOR MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE SMOKEY ROBSON-LS MIRACL. HE END UP PLAYG A BIG PART  SHAPG WHAT EVENTUALLY BEME I WANT YOU.BUT THE ALBUM'S RE – LIKE LET'S GET IT ON, THE SONGS WERE ABOUT SEX – WAS ALL GAYE. HIS MARRIAGE TO THE SISTER OF HIS MOTOWN BOSS BERRY GORDY WAS GOG THROUGH S FAL STAG AS HIS RELATNSHIP WH JANIS HUNTER, WHOM HE MET DURG THE LET'S GET IT ON SSNS WHEN SHE WAS 17, WAS HEATG UP. TRACKS LIKE "FEEL ALL MY LOVE INSI" AND "SOON I'LL BE LOVG YOU AGA" (WHICH CLUD THE LE "I'M GONNA GIVE YOU SOME HEAD") REFLECTED HIS TENTNS.LISTEN TO MARV GAYE'S 'I WANT YOU'GAYE AND WARE HOLED UP THE ARTIST'S NEWLY OPENED MARV'S ROOM STUD LOS ANGEL, WHERE THEY, ALONG WH MOTOWN'S FUNK BROTHERS SSN MICIANS, SPENT CHUNKS OF 1975 AND EARLY 1976 WORKG ON THE ALBUM. LIKE HE'D BEEN DOG ON HIS PREV RERDS, GAYE MULTI-TRACKED HIMSELF SGG DIFFERENT PARTS.HE ALSO BEGAN EXPERIMENTG WH A SYNTHIZER, WHICH PLEMENTED THE NEW MIL DIRECTN WARE STARTED STEERG TOWARD. MORE EXPANSIVE AND SWEEPG THAN MUCH OF GAYE'S PREV WORK, MANY OF THE SONGS ON I WANT YOU TOOK A SLOW-BURN APPROACH TO S MELDG OF SOUL, FUNK AND DIS. (THE OPENG TLE TRACK, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A THIRD OVER BEFORE GAYE STARTS SGG.) ELEMENTS OF JAZZ AND DOO-WOP ALSO FOUND THEIR WAY TO THE MATERIAL, BRIDGG GAYE'S '60S AND EARLY '70S MIC WH A NEW FUTURE.THIS ALL ADD UP TO A SLIGHTLY DISJOTED BUT MOSTLY PTIVATG ALBUM THAT SEEMED LIKE ANOTHER TURNG POT FOR THE ARTIST, EVEN UPON S RELEASE ON MARCH 16, 1976. THE THREE-YEAR BREAK SCE HIS LAST LP CERTALY HAD SOME EFFECT HERE, BUT THE MIL LEAP HAD ALMOST AS MUCH TO DO WH GAYE AND WARE'S BED VISN.THERE WEREN'T A WHOLE LOT OF ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE I WANT YOU AT THE TIME, BUT THE S SCE, THE ALBUM'S "QUIET STORM" SOUND SPIRED A GENRE, AS WELL AS AN ENTIRE MOVEMENT OF NEO-SOUL ARTISTS THE '90S AND BEYOND. THE EP BASS, SPACEY SOUNDSP AND GROOVE-BASED BEATS A WAY WERE JT A STEP OR TWO AHEAD OF THE BURGEONG DIS SCENE, BUT THE OVERALL PICTURE SEEMS MUCH WIR NOW.NOT THAT THE ALBUM WAS APPRECIATED AS MUCH BACK THEN. IT H NO. 1 ON BILLBOARD'S SOUL CHART AND NO. 4 ON THE LP CHART (AS THEY WERE LLED AT THE TIME) AND DID MANAGE TO SELL A LN PI. SOMEONE OF GAYE'S STATURE ALMOST ALWAYS CHARTED WELL G OFF A PREV SUCCS, AND THE ALBUM'S FIRST SGLE, THE TLE TRACK, MA TO NO. 1 AND 15, ON THE RPECTIVE SOUL AND POP CHARTS – WHICH ALSO HELPED STIR TERT.BUT I WANT YOU DIDN'T CLICK WH FANS THE WAY WHAT'S GOG ON AND LET'S GET IT ON DID. THOSE NTROVERSIAL LYRICS CERTALY DIDN'T HELP SPREADG THE WORD ON RAD OR NNECTG WH MORE NSERVATIVE-MD LISTENERS. AND SPE THE NO. 1 STUD SGLE "GOT TO GIVE IT UP" OM THE OTHERWISE LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM ALBUM 1977, THE NEXT YEAR'S HERE, MY DEAR AND 1981'S IN MY LIFETIME NTUED A DOWNWARD TURN GAYE'S REER THAT EVENTUALLY PICKED UP WH 1982'S MIDNIGHT LOVE AND PECIALLY THE "SEXUAL HEALG" SGLE BEFORE HIS 1984 ATH.IT WASN'T LONG, THOUGH, BEFORE I WANT YOU AND, EVEN MORE NOTABLY, HERE, MY DEAR BEME RNERSTONE RERDS GAYE'S LATE REER. THE LATTER WAS AN TENTNALLY UNMERCIAL DOUBLE RERD SIGNED TO NTRACTUALLY FULFILL A DIVORCE-SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT. I WANT YOU, AT TIM, N SOUND LIKE A SIAR MERCIAL KISS-OFF, BUT ME OM AN ENTIRELY OPPOSE SPOT GAYE'S LIFE, WHEN HE WAS A MUCH BETTER PLACE. IT'S DIFFICULT, 'S HORNY AND 'S FELY NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT 'S ALSO ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHG REALLY EXCG AT TIM. TOP 100 '70S ROCK ALBUMS

" Gaye prevly lost the award to Wonr 1974 when "Superstn" beat out "Let's Get It On.

KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU

" Although they were profsnal rivals, their relatnship was one of ep rpect: Wonr would perform "Lightg Up The Candl" at Gaye's funeral 1984. It’s funny to thk that when Marv Gaye’s “I Want You” was dropped about half a century ago, some people seem to have actually emed too rnchy to play public. But this is Marv Gaye we’re talkg about.

But the Gaye isn’t feeng for feeng’s sake. This is not only the tle track but also the lead sgle om what was Marv Gaye’s 14th stud album (as a soloist).

Marv Gaye’s life was cut short 1984 at the age of 44. This tune is noted as beg a Gaye fan favore durg the latter stag of his reer, though one of many he’s dropped that topped Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Did Marv Gaye wre “I Want You”?

I WANT YOU (MARV GAYE SONG)

Also, the other producer of “I Want You” was Marv Gaye himself.

However, once Motown head honcho Berry Gordy got a ganr of , he rather opted to give to Marv Gaye, who was very hot at the time. But if Marv Gaye didn’t pose this song, how is about his relatnship wh Janis Hunter?

It is te Gaye did not have a hand wrg “I Want You”. Part of the reason Marv Gaye’s artistry was nsired to be so fluential and ntroversial even is bee he was a pneer terms of troducg more-overt sexualy to mastream mic.

But tertg to note is that acrdg to Leon Ware, right before the creatn of “I Want You” (the album), Gaye “was on a relig sabbatil” and “had sworn off ever dog another mercial rerd aga”. Marv Gaye’s “I Want You” Album.