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

Contents:

• MARV GAYE IS SHOT AND KILLED BY HIS OWN FATHER
• MARV GAYE
• HERE'S WHO INHERED MARV GAYE'S ESTATE WHEN HE DIED
• MARV GAYE, 30 YEARS ON
• INSI MARV GAYE'S TOXIC MARRIAGE WH WIFE JANIS HUNTER
• MARV GAYE: A LOOK INSI HIS FAL YEAR OF LIFE
• WHAT WAS MARV GAYE’S E OF ATH?
• HOW A 1979 BOXG MATCH BEME THE FIGHT OF MARV GAYE’S LIFE
• REMEMBERG MARV GAYE'S INIC 'WHAT'S GOG ON'
• 38 YEARS AGO TODAY WE LOST MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ TURNS 50 — SECRETS BEHD THE H ALBUM

MARV GAYE IS SHOT AND KILLED BY HIS OWN FATHER

At the peak of his reer, Marv Gaye was the Prce of Motown—the soulful voice behd hs as wi-rangg as “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “Mercy Mercy Me (The Elogy).

That life me to a tragic end on April 1, 1984, when Marv Gaye was shot and killed by his own father one day short of his 45th the physil e of Marv Gaye’s ath was straightforward—”Gunshot wound to cht perforatg heart, lung and liver, ” acrdg to the Los Angel County Coroner—the events that led to were much more tangled. Marv Gay, Sr., (the “e” was add by his son for his stage name) was a preacher the Hebrew Pentestal Church and a proponent of a strict moral he enforced btally wh his four children.

Clearly harbored unrolved feelgs toward his abive feelgs spilled out for the fal time the Los Angel home of Marv Gay, Sr., and his wife Alberta.

MARV GAYE

Only one year removed om his first Grammy w and om a triumphant return to the pop charts wh “Sexual Healg, ” Marv Gaye was horrible physil, psychologil and fancial an argument between father and son lated to a physil fight on the morng of April 1, 1984, Alberta Gay was tryg to lm her son his bedroom when Marv Sr.

Marv Gaye’s brother, Frankie, who lived next door, and who held the legendary sger durg his fal mut, later wrote his memoir that Marv Gaye’s fal, disturbg statement was, “I got what I wanted….

It also marked the high pot of 25-year Marv Gaye’s reer - which went hand hand wh womanisg, dg addictn and creasg paranoia, and end wh tragedy a day before his 45th birthday. At the same time he add an ‘e’ to his origal surname of Gay - to shut down any speculatn about his sexualy and to distance himself om his abive dad.

HERE'S WHO INHERED MARV GAYE'S ESTATE WHEN HE DIED

To this day the fay ntu to earn money om their father's talog: for example, 2015, as NBC News reports, Rob Thicke and Pharrell Williams were orred to pay $5 ln royalti to the Gaye tate after a judge creed their song "Blurred L" ged on the pyright of Gaye's 1977 h song "Got to Give It Up. Gaye was one of the biggt nam the Motown Rerds stable the 1960s and 1970s, though the Guardian was slow to reflect this s mic verage.

Even his biggt hs - I Heard It Through The Grapeve spent three weeks at number one the UK 1969 - were ignored by the newspaper's the late 70s, marriage breakdown (Gaye divorced Berry Gordy's sister Anna 1977), dg addictn and tax issu had led to self-imposed exile Europe.

Click to view the full article Photograph: GuardianGaye ma an spirg eback 1982 wh Midnight Love, which has sce sold over six ln pi. Click to view the full obuary Photograph: GuardianGaye's father, Marv Sr, plead guilty to voluntary manslghter and was sentenced to five years' probatn November is only wh hdsight that the Guardian has regnised Gaye's ntributn to mic.

MARV GAYE, 30 YEARS ON

No doubt two-time Grammy-wng soul sger-songwrer Marv Gaye belongs among the 20th century's most acplished and fluential micians. Includg his ath 1984 at the hands of his own father (an act his father claimed was self fense, but for which he was later nvicted of voluntary manslghter, per Bgraphy) Marv Gaye's personal life tells a different story. Though passnate, Gaye's marriage wh Hunter was filled wh substance abe, sexual impropriety, and trma, as Hunter rerd her memoir, "After the Dance: My Life wh Marv Gaye, " per New York Post.

By the time his wife was her early 20s, though, and mother to two children, Gaye's ey began to wanr as his substance e issu worsened. Gaye had also enuraged Hunter to engage sex acts wh other people for his enjoyment prr to their marriage, but she never agreed, per New York Post. As Janis Hunter rells her memoir, she was her early 20s when Marv Gaye erced her to a nonnsensual sex act wh another uple, and she relented agast her will.

And this emotnal void was said to have ntributed to his rapid cle his fal year and eventually led to Marv Gaye's tragic ath at the hands of his father.

INSI MARV GAYE'S TOXIC MARRIAGE WH WIFE JANIS HUNTER

But for as dysfunctnal as their bond was and for as much as he rented his father, Gaye uld never fully walk away om his fay, acrdg to Ebony. In his last year of life, he even moved back wh his parents, settg the stage for a prolonged power stggle between the two men — and for the vlent nontatn that would take Gaye's life. "I thk a lot of who survived those years had a different way of lookg at life, lookg at through a ke spoon or smokg too much weed, " Gaye's ex-wife Janis Gaye told The Detro News.

But his fal year, as his nflict wh his father tensified, Gaye's recreatnal e of dgs had turned to a dangero ctch — one that only brought more nflict and difficulty to his life.

Dpe his mercial succs, Marv Gaye spent his fal years owg way more than he was brgg , and his money problems only tensified his last year of life. Still, Gaye found ways to brg extra sh his fal days, cludg sellg the mic royalty rights for his songs to Motown Rerds, acrdg to Celebry Net Worth. In his last year of life, Marv Gaye was unr prsure om all sis — om troubled fay relatnships to his stggl wh dgs and profsnal prsure to tour, somethg that he never enjoyed, acrdg to Ebony.

MARV GAYE: A LOOK INSI HIS FAL YEAR OF LIFE

And this meant that, which he did receive some ath threats as large stars unfortunately sometim do, some of the most dntg threats Marv Gaye faced his fal months existed only his md. While no evince of any such threats ever emerged, Gaye neverthels sisted on wearg a bulletproof vt and havg armed guards statned outsi his hotel room. As he grew more agated and emotnally isolated his fal year, Marv Gaye seemgly sought to return to the stabily and fort of two of the people who had known him the bt and red for him the most — his two ex-wiv, Anna Gordy Gaye and Janis Gaye.

In his emotnal ght state, Ebony reported, Gaye attempted to rekdle relatnships wh both of them at the same time, tellg iends he was thkg of rtartg his relatnship wh Anna Gordy Gay, whom he divorced 1977, all while actively pursug Janis Gaye, who had recently broken off their relatnship. In pursug his ex, Gaye was relivg his past another way as well: This wasn't the first time he was terted both women simultaneoly. Gaye first met and began his relatnship wh Janis, then a prec 17-year-old, while he was still married to Anna, acrdg to The Detro News.

WHAT WAS MARV GAYE’S E OF ATH?

While Marv Gaye's relatnship wh his father had always been marked by hostily and nflict, he and his mother, Alberta Gay (she mataed the origal spellg of their fay name), had always been fiercely loyal to each other, acrdg to Ebony.

And Gaye's fal year, as his mental, fancial, and personal problems approached a boilg pot, his mother remaed his most loyal protector and fenr spe his creasgly erratic behavr. Wh his physil and mental health rapidly terratg his fal months and his star seemg to have crted — tickets for his fal tour cled as went on, acrdg to Ebony — Marv Gaye beme creasgly sponnt and self-stctive. Many who knew Gaye well spected he provoked his fal nontatn wh his father tentnally, wh a full unrstandg of how his vlence-prone father would react.

On April Fool's Day 1984, a day before what would have been Marv Gaye's 45th birthday, a fal — and fatal — dispute broke out between Gaye and his father, Marv Gay, Sr. Always protective of his mother, Gaye me to her fense, shovg and htg his father, who stalked off, returned wh a pistol, and shot his son. Alberta Gay, who wnsed the whole nontatn and narrowly missed a bullet herself, regnized the pistol: It was among the guns Gaye had given his parents for their personal safety some time before.

HOW A 1979 BOXG MATCH BEME THE FIGHT OF MARV GAYE’S LIFE

As the 1970s dawned, Gaye grappled wh social prott on What's Gog On, the 1971 album that found the sger/songwrer chartg his own idsyncratic urse.

Throughout this perd, Gaye battled personal mons, often creatg powerful art through his stggl, but they ught up wh him tragilly 1984, when he was murred by his father. Gaye's legacy ronated over the s -- he was a touchstone for soul and pop mic that was eher sensual or polil -- but his early ath leav hangg the qutn of what he uld've achieved if he were alive.

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

A mister the Hoe of God, Reverend Marv Gay ran a strict hoehold and his son -- who would add an "e" to his surname when he signed to Motown/Tamla, partially tribute to his idol Sam Cooke -- sought refuge mic. At the end of the year, Gaye ught the attentn of Motown founr Berry Gordy, who negotiated a al wh Fuqua for Gaye to sign to the Motown subsidiary Tamla. Inially, Gaye planned to be a supper-club sger specializg standards and jazz, but Gordy wanted him to aim toward a younger dience.

His 1961 but sgle, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Gui, " satisfied Gordy's needs, while the full-length The Soulful Moods of Marv Gaye skewed toward the sger's preferenc. Over the next few years, there was tensn between Gaye's nceptn of himself as a sger and Motown/Tamla's mil directn, and the volist slowly gravated Gordy's directn. In parison, 1966 was relatively quiet for Gaye -- while "One More Heartache" reached number four on the R&B chart, was his only pop Top 40 h that year -- but 1967 began wh the immortal Kim Wton duet "It Tak Two, " which peaked at 14 pop and four R&B.

38 YEARS AGO TODAY WE LOST MARV GAYE

"A't No Mounta High Enough" was the first of a seri of smash rerd by Gaye & Terrell which were wrten by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

Motown head Berry Gordy wasn't eager to embrace this change and refed to release "What's Gog On, " but after Gaye refed to rerd any other new material, Gordy relented. Gaye began work on an album lled Lover Man, but once s lead sgle, "Ego Trippg Out, " failed to chart, he scrapped the album and reloted to Mi. Motown released Motown Remembers Marv Gaye: Never Before Released Masters 1986, but the bigger project was the 1990 four-disc box The Marv Gaye Collectn.

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

Over the three s, Motown often repackaged Gaye's mic, sometim releasg splashy archival packag, such as 1997's Vulnerable, which revived a ballads album Gaye abandoned 1977, and 2019's You're the Man, which llected the extant 1972 rerdgs om the sger. And Price’s rner, amid the televisn meras and cigar smoke, sat Price’s manager, Marv Gaye, feelg like his whole life was on the le. Gaye often spoke boxg metaphors, and 1979 — the wake of a stly divorce om his first wife, tranged om his send, gripped by e addictn, and badly bt to the IRS — the image of the pummeled prizefighter beme particularly potent to him.