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. While the groove of the mic was palpable, the lyrics were lost on a young Gilfillian.
Contents:
- SEAONT HEALG: MARV GAYE MM MOOTED BELGIAN TOWN HE LOVED
- THE BELGIAN TOWN THAT SPIRED MARV GAYE
- MARV GAYE IS SHOT AND KILLED BY HIS OWN FATHER
- HOW A 1979 BOXG MATCH BEME THE FIGHT OF MARV GAYE’S LIFE
- WHAT THE LAST 12 MONTHS OF MARV GAYE'S LIFE WERE LIKE
- MARV GAYE’S DEATH
- HOTELS WASHGTON NEAR MARV GAYE RECREATN CENTER
- 50 YEARS AFTER MARV GAYE ASKED, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON?’ AMERI STILL SEARCHG FOR AN ANSWER
SEAONT HEALG: MARV GAYE MM MOOTED BELGIAN TOWN HE LOVED
Wrer Johny Pts retrac Marv Gaye's cur route to Ostend, the Belgian town that sheltered the star troubled tim, where he fac other elements of s past * marvin gaye hotel *
Ostend, the blowy Belgian rort on the North Sea, has ternatnal aspiratns and Marv Gaye, the late prce of Motown, has emerged as central to realisg Febary 1981, stgglg wh drk and dg penncy and beg chased by the IRS over a multiln-dollar tax bill, the 42-year-old sger-songwrer took the ferry om England to the fad fishg was expected to stay for a few weeks the fay home of the mic promoter and hotel owner Freddy Coaert. But Gaye end up livg the down-at-heel rort for nearly 18 months, durg which he penned one of his biggt hs, Sexual Healg, om his seaont rooms at the Rince Jane apartment would have turned 80 this April.
He was shot ad by his father, a Pentestal preacher, the day before his 45th birthday – barely 18 months after leavg Belgium’s the back of that poignant anniversary, a “walkumentary” that is available for visg Gaye fans, durg which they n vis the star’s hiouts while watchg origal footage on an iPod of him the town, has had a 10% rise takers the first six months of this year pared wh the same perd Gaye, live BelgiumBut Ostend’s tourist board thks there is a much bigger market to tap to. News that the rerd producer, rapper and bs mogul Dr Dre has acquired the film rights and the rights to Gaye’s mil talogue, wh the approval of the fay tate, has set har nng. “I thk about 75% of our tourists are om Belgium, so that is our ma dience, but we are gog to work more on the untri around , and Marv Gaye is one of the stori that has the possibily to work ternatnally, ” said Pieter Hens, the marketg manager at Ostend’s tourist office.
THE BELGIAN TOWN THAT SPIRED MARV GAYE
In 1979, Marv Gaye was spiralg. He thought a fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and a fast-risg boxer named Andy Price uld save him * marvin gaye hotel *
If you are a big Marv Gaye fan and you want to spend a weekend Ostend then the walkumentary is two hours, but you need to offer more than that. “There was a film project five years ago which Lenny Kravz was gog to play Marv Gaye.
We went to Rince Jane and Moere (a village close to Ostend where Gaye bought a property). ”Gaye turned around his health while Ostend, nng on the wi open beach, playg basketball the lol urts and avoidg the temptatns of Los Angel, where he would die 1984 at the hands of his father the mansn he had bought for his parents. A still om the Richard Oliver film Marv Gaye: Trans Ostend“There are plenty of plac I’d like to be rather than Ostend, ” Gaye once said, “but this where I need to be.
MARV GAYE IS SHOT AND KILLED BY HIS OWN FATHER
Fd hotels near Marv Gaye Recreatn Center, the Uned Stat onle. Good availabily and great rat. Book onle, pay at the hotel. No rervatn sts. * marvin gaye hotel *
”Marc Van n Kerchove, 58, the owner of the Taverne Flori, a bar on the wi Albert I promena equented by Gaye, said a film would be a massive boost to the town. ”Gaye’s last European performance was at Ostend’s Kursaal ncert hall, where there is a statue of the star. Photograph: Ao Newspaper/Gado/Getty Imag2 April 1939 Marv Pentz Gay Jr (he would only later add the last “e” to his surname) is born Washgton DC to the Pentestal mister Marv Gay Sr and Alberta Gay, a domtic worker.
HOW A 1979 BOXG MATCH BEME THE FIGHT OF MARV GAYE’S LIFE
Marv Gaye was a sger and songwrer, known for his proment role the Motown rerd pany. He grew up Washgton, D.C, and was raised by his father, * marvin gaye hotel *
1959 Gaye jos the Moonglows vol group and to the attentn of Berry Gordy Jr who signs him up for his label, Motown Rerds. 1981 In dispute wh Motown, hunted by the IRS over a tax bill and stgglg wh a e addictn, Gaye tak up the offer of a Belgian ncert promoter to stay Ostend, a Belgian seasi rort.
WHAT THE LAST 12 MONTHS OF MARV GAYE'S LIFE WERE LIKE
Washgton hotels near Marv Gaye Recreatn Center, onle rervatn. Book a hotel Washgton at the bt rat. Special offers. * marvin gaye hotel *
One wdswept Wednday a few years ago, I board an afternoon tra om Bssels to the fad Flanrs seasi town of Ostend, search of the ghost of Marv Gaye.
To be by the sea speaks of both eedom and lonels, and was this moody, stirrg atmosphere that would lead Gaye to wre his biggt h, ‘Sexual Healg’, wh a rhythm spired – so legend has – by the North Sea’s Gaye, Caso, Oosten, Belgium, 04/07/1981Getty ImagOstend looked half empty and hnted, but my view of the cy was slightly tated bee I knew a lot of s turn-of-the-century archecture was fund by Kg Leopold II, who loved to holiday here. I saw as the Belgians tryg to al wh somethg they didn’t want to nont, passively allowg the memorials of an evil empire to wher late 1981, Gaye’s reer and personal life were also cmblg.
’ This is illtrated by a scene ‘Marv Gaye: Trans Osten’, a betiful, if rather opaque, film that documents his Flanrs exile.
MARV GAYE’S DEATH
Oosten, BelgiumGetty ImagJog a tour of his life Ostend, named after Midnight Love, the album he partially wrote here, I was led to a pretty buildg that was once the Coaert fay’s Hotel Mercury, where Gaye would often hang out the kchen eatg chicken, banterg wh the staff, livg what mt have felt like a normal life. I wonred what Gaye would have ma of the man straddlg a horse, lookg out to sea, rponsible for so much celty towards black people.
Gaye would not have seen this on his ns; was sawn off 2004 by protters as a remr of the maimg that took place, and spe numero attempts by pro-lonialists to have the monument repaired, the Belgian ernment cid to leave wh the hand missg. It was as if the buildgs were tellg me their the end of the promena I reached Kursaal Caso, which looked closed, but I managed to sneak to look at the statue of Gaye I’d heard was on display. 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).
HOTELS WASHGTON NEAR MARV GAYE RECREATN CENTER
” Like his label-mate Stevie Wonr, Gaye both epomized and outgrew the crowd-pleasg sound that ma Motown famo. 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.
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.
50 YEARS AFTER MARV GAYE ASKED, ‘WHAT’S GOG ON?’ AMERI STILL SEARCHG FOR AN ANSWER
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…. 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.