How Marv Gaye's 'What's Gog On' Changed the Sound of R&B Forever - Variety

Contents:

• MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE: MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTNS TO THE WORLD OF MIC
• A TRIBUTE TO MARV GAYE
• HOW MARV GAYE’S ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ CHANGED THE SOUND OF R&B FOREVER
• MARV GAYE AND 5 R&B ARTISTS OM THE ’60S AND ’70S

MARV GAYE

Marv Gaye is different, different for one simple reason: he had immense talent, not jt as a sger but also as a songwrer that set him on a higher plane, as well as a social nscience that advoted change. “Back the early Birds days we played a lot of Motown stuff – “ Need Your Lov’ (Want You Back) (Marv Gaye) and Needle In A Haystack (Velvelett). Before his tragic ath at the hands of his father, Marv Gaye created some of the most inic albums of the 1970s.

His new directn and newfound social nscns is bt heard on the h, ‘Abraham Mart & John’ which Gaye ma his own, spe the origal beg rerd by rock and roll survivor Dn (of the Belmonts fame).

One of the most gifted, visnary, and endurg talents ever lnched to orb by the Motown h mache, Marv Gaye blazed the trail for the ntued evolutn of popular black mic. The send of three children born to the Reverend Marv Gay Sr., he began sgg church at the age of three, quickly beg a soloist the choir. Gaye later took up piano and dms and mic beme his pe om the nightmarish reali of his home life – throughout his childhood, his father beat him on an almost daily basis.

MARV GAYE: MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTNS TO THE WORLD OF MIC

While tourg the Midwt, the group performed Detro, where Gaye’s graceful tenor and three-octave vol range, won the tert of fledgelg imprar Berry Gordy, Jr. Wh 1963’s ‘Pri and Joy’, Gaye sred his first Top Ten smash, but often found his role as a hmaker stiflg – his sire to bee a crooner of lh romantic ballads, ran direct opposn to Motown’s all-important emphasis on chart succs and the ongog battle between his artistic ambns and the label’s mands for a mercial product, ntued throughout Gaye’s long tenure wh the pany.

Wh 1964’s Together, a llectn of duets wh Mary Wells, Gaye sred his first chartg album; the duo also notched a number of h sgl together, cludg ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘What’s the Matter Wh You, Baby? As a solo performer, Gaye ntued to enjoy great succs, srg three superb Top Ten hs 1965; ‘A’t That Peculiar’, ‘I’ll Be Doggone’ and ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)’.

However, Gaye’s greatt duets were to be wh Tammi Terrell, wh whom he sred a seri of massive hs, penned by the team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, cludg 1967’s ‘A’t No Mounta High Enough’ and ‘Your Prec Love’, followed by 1968’s ‘A’t Nothg Like the Real Thg’ and ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’. The team’s succs was tragilly cut short 1967 when, durg a ncert appearance Virgia, Terrell llapsed to Gaye’s arms on-stage, the first evince of a bra tumour that abptly end her performg reer and fally killed her on March 16, 1970. Her illns and eventual loss, left Gaye eply shaken, marrg the chart-toppg 1968 succs of ‘I Heard It Through the Grapeve’, his biggt h and arguably the pnacle of the Motown sound.

A TRIBUTE TO MARV GAYE

At the same time, Gaye was forced to pe wh a number of other personal problems, not the least of which, was his cmblg marriage.

A highly percsive album, which rporated jazz and classil elements, to fe a remarkably sophistited and fluid soul sound, What’s Gog On was a nceptual masterpiece that brought Gaye’s eply held spirual beliefs to the fore.

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

Explorg issu rangg om poverty and discrimatn to the environment, dg abe, and polil rptn; chief among the rerd’s ncerns was the nflict Vietnam, as Gaye stctured the songs around the pot of view of his brother Frankie, himself a soldier recently returned om bat. The album’s succs guaranteed Gaye’s ntued artistic ntrol over his work helped loosen the res for other Motown artists, most notably Stevie Wonr, to also take mand of their own sti.

Consequently, 1972, Gaye changed directns aga, agreeg to sre the blaxploatn thriller Trouble Man. The long-simmerg eroticism implic much of Gaye’s work reached s boilg pot wh 1973’s Let’s Get It On, one of the most sexually charged albums ever rerd.

Let’s Get It On also marked another signifint shift Gaye’s lyril outlook, movg him om the polil arena to a eply personal, even sular stance, which ntued to fe his subsequent work. The dissolutn of his marriage threw Gaye to a tailsp and he spent much of the mid-’70s divorce urt. To bat Gaye’s absence om the stud, Motown released the 1977 stopgap Live at the London Palladium, which spawned the sgle ‘Got to Give It Up, Pt.

MARV GAYE AND 5 R&B ARTISTS OM THE ’60S AND ’70S

As a rult of a 1976 urt settlement, Gaye was orred to make good on missed alimony payments by rerdg a new album, wh the tentn that all royalti earned om s sal would then be award to his ex-wife. The 1978 rerd, a two-LP set sardonilly entled Here, My Dear, bterly explored the uple’s relatnship such timate tail, that Anna Gordy briefly nsired sug Gaye for the vasn of privacy. In 1981, longstandg tax difficulti and renewed prsur om the IRS forced Gaye to flee to Europe, where he began work on the amb In Our Lifetime, a eply philosophil rerd that ultimately severed his longstandg relatnship wh Motown after he claimed the label had remixed and eded the album whout his nsent.

Addnally, Gaye stated that the fished artwork parodied his origal tent and that even the tle had been changed to drop an all-important qutn mark. The rerd ma Gaye a star yet aga, and 1983 he ma peace wh Berry Gordy by appearg on a televisn special celebratg Motown’s silver anniversary. Gaye’s reer rurgence brought wh an creased reliance on e; fally, his personal mons forced him back to the U.

Fally, on the afternoon of April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday, Gaye was shot and killed by Marv Sr.

Wh Gaye’s ath, also me a cril re-evaluatn of his work, which emed What’s Gog On to be one of the landmark albums pop history. Marv Gaye, the R&B legend who brought classics like “I Heard It Through the Grapeve” and “Sexual Healg”, was only three years old when he started sgg his father’s church choir.

Marv Gaye’s prows mic was evint to the world begng around the age of three, when he took to sgg his father’s church choir. His father, Marv Gay Sr, was a church mister, and would often play the piano while Marv Gaye sang. Mic to Marv Gaye was his only pe om the harsh reali of life and all the physil and emotnal abe flicted on him by his very abive father.

After an unmemorable showg as a basic airman the Uned Stat Air Force, Marv Gaye cid to fake a severe illns orr to get a general discharge om the service. Marv Gaye and his band members changed the group’s name om the Marque to Harvey after Harvey Fuqua, the -founr of Moonglows, took them unr his wgs.

Marv Gaye’s first lead vol rerdg was the song “Mama Loocie”, which was rerd 1959 for the Chs Rerd label. Did you know: Marv Gaye’s vol quartet worked as ssn sgers for a number of artists, cludg Chuck Berry?

After his imprsive performance at a party anized by Motown Rerd’s print Berry Gordy, Marv Gaye went on to sign to Tamla Rerds, a subsidiary of Motown. Gaye’s work wh the label played a huge role shapg Motown sound, a clear vol sound that ed tchy hooks and layered stmental sound, makg their songs very appealg to both wh and blacks. The sgle appeared on his but album The Soulful Moods of Marv Gaye, which was released June 1961.