The Originals: Marvin Gaye

There was no grapevine needed, the greatness was easy for all to see and hear for themselves when it came to Marvin Gaye. As his songs said, the lyrics to many of them planted deeply in his fans' hearts, there is no mountain high enough to hide the legacy, and how sweet it was, and still is to hear him sing. Not to mention the sexual healing his music helped many people receive, to be sure. A true Original in every sense of the word, even when being true to himself caused him serious trouble.

Born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. in Washington, D.C. April 2, 1939, the first son and second eldest of the four children of the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr. and Alberta Cooper, Marvin began playing instruments and singing in his father's church choir. He knew hard work early on, caddying at the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland as a teenager, then, dropping out of Cardozo High School, joining the United States Air Force. The first signs of problems with authority began to show here: He was discharged for refusing to follow orders.

Back home, he began to follow the path his talents laid out for him. Beginning in 1957, he joined up with several doo-wop groups in the Washington area, finally landing firmly with the Marquees, a popular DC group. Along with legendary guitarist Bo Diddley, the group released a single, "Wyatt Earp," on Okeh Records in 1958. Marvin would meet someone that would help him on his way to becoming a iconic figure in the person of Harvey Fuqua.

Fuqua recruited the Marquees to become the Moonglows, and this group's first single, "Mama Loocie," in 1959 for Chess Records, was Marvin's first recorded lead, but the group was headed quickly for the dustbin of history, disbanding after a concert in Detroit. This is when Fuqua took the opportunity to introduce his young star to a very important person, and the next step on his road to success, Motown head Berry Gordy.

First as a session drummer for Motown (you can hear Marvin's work most notably on "Please, Mr. Postman," the 1961 Marvelettes hit, and the live version of "Fingertips, Pt. 2" some little kid named Stevie Wonder recorded), he was ready to record for himself, but Gordy had his reservations since following orders was rearing its ugly head yet again: Marvin wasn't used to following the label's orders on what they wanted him to do.

But, Berry's sister (and Marvin's future wife) Anna talked Berry into signing Marvin after agreeing to allow him to record a pop record of jazz-styled show tunes. That album, "The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye," was the second album ever released by Motown after the Miracles' "Hi...We're the Miracles," in 1961, but it didn't even chart.

Ah, yes, you've noticed the extra "e" on the name there. Marvin added it for three reasons, one of which had to do with the rumors of his sexuality that last name brought on. The others were to distance himself from his father and also because his idol, Sam Cooke, did the same thing.

In any case, Gaye, with or without the "e," wasn't finding success early on. After much heated conversation, he relented to Gordy's requests to jump in the R&B line with the rest of the label, and recorded three Gordy-written singles. They didn't chart either. He only found success as the co-writer of the Marvelette's "Beechwood 4-5789" in 1962. It took a jab at his supposed nonchalance and moodiness to get him a foothold on the charts.

"Stubborn Kind of Fellow," co-written by Gaye, and with backing vocals from a group of singers known as the Vells, became his first hit, becoming a top-10 R&B single. The Vells' (better known now as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) presence at that recording was a reflection of Gaye's popularity within the label. Other well-known groups to back him up included the Supremes ("You Are A Wonderful One") and the Temptations ("Try It Baby"). He continued to write songs, including co-writing "Dancing In The Streets" for those Vandellas, as well.

As so many acts seemed to do, his work got even better when he worked with Smokey Robinson as a producer. "The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye," in 1966, produced two consecutive number-one R&B singles, "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar." These songs gave him the teen-idol status that got him onto the top shows of the day, your "American Bandstand" and "Mike Douglas Show" and "Shindig!" and such.

In 1967, he made a connection that would give him some of his greatest work, greatest joy, and greatest pain when he first recorded with a star-crossed young female vocalist by the name of Tammi Terrell. Their 1967 album, "United," showed an incredible rapport. Guided in production and songwriting by (Nikolas) Ashford and (Valerie) Simpson, Gaye and Terrell sang the duets that are still among the best of any collaborations ever, such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love." However, this is when the curtain was already heading down for Terrell.

Collapsing on stage into Gaye's arms at the Hampton Institute (now University) Homecoming on October 14, 1967, Terrell was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. Motown wished to continue recording, and 1968's "You're All I Need" produced two more legendary duets, "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" and "You're All I Need To Get By," but 1969's "Easy" saw Simpson doing most of the singing along with archived vocals of Terrell's being overdubbed with Gaye's voice.

On March 16, 1970, Tammi Terrell, after three years and eight operations, succumbed to brain cancer, and it could be argued that this was the beginning of Gaye's calamities as well. He once stated, "I felt that I had somehow died with her," and spoke to her body at the funeral as if expecting her to answer. He went into seclusion and didn't perform on stage for nearly two years.
The combination of Terrell's illness and death, his own failing marriage, and his growing dissatisfaction with his musical choices led Gaye into depression (he didn't even want to claim the success of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" as his own, feeling he didn't deserve it), but also to wanting more control over his music. He tried to gain that by producing for another group, the Originals, and their hits, "Baby I'm For Real" and "The Bells," got them much-needed success and Gaye the freedom he wanted.

That freedom led to "What's Going On." He entered the studio on June 1, 1970 and recorded that song, but Gordy didn't wish to release it, feeling it wasn't "commercial" enough. Marvin stuck to his guns, refusing to record until Gordy changed his mind. When he did, it became a surprise hit in January 1971, and Gordy wanted a whole album of songs like it. The album paved the way for the concept album to become a soul staple, and produced other classic Gaye hits like "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)."

The spiritual (he called "What's Going On" a "gift from God" and stated in the liner notes that "we've got to find the Lord") led to the sensual, as Gaye, having made his social statement, moved into the bedroom with "Let's Get It On" in 1973, his best-selling album in his lifetime. The title track broke "Grapevine"'s record for top-selling single in the history of Motown as well.

But trouble was coming and coming fast. It's possible to look at "Got To Give It Up" as the beginning of the end of his Motown days, as well as his days period. It was number one on the pop, soul, and dance charts simultaneously and helped his "Live at the London Palladium" album sell over two million copies. This was in 1977. 1978 saw his divorce go final, a promise of a portion of the next album's sales to go to Anna as alimony, that album ("Here, My Dear") nearly getting him slapped with invasion of privacy charges by Anna due to its material pointing at the dark side of their marriage, and tanking on the charts. In 1979 in deep trouble due to tax issues, and addicted to cocaine, Gaye filed for bankruptcy and lived in a bread van in Hawaii.

He tried to pull himself out of it, signing with British promoter Jeffery Kruger in 1980 to do overseas concerts, with the highlight to be a command performance in front of Princess Margaret at London's Drury Lane. But he failed to make the stage on time, and showed up after everyone had already left. While there, he worked on an album called, "In Our Lifetime?" Motown released it, and drew the ire of Gaye, who said they edited and remixed without his consent, released an unfinished song, and even took the question mark off the album title, which took the irony away. He negotiated his release in 1982 and signed with Columbia Records.

His last album, "Midnight Love," produced "Sexual Healing," his final hit, in 1982. The song helped him get, at long last, his first two Grammy awards, in February 1983, as well as a nomination the following year for the entire album. He performed a moving rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game (that would be the YouTube link to your left, it's worth a view for sure), and performed for the final time for Berry Gordy and Motown at Motown 25, singing "What's Going On." A tour in support of "Midnight Love" followed, but was stopped in August 1983 due to health issues, Gaye's growing depression, and an alleged attempt to kill him.

Marvin Gaye met his end on April 1, 1984, the day before his 45th birthday. Holed up in his parents' home in Los Angeles after the end of that disastrous tour, he threatened suicide many times, and, following a dispute over financial documents with his parents, he was shot and killed by his father. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. His father only received six years' probation for manslaughter after it was found he had a brain tumor and first degree murder charges were dropped. He died 14 years later of pneumonia in a retirement home.

Despite the sudden and tragic end to his life, the music continues to inspire to this day. "Grapevine," "What's Going On," "Sexual Healing," and the duets with Terrell are still staples of radio playlists, and his success as a writer/performer/producer helped make it easier for giants such as Wonder, Luther Vandross, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds to have greater control over their own work. No matter how you look at it, the music world gained much from Marvin Gaye's short time on its stage.