Marvin Gaye, The #34 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 Be sure to listen to Part One first!

Catch up on Part Two!

(Continued from Part Two)

 

In 1971, Gaye signed a $1 million contract with Motown and released the album Trouble Man in 1972.  The title song was also featured in the movie of the same name and reached #7.

 Marvin released the album Let's Get It On in 1973.  The title song achieved a double #1--#1 Popular and #1 R&B and has now sold over two million copies in the United States alone. 

 

The album reached #2, Gaye's top-ranking album of his career and Marvin earned American Music Award nominations in both 1974 and 1975 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album.  Gaye reworked the lyrics of "Just To Keep You Satisfied", recorded first by the Originals, to be about the end of his marriage to Anna, who happens to be the co-writer of the original song.

  Marvin began working on "Come Get To This" for his album What's Going On but decided not to use it then.  Three years later, he remixed and edited it for use on Let's Get It On.

  Reflecting his penchant to also record duets, Marvin recorded an album with Diana Ross simply called Diana and Marvin.  The single "You're A Special Part Of Me" stopped at #12.

 

The single "My Mistake (Was To Love You)" inexplicably stalled at #19.  Gloria Jones and Pam Sawyer, who teamed to write "If I Were Your Woman" for Gladys Knight & the Pips, wrote this one as well.

In 1974, Gaye toured for the first time in four years, with the album Marvin Gaye Live! taken from recordings of the tour.  The album has been certified Gold. 

 

After another contract, Gaye built his own recording studio, where he recorded the 1976 album I Want You, a #4 album in the United States.  The title song, inspired by Marvin's girlfriend Janis Hunter, reached #1 R&B but only #15 overall.

 

We want to also feature "After The Dance"

 

In 1976, Gaye released the compilation album Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits, which has gone Platinum.  Marvin's London concert in 1977 was recorded and released as the album Live at the London Palladium.  "Got To Give It Up" reached #1 on both the Popular and R&B charts.

Gaye received a nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist at the American Music Awards.

 

After a divorce to his wife Anna, Marvin recorded the album Here, My Dear for the purposes of raising money to make alimony payments to her.  "When Did You Stop Love Me, When Did I Stop Loving You?", written and produced by Marvin, who also plays all the synthesizers, is nevertheless a solid track.

 "Anna's Song" is another autobiographical song about his divorce from Anna.

The album didn't sell well, and Gaye also fell behind on payments to the Internal Revenue Service.  Marvin first moved to Hawai'i and then to London for fear of being imprisoned for failure to pay those taxes, which by 1980 had reached $4.5 million.  

Someone took a master tape from an album that Gaye was working on called In Our Lifetime? and gave the tape to Motown.  The label remixed the album and released it in January of 1981.  When Gaye learned of this, he charged Motown with editing and remixing the album without his consent and removing the question mark from the album's title, thus muting its irony.  Gaye said as a result, he would not record any more music for Motown.

Gaye then moved to Belgium and attempted a comeback with a tour of England.  When CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold found out that Gaye was leaving Motown, he quickly signed Marvin to a recording contract.

 

Gaye recorded the album Midnight Love, released in 1982.  "Sexual Healing" spent 10 weeks at #1 on the Hot Black Singles chart and #3 overall and has sold over two million copies.

Midnight Love reached #7 on the U.S. Album chart and has sold over three million copies.  Gaye was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B single.  Marvin won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male and Best R&B Instrumental Performance (both for "Sexual Healing") and he was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.

In 1983, Marvin sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Basketball Association All-Star Game.  In March, Gaye performed at the television special Motown 25:  Yesterday, Today, Forever and he performed on Soul Train in May.

Marvin them embarked on what would be his final concert tour to promote the album.  After the tour ended in August, 1983, Marvin visited his parents in Los Angeles.

On April 1, 1984, Marvin intervened in a fight between his parents.  That afternoon, while Marvin was in his bedroom, his father shot him in the heart and the left shoulder, killing him.  

 

In 1985, the album Dream of a Lifetime was released posthumously and it contained another Gaye winner--"Life's Opera".

In 1987, Marvin was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  In 1990, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was dedicated to him.  

In 1996, Gaye posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2006, the Watts Branch Park in Washington D.C. where Gaye went as a teenager was renamed Marvin Gaye Park.  In 2009, a block in D.C. was renamed Marvin Gaye Way.

In 2016, Gaye was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Three of Gaye's songs:  "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", "What's Going On" and "Sexual Healing" are included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".  

Gaye accumulated 56 career hits, with 18 hitting the Top 10 and three reaching #1.

Marvin won three Grammy Awards from five nominations and was nominated for four American Music Awards in his career.

Don't miss Part One of The #33 Artist of the Rock Era!