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David Ritz | |
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 Ritz in 2008 | |
| Born | December 2, 1943 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Spouse | Roberta Michele Ritz (m. 1968) |
| Children | 2 |
David Ritz (born December 2, 1943, in New York City) is an American author. He has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. He has coauthored 36 autobiographies, including some celebrities' autobiographies. [1]
Ritz's first collaboration was Brother Ray (1978), the autobiography of Ray Charles. Ritz has said that his initial intention was to write a biography until becoming intrigued by the idea of rendering the book entirely in Charles' voice. "That's when I discovered I had a gift for channeling voice", Ritz told the L.A. Times' Patrick Goldstein in 2012. "That discovery changed the course of my literary life." [2]
Other autobiographies co-written by Ritz include:
Ritz has also written an inspirational book. Messengers, a portrait of African-American gospel singers and ministers, was published in 2006, as well as memoir, The God Groove, in 2019.
Ritz's fiction ranges from sports fantasies--The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back To Brooklyn (1981)-- to jazz fantasies--Blue Notes Under a Green Felt Hat (1989) and Barbells and Saxophones (1989).
Ritz collaborated with Mable John on three Christian novels: Sanctified (2006), Stay Out of the Kitchen (2007) and Love Tornado (2008). He has also collaborated with rapper T.I. on two novels— Power and Beauty (2011) and Trouble and Triumph (2012). [4]
In 2016, Ritz collaborated with Willie Nelson on the novel Pretty Paper.
Brayden Speaks Up: How One Boy Inspired America (2021) with Brayden Harrington. Jason Goes For It (2023) with Brayden Harrington
The platinum-selling song "Sexual Healing" was written in Ostend, Belgium in April 1982 and is credited as a collaboration between Marvin Gaye, Odell Brown, and Ritz. [5] Ritz was not originally credited as songwriter. [6] Ritz sued Marvin Gaye for songwriting credit; Ritz received credit only after settling with Marvin Gaye's estate after the singer's death. [7] Ritz claims that the lawsuit was settled because he had interview tapes with Marvin Gaye in which Gaye says, "These are great lyrics you wrote." [8]
Ritz's songs have also been recorded by Smokey Robinson, the Isley Brothers and Kem. David Ritz co-wrote three songs including the title track from Guy King's 2016 album Truth . [9]
Ritz co-wrote “Brothers in the Night,” theme song for the 1983 film Uncommon Valor.
“Happy Song: Soul Music in the Ghetto,” Ritz's first critical essay, was published in Salmagundi (1970). Dozens of other articles have followed, including “History of the Jews of Dallas,” D Magazine (1974); “Kids’ Stuff: Jackson Pollock, Jimmie Vaughan and the Architecture of Las Vegas,” Art Connoisseur (1998); “Show and Tell,” introduction to Rolling Stone's Tattoo Nation (2002); the forward to Lady Sings the Blues, the 50th-anniversary edition of the autobiography of Billie Holiday (2006); and “The Last Days of Brother Ray,” included in Da Capo's Best Music Writing of 2005. [10]
Ritz graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1966 (Magna Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa), and received a Masters of Arts from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970, where he studied with literary critic Leslie Fiedler.[ citation needed ]
He has been married to Roberta Michele Ritz since 1968. They have two children, twins Alison and Jessica, born in 1974.
Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, which earned him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul".
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as producer and to credit Motown's in-house session musicians, known as the Funk Brothers.
Easy is an album recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and released by Motown Records on September 16, 1969 under the Tamla Records label. One song on the album, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy To Come By", was a hit single and remains popular to this day.
Let's Get It On is the thirteenth studio album by the American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on August 28, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP.
Here, My Dear is the fifteenth studio album by music artist Marvin Gaye, released as a double album on December 15, 1978, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1977 and 1978 at Gaye's personal studios, Marvin Gaye Studios, in Los Angeles, California. The album was notable for its subject matter focusing largely on Gaye's acrimonious divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye.
Ashley Kahn is an American music historian, journalist, and producer. He was born in the Bronx, New York, and was raised in Cincinnati. Kahn graduated from Columbia University in 1983. While attending Columbia, he hosted a jazz and blues radio show on WKCR, and was known on the air as "The Cincinnati Kid."
"Sexual Healing" is a song recorded by American singer Marvin Gaye from his seventeenth and final studio album, Midnight Love (1982). It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, following the release of the In Our Lifetime (1981) album the previous year. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is listed at number 198 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Sexual Healing" is written and composed in the key of E-flat major and is set in time signature of 4/4 with a tempo of 94 beats per minute.
"I Want You" is a song written by Leon Ware and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by American singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye. It was released as a single in 1976 on his fourteenth studio album of the same name (1976) on his Tamla label. The song introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, who before then had been recording songs with a funk edge. "I Want You", among other similar songs, gave him a disco audience. Ware, who produced the song alongside Gaye, also was attributed with the single's success.
Midnight Love is the seventeenth studio album by Marvin Gaye and the final album to be released during his lifetime. He signed with the label Columbia in March 1982 following his exit from Motown.
In Our Lifetime? is the sixteenth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released January 15, 1981, on Motown label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room in Los Angeles, California, Seawest Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and at Odyssey Studios in London, England, throughout 1979 and 1980. The album cover was designed by Neil Breeden. Gaye's final album for Motown before leaving for Columbia Records, the album was the follow-up to the commercial failure of Here, My Dear, a double album which chronicled the singer's divorce from Anna Gordy. Entirely written, produced, arranged, and mixed by Gaye, In Our Lifetime? was a departure for Gaye from the disco stylings of his previous two studio efforts and was seen as one of the best albums of the singer's late-Motown period.
Vulnerable is the third posthumous album by Marvin Gaye. Recorded in sessions throughout 1977, the album was a decade in the making, first being worked on in 1968 during sessions in New York with Bobby Scott. Reworked by Gaye a decade later, the album was originally going to be released in 1979 under the title, The Ballads, but was shelved. Two decades later, Motown released it under the title Vulnerable, including seven songs from the sessions and three alternate cuts.
"Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" is the debuting single for singer Marvin Gaye, released as Tamla 54041, in May 1961. It was also the first release off Gaye's debut album, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, in which most of the material was the singer's failed attempt at making an 'adult' record compared to Motown's younger R&B sound.
Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye is a 1985 biography of American soul singer Marvin Gaye. The biography was written by music reviewer David Ritz including conversations he had with the singer, who put the biography together shortly after Gaye's death at the hands of his father Marvin Gay Sr. in 1984.
On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye, an American musician who gained worldwide fame for his work with Motown Records, was shot and killed on the day before his 45th birthday by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., at their house in the Western Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Gaye was shot twice following an altercation with his father, after he intervened in an argument between his parents. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center. His father later pleaded no contest to a charge of voluntary manslaughter.
"Confession Blues" is a song by The McSon Trio released in 1949 as a single on the Down Beat Records label. The single featured American Rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles on piano and vocals, and was also written by Charles himself under his birth name Ray Charles Robinson.
"Mary Ann" is a song written and performed by Ray Charles and released in 1956 as a single on the Atlantic Records label. It was the fourth Ray Charles song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Best Selling Rhythm & Blues chart. The song is set to a Latin beat, but switches into a swing rhythm, an alternation that adds fun for the dancers. It has been described as "a sexy blues," and "a lightly lascivious tune."
Freddy Cousaert was a Belgian DJ, club owner and concert promoter, who was influential in developing an audience for authentic rhythm and blues music in Europe, and, in particular, for his role in the career of Marvin Gaye.
Anna Ruby Gaye was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records released on Checker and Gone Records before forming the Anna label with Billy Davis and her sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua. Gordy later became known as a songwriter for several hits including the Originals' "Baby, I'm for Real", and at least two songs on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album. The first wife of Gaye, their turbulent marriage later served as inspiration for Gaye's 15th studio album, Here, My Dear.
What's Going On Live is a live album recorded in 1972 by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and released posthumously in 2019 by Motown. The album documents a live performance of his album What's Going On and has received mixed feedback from critics.
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