Denise Gordy | |
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Born | Denise Georgette Gordy [1] Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
Years active | 1972–1991 |
Spouse | |
Children | 2, including Bianca Lawson |
Family | Gordy |
Denise Georgette Gordy [1] is an American former film and television actress and singer. She is a niece of Motown founder Berry Gordy and the mother of actress Bianca Lawson.
Denise Georgette Gordy was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of George and Rosemary Gordy. She has several siblings, including a brother named George Gordy, Jr., and a sister named Patrice. Motown founder Berry Gordy is her uncle; Anna Gordy Gaye is her aunt. Gordy has appeared in numerous television and theatrical features, beginning in 1972 with her role in Lady Sings the Blues as a dancer in the nightclub chorus. [2] In 1974, Gordy appeared in Black Fist (originally titled Bogard). She contributed vocals to the soundtrack album for the film, recording the song "Let's Do It Again". Gordy retired from acting, following her role in Toy Soldiers (1991).
Gordy was married to actor Richard Lawson from December 31, 1978[ citation needed ] until 1989. They share one child, actress Bianca Lawson. Gordy is also the biological mother of Marvin Gaye III, who was born on November 17, 1965, when she was a teenager. His biological father, singer Marvin Gaye, was 26 years old and married to Gordy's 43-year-old aunt Anna at the time. She agreed to give birth to the child because her aunt was unable to conceive. Shortly after Marvin III's birth, Anna adopted him. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Film and television | |||
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Year | Show | Role | Notes |
1972 | Lady Sings the Blues | Dancer | Film |
1974 | Black Fist | Bea | Film |
1975 | Mahogany | Uncredited role | Film |
1976 | Starsky & Hutch | Hooker | TV series |
1976 | Charlie's Angels | Nikki | TV series |
1977 | Little Ladies of the Night | Foxy Lady | TV film |
1977 | Scott Joplin | The Girl | Film |
1981 | Enos | Laura | TV series |
1983 | At Ease | Commando Girl | TV series |
1983 | Bare Essence | TV series | |
1983 | D.C. Cab | Denise | Film |
1984 | Fantasy Island | 1st Nurse | TV series |
1984 | Getting Physical | Video Lady No. 2 | TV film |
1985 | My Man Adam | Willette | Film |
1985 | It's a Living | Customer | TV series |
1986 | Reform School Girls | Claudie | Film |
1991 | Toy Soldiers | Parent | Film |
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 the 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.
Berry Gordy III, also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, professionally known as Tammi Terrell, was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.
Rhonda Ross Kendrick is an American singer and former actress. Kendrick is the daughter of singer and actress Diana Ross and the biological child of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy; however, her legal father is Robert Ellis Silberstein, as her mother was married to him before she was born and he is the father who raised her.
Bianca Lawson is an American actress. She is known for her regular roles in the television series Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Goode Behavior, Pretty Little Liars, and Rogue. She has also had recurring roles in the series Sister, Sister, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Steve Harvey Show, Dawson's Creek, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, and Witches of East End. In 2016, Lawson began starring in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar.
"Distant Lover" is the sixth song issued on singer Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On and the B-side of the second single from that album, "Come Get to This". A live recording was issued as a single in 1974. The live version of the song was Gaye's most successful single during the three-year gap between Let's Get It On and his following 1976 album, I Want You.
The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye is the debut studio album by Marvin Gaye, released in 1961, and the second long-playing album (TM-221) released by Motown. The first was Hi... We're the Miracles (TM-220). It is most notable as the album that caused the first known struggle of Gaye's turbulent tenure with the label.
Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
"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.
Gwen Fuqua was an American businesswoman, songwriter and composer, most notably writing hit songs such as "Lonely Teardrops", "All I Could Do Was Cry" and "Distant Lover". She acquired her full name after marrying Harvey Fuqua and kept the name after their divorce.
Esther Gordy Edwards was a staff member and associate of her younger brother Berry Gordy's Motown label during the 1960s. Edwards created the Motown Museum, Hitsville U.S.A., by preserving the label's Detroit studio. She also served as president of the Motown Museum and has been called the "Mother of Motown". Edwards was posthumously inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2022.
The Gordys are an African-American family of businesspeople and music industry executives. They were born to Georgia-reared parents Berry "Pops" Gordy Sr. and Bertha Gordy and raised in Detroit, where most of the siblings played a pivotal role in the international acceptance of rhythm and blues music as a crossover phenomenon in the 1960s. The accomplishment is attributable to the creation of Motown, a company founded by the seventh-oldest sibling, Berry Gordy Jr..
On April 1, 1984, American musician Marvin Gaye, 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.
The Gaye family is a family most notable for their relation to Motown music artist Marvin Gaye. Along with Marvin, many of the family members have also made contributions within the music industry, theatre and film. Aside from him, the most notable relatives include Gaye's father Marvin Gay Sr., his mother Alberta, brother Frankie, sister Zeola, brother-in-law Gordon Banks, son Marvin III, and daughter Nona.
Marvin Gaye was an American music artist and singer-songwriter who won acclaim for a series of recordings with Motown Records. Gaye's personal life, mainly documented in the biography, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, included his faith; child abuse by his father; personal relationships with his two wives, friends, and girlfriends; and bouts of depression and drug abuse.
Iris Gordy is an American songwriter, producer, and music executive. She is a former vice president at Motown, where she helped launch the careers of DeBarge, Teena Marie, and Rick James, Mandre, Bobby Nunn and Tata Vega. Her credits include albums by Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Rick James, Four Tops, DeBarge, Diana Ross, and Tata Vega.
Harvey Fuqua was an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive.
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.
Nona Aisha Gaye is an American singer, former fashion model, and retired actress. The daughter of singer Marvin Gaye and maternal granddaughter of jazz musician Slim Gaillard, Gaye began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s. In film, she portrayed Zee in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.