Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye, was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to 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, earning 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, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.
Let's Get It On is the thirteenth studio album by 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.
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.
American music artist Marvin Gaye released 25 studio albums, four live albums, one soundtrack album, 24 compilation albums, and 83 singles. In 1961 Gaye signed a recording contract with Tamla Records, owned by Motown. The first release under the label was The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye. Gaye's first album to chart was a duet album with Mary Wells titled Together, peaking at number forty-two on the Billboard pop album chart. His 1965 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, became his first album to reach the top ten of the R&B album charts and spawned four hit singles. Gaye recorded more than thirty hit singles for Motown throughout the 1960s, becoming established as "the Prince of Motown". Gaye topped the charts in 1968 with his rendition of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", while his 1969 album, M.P.G., became his first number one R&B album. Gaye's landmark album, 1971's What's Going On became the first album by a solo artist to launch three top ten singles, including the title track. His 1973 single, "Let's Get It On", topped the charts while its subsequent album reached number two on the charts becoming his most successful Motown album to date. In 1982, after 21 years with Motown, Gaye signed with Columbia Records and issued Midnight Love, which included his most successful single to date, "Sexual Healing". Following his death in 1984, three albums were released posthumously while some of Gaye's landmark works were re-issued.
Dream of a Lifetime is the eighteenth and first posthumously released studio album by the American recording artist Marvin Gaye. It included the top five R&B single, "Sanctified Lady".
"Ego Tripping Out" is a 1979 funk-styled dance record released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released as a single on the Tamla (Motown) label. The record was originally meant to be the lead single for the singer's aborted Love Man album. However, as the album was scrapped and reworked into In Our Lifetime, the song received further work, before being omitted from the final album tracklist. The single was later included in a 1994 re-release of In Our Lifetime and a 2007 re-release deluxe edition featured two different alternate mixes for the sessions of In Our Lifetime as well as the original Love Man single of it.
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.
"Here, My Dear" is a song written, composed and produced by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, issued on the album of the same name in 1978. The song was a sort of introduction to the deeply confessional and post-divorce concept that gave a chronological look back at the tempestuous marriage between Marvin and first wife Anna. The lyric, You don't have the right to use a son of mine to keep me in line, became a memorable lyric for fans of Gaye and very much was a lyric attacking Anna for demanding alimony and child support payments to support then-twelve-year-old Marvin, III. Marvin then sarcastically told his wife that he dedicated the album to her but warned that she might "not be happy" and telling Anna "this is what you wanted" making a reference to the judge in their divorce case to give up royalties from this album to Anna. The song's musical background would be used for the song "Everybody Needs Love" from this album.
"Time to Get It Together" is a 1978 song recorded by Marvin Gaye and issued on Marvin's 1978 album, Here, My Dear. Much like "Everybody Needs Love", "Anger" and "A Funky Space Reincarnation", among others, this song doesn't discuss the demise of Marvin's marriage to Anna Gordy Gaye. Instead the song is a biographical account of the singer's own personal demons as he battled drug abuse, paranoia and depression.
"Sanctified Lady" is a song by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released posthumously in 1985 by Columbia Records.
"Joy" is a 1983 single released by Marvin Gaye, the final single issued from his Midnight Love album. The song, which was built around a funk vibe, was inspired by Gaye's religious background, which had also inspired songs such as "God is Love", "Everybody Needs Love" and "Praise". Gaye introduced the song as a tribute to his father during his 1983 concert tour.
Marvin Gaye: The Love Songs is a 2000 compilation album recorded by Motown singer Marvin Gaye. Included are his UK hits, "Abraham, Martin & John", his two duets with Diana Ross: "You Are Everything" and "Stop, Look, Listen " and his international hits including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "What's Going On" and "Sexual Healing". The album was only released in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number eight on the UK albums chart.
Marvin's Room is a recording studio founded by American recording artist Marvin Gaye in Los Angeles.
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 religious faith, child abuse by his father, personal relationships with his two wives, friends and girlfriends, and bouts with depression and drug abuse.
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. As an actress, Gaye is best known for her portrayal of Zee in the 2003 science-fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
