Nona Gaye | |
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Born | Nona Aisha Gaye September 4, 1974 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1989–2009 (actress) 1992–present (singer) |
Children | 1 |
Father | Marvin Gaye |
Relatives | Slim Gaillard (grandfather) Marvin Gay Sr. (grandfather) Alberta Gay (grandmother) Frankie Gaye (uncle) |
Musical career | |
Genres |
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Labels | |
Nona Aisha Gaye [1] [2] (born September 4, 1974) [3] [4] [5] 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 (both 2003).
Gaye was born in Washington, D.C., spending the first three weeks of her life in the capital of the United States. [6] She is the daughter of Marvin Gaye, a Motown singer, [6] and Janis Hunter, who managed her daughter's music career. [7] She was raised in Redondo Beach, California. [7]
After Marvin Gaye divorced Anna Gordy, Nona's parents wed in 1977 before ending their marriage four years later. [6] Her father was killed in 1984 by her grandfather Marvin Gay Sr. when Nona was 9 years old. [7]
As a child, Gaye had several aspirations, including ballet and gymnastics, but ultimately decided on a career in music during her teenage years. [6]
Gaye credits Billie Holiday, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Red Hot Chili Peppers as having influenced her music. [8] Her debut album Love for the Future [9] was released on Atlantic Records in October 1992, a month after her eighteenth birthday. It featured the top-20 hit "I'm Overjoyed," [7] as well as the single "The Things That We All Do for Love." "I'm Overjoyed" reached number 17 on the Hot R&B Singles chart by November of that year. [10] In 1993, Gaye was named one of People Magazine 's 50 Most Beautiful People. [11] She signed to Ford Modeling Agency in 1994, and became the new face of Armani. [7] In 1995, Gaye sang the title track on a tribute album of her father, Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye . [12]
For three years, Gaye both collaborated with and dated singer-songwriter Prince. [13] During this time, she recorded at least four songs with him. A duet, "1000 Hugs and Kisses" and solo track, "Snowman," are thus far officially unreleased, but have managed to make their way into circulation amongst fans. Another duet, "Love Sign," was released on the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album in 1994, along with another track with no Prince contribution, "A Woman's Gotta Have It." Gaye provided backing vocals on "We March" for Prince's 1995 album The Gold Experience , and on the title track to the Girl 6 soundtrack, released in 1996.
Gaye has candidly admitted that during this time she had experienced a long, personal battle with drug abuse, which she successfully overcame in 1996. [13] In addition to these projects, she starred in a Prince-produced European TV special called The Beautiful Experience , consisting of a loose storyline to promote new material from Prince (most of which would be released throughout the next few years).
She sang alongside other artists to re-record and release her father's single "What's Going On" to benefit AIDS research in 2001. She appeared with several celebrities in the music video for Luther Vandross' 2003 song "Dance with My Father", collectively filling in for Vandross who had suffered a stroke at the time. [14]
At one point, she worked with R. Kelly on two as-yet-unreleased singles, [15] "Work It" and "Just Because," which interpolates the Gap Band's "Oops Up Side Your Head." In 2008, three tracks by Gaye appeared for sale at AmieStreet.com in EP form. Titled Language of Love, it contains the tracks "Quarter to Three" and "Midas Lover," along with the title track.
She began her acting career in 2001, debuting in Michael Mann's Ali as Belinda Ali. [16] A film reviewer described Gaye as "startlingly good" in the role. [17] Another viewed her as the best of the actresses who portrayed Ali's wives. [18]
The following year, Gaye replaced Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash shortly after the filming of The Matrix sequels began, for the role of Zee, the wife of Harold Perrineau's character Link. [19] Gaye was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for portraying Zee in The Matrix Revolutions . [20]
She also provided the voice of the unnamed Hero Girl in 2004's The Polar Express . [21] Gaye portrayed preacher's wife Charlene Frank in The Gospel (2005). [8] She appeared in Crash (2004) [13] and portrayed Lola, an ex-girlfriend of Ice Cube's character, in XXX: State of the Union (2005). [22]
In July 2006, Gaye was added to the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent as a replacement for Courtney B. Vance as the new Assistant District Attorney. [23] However, just as the series began production for its sixth season,[ citation needed ] she left the show, citing "creative differences." Gaye was replaced by Theresa Randle, who left after filming only two episodes.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Harlem Nights | Patron | |
2001 | Ali | Belinda Ali | |
2003 | The Matrix Reloaded | Zee | |
The Matrix Revolutions | |||
2004 | Crash | Karen | |
The Polar Express | Hero Girl Holly (voice) | Also motion-capture | |
2005 | XXX: State of the Union | Lola Jackson | |
The Gospel | Charlene Taylor Frank | ||
2009 | Blood and Bone | Tamara | Direct-to-video |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | The Polar Express | Hero Girl | |
2005 | The Matrix Online | Zee | |
The Matrix: Path of Neo | Archive footage only |
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, known as Aaliyah, was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. She has been credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".
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".
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Known as the "Velvet Voice", Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. NPR additionally named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded shortly before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
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.
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"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.
"Got to Give It Up" is a song by American music artist Marvin Gaye. Written by the singer and produced by Art Stewart as a response to a request from Gaye's record label that he perform disco music, it was released in March 1977.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
"If This World Were Mine" is a 1967 song by soul music duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell from their album United. Written solely by Gaye, it was one of the few songs they recorded without Ashford & Simpson writing or producing. When it was released as a single in November 1967 as the B-side to the duo's "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You", it hit the Billboard pop singles chart, peaking at number 68, and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Gaye would later put the song into his set list during his last tours in the early 1980s as he performed a medley of his hits with Terrell. The song was covered by Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn who had an R&B hit with it in 1982.
"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.
Cheryl Lynn is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her songs during the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, including the 1978 R&B/disco song "Got to Be Real".
Gonna Take a Miracle is the fifth album by New York City-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro, with assistance by vocal trio Labelle. It was released on Columbia Records in November 1971, one year after its predecessor Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. The album is Nyro's only all-covers album, and she interprets mainly 1950s and 1960s soul and R&B standards, using Labelle as a traditional back-up vocal group.
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.
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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.
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