Marvin Gaye
Born April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C., Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr., The second of three children born to the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr. He began singing in church at the age of three, quickly becoming a soloist in the choir. Gaye later took up piano and drums and music became his escape from the cruel realities of his home life. After graduating from high school, Gaye enlisted in the U.S. Air Force; upon his discharge, he returned to Washington and began singing in a group called the Rainbows. While touring in the Midwest, he captured the interest of Berry Gordy, Jr., who signed him to the Motown label in 1961. From 1963 to 1882, Marvin Gaye has had over 40 top billboard singles; he was nominated for eight Grammys before winning one in 1983. In 1987 Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1964 Marvin teamed up with songwriter, and performer Tammi Terrell, he then went on to scored a series of massive hits including, 1967's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love," followed by 1968's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By." In 1967 his strings of hits came to a halt when during a concert appearance in Virginia, Terrell collapsed into Gaye's arms on-stage. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and finally killed her on March 16, 1970. Her death led him deeply shaken, that he took two years off to focus on his music, and he then came back with 1968 success of "I Heard It through the Grapevine, his biggest hit at Motown. I heard it through the grapevine showed Marvin’s depth and originality. At the same time, Gaye was forced to cope with a number of other personal problems, not the least of which was his crumbling marriage. He also found the material he recorded for Motown to be increasingly irrelevant in the face of the tremendous social changes sweeping the nation.
In the 1970’s Marvin resurface his music my releasing his self-produced What's Going On, a landmark...