Marvin Gaye 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".
76 Facts About Marvin Gaye
2.
Marvin Gaye recorded duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross.
3.
Marvin Gaye's last televised appearances were at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, where he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner"; Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever; and Soul Train.
4.
Marvin Gaye was the second oldest of the couple's four children.
5.
Marvin Gaye had two sisters, Jeanne and Zeola, and one brother, Frankie Gaye.
6.
Marvin Gaye had two half-brothers: Michael Cooper, his mother's son from a previous relationship, and Antwaun Carey Gay, born as a result of his father's extramarital affairs.
7.
Marvin Gaye started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano.
8.
Marvin Gaye developed a love of singing at an early age and was encouraged to pursue a professional music career after a performance at a school play at 11 singing Mario Lanza's "Be My Love".
9.
The young Marvin Gaye described living in his father's house as similar to "living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king".
10.
Marvin Gaye felt that had his mother not consoled him and encouraged his singing, he would have committed suicide.
11.
Marvin Gaye attended Syphax Elementary School and then Randall Junior High School.
12.
Marvin Gaye began to take singing much more seriously in junior high, and he joined and became a singing star with the Randall Junior High Glee Club.
13.
Marvin Gaye briefly attended Spingarn High School before transferring to Cardozo High School.
14.
At Cardozo, Marvin Gaye joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including the Dippers and the DC Tones.
15.
In 1956,17-year-old Marvin Gaye dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a basic airman.
16.
Marvin Gaye relocated to Detroit with Fuqua, where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a session musician, playing drums on several Tri-Phi releases.
17.
Marvin Gaye performed at Motown president Berry Gordy's house during the holiday season in December 1960.
18.
Gaye released his first single, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide", in May 1961, with the album The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, following a month later.
19.
Marvin Gaye was one of the few Motown artists who took no dance lessons from Cholly Atkins.
20.
Marvin Gaye first reached the pop top 40 with the dance song, "Hitch Hike", peaking at No 30 on the Hot 100.
21.
In 1964, Marvin Gaye recorded a successful duet album with singer Mary Wells titled Together, which reached No 42 on the pop album chart.
22.
Marvin Gaye started getting television exposure around this time, on shows such as American Bandstand.
23.
Marvin Gaye was reportedly devastated by Terrell's sickness and became disillusioned with the record business.
24.
On October 6,1968, Marvin Gaye sang the national anthem during Game 4 of the 1968 World Series, held at Tiger Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, between the Detroit Tigers and the St Louis Cardinals.
25.
Marvin Gaye followed it up with "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is", which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.
26.
Tammi Terrell died from brain cancer on March 16,1970; Marvin Gaye attended her funeral and after a period of depression, Marvin Gaye sought out a position on a professional football team, the Detroit Lions, where he later befriended Mel Farr and Lem Barney.
27.
Barney and Farr had gotten gold records for providing backup vocals for the title track of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album.
28.
The Lions eventually declined an invitation for Marvin Gaye to try out, owing to legal liabilities and fears of possible injuries that could have affected his music career.
29.
On June 1,1970, Marvin Gaye returned to Hitsville USA, where he recorded his new composition "What's Going On", inspired by an idea from Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops after he witnessed an act of police brutality at an anti-war rally in Berkeley.
30.
Marvin Gaye responded by deciding against releasing any other new material before the label released it.
31.
Marvin Gaye first responded to the new contract with the soundtrack and subsequent score, Trouble Man, released in late 1972.
32.
Marvin Gaye took them on his tours and featured them as the opening acts of his concerts and persuaded Beverly to change the band's name from Raw Soul to Maze.
33.
In October 1975, Marvin Gaye gave a performance at a UNESCO benefit concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to support UNESCO's African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black and Kurt Waldheim.
34.
That spring, Marvin Gaye embarked on his first European tour in a decade, starting off in Belgium.
35.
In early 1977, Marvin Gaye released the live album, Live at the London Palladium, which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of its studio song, "Got to Give It Up", which charted at No 1.
36.
In September 1977, Marvin Gaye opened Radio City Music Hall's New York Pop Arts Festival.
37.
In December 1978, Marvin Gaye released Here, My Dear, inspired by the fallout from his first marriage to Anna Gordy.
38.
That year, Marvin Gaye went on a European tour, his first in four years.
39.
Marvin Gaye then reworked Love Man from its original disco concept to another socially-conscious album invoking religion and the possible end time from a chapter in the Book of Revelation.
40.
When Marvin Gaye learned of its release, he accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, allowing the release of an unfinished production, altering the album art of his request and removing the album title's question mark, muting its irony.
41.
Marvin Gaye accused the label of rush-releasing the album, comparing his unfinished album to an unfinished Pablo Picasso painting.
42.
Marvin Gaye then vowed not to record any more music for Motown.
43.
On February 14,1981, under the advice of music promoter Freddy Cousaert, Marvin Gaye relocated to Cousaert's apartment in Ostend, Belgium.
44.
When word got around that Marvin Gaye was planning a musical comeback and an exit from Motown, CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold eventually was able to convince Marvin Gaye to sign with CBS Records.
45.
In June 1963, Marvin Gaye married Anna Gordy, sister to Berry Gordy.
46.
Marvin Gaye III was the biological son of Anna's niece, Denise Gordy, who was 16 at the time of the birth.
47.
At the time of his death, Marvin Gaye was survived by his three children, mother, father and five siblings.
48.
Marvin Gaye intervened in a fight between his parents in the early afternoon hours of April 1,1984, in the family house in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
49.
Marvin Gaye became involved in a physical altercation with his father, Marvin Gay Sr.
50.
Marvin Gaye was given a suspended six-year sentence and probation.
51.
Marvin Gaye used percussion instruments, such as bells, finger cymbals, box drums, glockenspiels, vibraphones, bongos, congas, and cabasas.
52.
Marvin Gaye considered Frank Sinatra a major influence in what he wanted to be.
53.
Marvin Gaye was influenced by the vocal styles of Billy Eckstine and Nat King Cole.
54.
From his earlier recordings as member of the Marquees and Harvey and the New Moonglows, and in his first several recordings with Motown, Marvin Gaye recorded mainly in the baritone and tenor ranges.
55.
Marvin Gaye changed his tone to a rasp for his gospel-inspired early hits such as "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" and "Hitch Hike".
56.
Marvin Gaye initially disliked the new style, considering it out of his range, but said he was "into being produce-able".
57.
Marvin Gaye was inspired by the Black Panther Party and supported the efforts they put forth such as giving free meals to poor families door to door.
58.
Marvin Gaye was inspired to make this album because of events such as the Vietnam War, the 1967 race riots in Detroit, and the Kent State shootings, as well as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr.
59.
Marvin Gaye has been called "the number-one purveyor of soul music".
60.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 1987, declaring that Marvin Gaye "made a huge contribution to soul music in general and the Motown Sound in particular".
61.
The page further states that Marvin Gaye "projected an air of soulful authority driven by fervid conviction and heartbroken vulnerability".
62.
In 1988, a year after his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Marvin Gaye was inducted posthumously to the NAACP Hall of Fame.
63.
In 1990, Marvin Gaye received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
64.
In 1996, Marvin Gaye posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
65.
In 2005, Marvin Gaye was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.
66.
Marvin Gaye was named as a posthumous inductee to that hall on March 2,2016.
67.
Marvin Gaye was inducted to the Songwriters Hall on June 9,2016.
68.
In July 2018, a bill by California politician Karen Bass to rename a post office in South Los Angeles after Marvin Gaye was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
69.
Marvin Gaye was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stones "The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time" published in January 2023.
70.
Marvin Gaye's music has been used in numerous film soundtracks including Four Brothers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, both of which featured Marvin Gaye's music from his Trouble Man soundtrack.
71.
In July 2016, it was announced that a feature film documentary on Marvin Gaye would be released the following year delving into his life and the making of his 1971 album What's Going On.
72.
Marvin Gaye acted in two movies, featuring as a Vietnam veteran in both roles.
73.
Marvin Gaye had a prominent role in the film as David Owens.
74.
Marvin Gaye had a role in the Lee Frost-directed biker-exploitation film Chrome and Hot Leather, about a group of Vietnam veterans taking on a bike gang.
75.
The film starred William Smith; Marvin Gaye played the part of Jim, one of the veterans.
76.
Marvin Gaye did have acting aspirations and had signed with the William Morris Agency but that only lasted a year as Marvin Gaye was not satisfied with the support he was getting from the agency.