MARVIN GAYE
April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984
“Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”.
Grammy Award, NAACP Award, Walk of Fame Award, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Singer , Producer and Songwriter
Marvin Gaye was an American musician who gained worldwide fame for his work with Motown Records. He was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr. one day before his birthday on April 1, 1984, at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, California after returning back to the United States after three years. He was shot twice many stories has come into play and none really truly tell of what actually was the truth on those two know and both are dead. The wounds were fatal and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center.
Marvin death inspired several musical tributes over the years including recollections of the incidents leading to his death. He was given a burial plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery and was later cremated and his ashes spread around the Pacific Ocean. His music was a global success with 41 Top 40 singles. Marvin father, who got a six-year suspended jail sentence for manslaughter.
He released 25 studio albums, 4 live albums, 1 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.
Gaye recorded sixty seven charted singles on the Billboard charts, with forty-one reaching the top forty, eighteen reaching the top ten and three peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Sixty of his singles reached the top forty of the R&B charts, with thirty-eight of those reaching the top ten and thirteen peaking at number one. Gaye also had success in international charts, his biggest success in sales and chart positions peaking in the UK while achieving modest success in other countries.
In 1985, there have been annual Marvin Gaye Day celebrations in the city of Washington, D.C., Gaye’s hometown. The day was officiated by then-mayor Marion Barry on the day of Gaye’s 46th birthday. The non-profit organization has helped to organize Marvin Gaye Day celebrations in the city. In 1986, Marvin’s mother Alberta founded the Marvin P. Gaye Jr. Memorial Foundation, which is dedicated to those suffering from drug abuse and alcoholism. It opened a day after she died from complications of bone cancer in May 1987. In 1990, after years of petitions and letters, Gaye was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with one of its most prominent letters written by longtime fan Eddie Murphy. Six years later, in 1996, Gaye posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, an old park that Gaye frequented as a teenager, the former Watts Branch Park, was renamed Marvin Gaye Park in his honor. Three years later, in 2009, the 5200 block of Foote Street NE in Deanwood, Washington, D.C., was renamed Marvin Gaye Way. Marvin was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star. His estate later filed a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell for blurred lines and won 7.4 million dollars. the $7.4 million ordered by the court, Jan and his three children – Marvin III, 49, Nona, 40 and Frankie, 39 – receive royalty payments from his vast back catalog.
Such a tragic story of a spirit that gave us hope and love through his music. We will forever remember Marvin as his words say which resonates in this decade of WHATS GOING ON.
2008, Gaye’s estate earned $3.5 million, As a result, Gaye took 13th place in “Top-Earning Dead Celebrities” in Forbes magazine.[166]
On March 11, 2015, Gaye’s family was awarded $7.4 million in damages following a decision by an eight-member jury in Los Angeles that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had breached copyright by incorporating part of Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up” into their hit “Blurred Lines“, but U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt reduced the sum to $5.3 million, while adding royalties.In January 2016, the Gaye family requested that a California judge give $2.66 million in attorneys’ fees and $777,000 in legal expenses.
As of 2018, Gaye’s estate was managed by Geffen Management Group and his legacy is protected through Creative Rights Group,
Pictures are of Marvin and his mom and his career photos .