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Film, Marvin Gaye, Soul

May 21: American Masters – Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (documentary)

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May 21: American Masters – Marvin Gaye  What’s Going On (documentary)

Marvin Gaye released What’s going on May 21, 1971, we present a great documentary about the album.

Marvin Gaye is one of the great and enduring figures of soul music, but his life was one of sexual confusion, bittersweet success and ultimately death by the hand of his own father.

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 — April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a four-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla Records subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label’s top-selling solo artist during the sixties.

Because of solo hits such as “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”, “Ain’t That Peculiar”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned “The Prince of Motown” and “The Prince of Soul”.

His work in the early and mid-1970s, including the albums What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On, and I Want You, helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-Award winning hit, “Sexual Healing” and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye at number 6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked at number 18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

This fine documentary is directed by Samuel D. Pollard, also an editor and producer, known for 25th Hour (2002), 4 Little Girls(1997) and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006). Including interviews with the singer’s family, friends and musical colleagues.

What’s Going On  (2008):

– Hallgeir

Music Calendar

May 21 in music history

Today: Marvin Gaye released What’s Going On (album) in 1971 (read more)

“What’s Going On is not only Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece, it’s the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices, a man finally free to speak his mind and so move from R&B sex symbol to true recording artist.”
~John Bush (allmusic.com)

 Marvin Gaye - whatsgoing
 Bob Dylan recorded “Mississippi” @ Sony Studios, NYC, May 21, 2001 – 4 takes.. take 4 selected for “Love & Theft“. (date according to C. Heylin – Still On The Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Vol. 2)Bob Dylan (Guitar, piano & vocal), Charlie Sexton (guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, violin & banjo), Augie Meyers (keyboards & accordion), Tony Garnier (bass), David Kemper (drums & percussion).  bob dylan love & theft
 “Maybellene” (May 21, 1955 at Universal Recording Studios in Chicago,Illinois) is a song recorded by Chuck Berry, adapted from the traditional fiddle tune “Ida Red” that tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It was released in July 1955 as a single on Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois. It was Berry’s first single release and his first hit. “Maybellene” is considered one of the pioneering rock and roll singles: Rolling Stone magazine wrote, “Rock & roll guitar starts here.” The record is an early instance of the complete rock and roll package: youthful subject matter, small guitar-driven combo, clear diction, and an atmosphere of unrelenting excitement.  chuck berry - Maybelline
 Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.  Bob Dylan-Albert Grossman

Spotify Playlist – May 21
Motown, Music Calendar, Soul

Marvin Gaye profile

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“If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else.”
~Marvin Gaye

I hope to refine music, study it, try to find some area that I can unlock. I don’t quite know how to explain it but it’s there. These can’t be the only notes in the world, there’s got to be other notes some place, in some dimension, between the cracks on the piano keys.
~Marvin Gaye

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