| Birth name | Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. | | Born | April 2, 1939
Washington, D.C., U.S. | | Died | April 1, 1984 (aged 44)
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | | Genres | R&B, soul, funk | | Occupations | Singer-songwriter | | Instruments | Vocals, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion, synthesizers | | Years active | 1961–1984 | | Labels | Tamla/Tamla-Motown, Columbia | | Associated acts | Harvey Fuqua
Mary Wells
Kim Weston
Tammi Terrell
Diana Ross | Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown Records in the 1960s with a string of hits including “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and duet recordings with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles, “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”. During the 1970s, Gaye recorded the concept albums What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On and became among the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of its production company. Gaye’s later recordings influenced several R&B subgenres such as quiet storm and neo-soul. Following a period in Europe under a tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye released the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit, “Sexual Healing” and the Midnight Love album. Following his death in 1984, Gaye has been posthumously honored by many institutions including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I don’t make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don’t today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time.
~Marvin Gaye (to NME, 1982)
What’s Going On (Live in Amsterdam):
…It’s [What’s going on] great because it’s every bit as gorgeous as it is ambitious. After making it, “I felt like I’d finally learned how to sing,” Gaye told biographer David Ritz
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)
Awards & Honors - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 1987, declaring that Gaye “made a huge contribution to soul music in general and the Motown Sound in particular.
- In 1990, Gaye received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- In 1996, Gaye posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three Gaye recordings, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “What’s Going On” and “Sexual Healing”, among its list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll“.
- American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye number 18 on their list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” and sixth on their list of “100 Greatest Singers of All Time“.
- Q magazine ranked Gaye sixth on their list of the “100 Greatest Singers“
- Three of Gaye’s albums, What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On and Here, My Dear, were ranked by Rolling Stone on their list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time“.
- What’s Going On remains his largest-ranked album, reaching No. 6 on the Rolling Stone list and topped the NME list of the “Top 100 Albums of All Time” in 1985 and was later chosen in 2003 for inclusion by the Library of Congress to its National Recording Registry.
- In addition, four of his songs, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “What’s Going On”, “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing” made it on the Rolling Stone list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time“
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