Death of Marvin Gaye
Encyclopedia
On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye
was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gaye, Sr. in the West Adams
district of Los Angeles at their house on Gramercy Place. Gaye was shot twice after an altercation he had with his father after intervening in an argument between the elder Gaye and his mother Alberta
. Gaye's wounds proved to be fatal and he was pronounced dead on arrival
at the California Hospital Medical Center
. Gaye's death produced several musical tributes over the years including recollections of the incidents leading to his death. Gaye was given a burial plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery
and was later cremated
with his ashes spread around the Pacific Ocean.
in February 1981. After rising to the top of the pop charts in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist for the Motown Records
label, Gaye had struggled with several albums and had sometimes cancelled, postponed or abruptly departed from concerts despite owing a heavy debt to the IRS. At the time Gaye began his exile from the United States
in 1980, the singer owed the IRS up to $8 million in debt. Several concerts were created to alleviate the debt, which shortened to $4 million by the time Gaye announced a musical revival. After Motown released his final album with the label, In Our Lifetime, Gaye had requested to leave the label, finally settling for a multi-million dollar offer from CBS Records
. The deal helped to temporarily heal Gaye's struggling finances. Having found sobriety while in Ostend, the singer felt refreshed enough to record a new album. In September of 1982, "Sexual Healing
" was released and quickly brought Gaye back on top hitting the top ten in several countries and winning Gaye two Grammy Award
s. Its parent album, Midnight Love
, also became an international success.
Gaye then announced a U.S. tour that started in April 1983 to promote the album. However, Gaye had been reluctant to return to the United States. Reports stated his return to his native country was due to his mother recovering from a stroke while in surgery for bone cancer. Struggling to deal with pressure from promoters and his hatred for live performances, Gaye returned to drugs. In August 1983, the tour wrapped up in Los Angeles and Gaye retreated to the home he had bought for his mother. According to family, things were peaceful enough though Gaye struggled to come to terms with his drug abuse. In October of that year, Gaye's father Marvin Gaye, Sr., an ex-minister who reportedly had physically abused Gaye and his three siblings growing up in Washington, D.C.
, moved back in the house. Gaye had learned prior to his father's arrival that he was in the beginnings of selling Marvin's childhood home, something that angered both Gaye and his mother, since he didn't contact either of them about it. While at Gramercy, Gaye rarely left his room without wearing a maroon
robe and carrying a pistol and a BB gun in his pockets. Gaye struggled with paranoia
and, during his last tour, he had hired a group of bodyguards to watch out for potential killers. Gaye was reportedly spooked by the death of musical contemporary John Lennon
; and, a few years before, a report stated that someone had poisoned Gaye's drink while attending a party. In December 1983, Gaye gave his father a .38 pistol as a Christmas present to protect him.
Marvin's brother Frankie
and his wife, Irene, were next door when Irene heard the shots. When Irene rushed outside, she saw Marvin's mother screaming for help saying, "He shot my son!" Frankie ran upstairs to see his dying brother struggling to breathe, while Irene called 9-1-1
. Paramedics arrived to find Gay, Sr. sitting on the front porch. They demanded to see the gun before they would enter the house. Irene found it under Marvin Sr.'s pillow and threw it on the lawn. When police arrived, Gay, Sr. was quickly escorted to the police station for questioning.
Gaye was pronounced dead on arrival
upon his entry to the California Hospital Medical Center
at 1:01 pm PST, dying a day before his 45th birthday (April 2). Fans and neighbors of Marvin crowded around the scene of the crime shortly after hearing the news.
Four days later, on April 5, Gaye was given a star-studded funeral attended by over 10,000 mourners, including his Motown colleagues Smokey Robinson
, Stevie Wonder
and Motown
CEO Berry Gordy
who was, at one point, Gaye's brother-in-law. The singer's two ex-wives Anna Gordy Gaye
and Janis Gaye
and his three children, Marvin P. Gaye III, 18; Nona Gaye
, 9; and Frankie "Bubby" Gaye, 8; also attended the funeral. Gaye had an open casket funeral led by one of the ministers from his Pentecostal church. Shortly afterwards the singer's remains were cremated and Marvin's children and his ex-wife Anna spread his ashes at the Pacific Ocean.
Around the same time, police interviewed Marvin Sr. on the events leading up to his son's murder. When asked if he loved his son, Marvin Sr. reportedly took his time before finally answering, "Let's just say I didn't dislike him".
Shortly after their son's death, Alberta Gaye filed for divorce from Marvin Sr. after 49 years of marriage. Marvin Sr., then 69 years old at the time of his son's death, continued to live in the Gramercy house until eventually he was sent to a rest home in Culver City, California
, where he eventually died of pneumonia
on October 10, 1998 at the age of 84.
Marvin, who was in debt at the time of his death, reportedly left no will. In his autobiography, Marvin's friend Bobby Womack
said he gave some money for Marvin's second ex-wife, Janis, to help try to cover up Marvin's financial ruins leading to the death.
A benign tumor discovered at the base of Gaye, Sr.'s brain was removed on May 17, 1984 at County-USC Medical Centre. Despite this development, Superior Court Judge Michael Pirosh ruled that Gaye, Sr. was competent to stand trial on June 12, 1984 after reviewing a two-page report, including two psychiatric evaluations conducted by Dr. Ronald Markman. He appeared in court again on June 20, 1984, where he was ordered to return on July 16 for a preliminary hearing. His wife, Alberta, posted the reduced bond of $30,000 via a bondsman to secure Gaye, Sr.'s release.
Though initially charged with first degree murder, Marvin Gaye, Sr. pleaded no-contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge on September 20, 1984 via a plea bargain. On November 2, 1984, Judge Gordon Ringer sentenced Marvin Gaye, Sr. to a six-year suspended sentence and five years probation. During the sentencing, a deeply emotional and frail Marvin, Sr. told the court that he regretted killing his son. As quoted during the sentencing, Marvin, Sr. said, "If I could bring him back, I would. I was afraid of him. I thought I was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry for everything that happened."
dedicated the song "Save A Prayer" to Gaye while on their Seven and the Ragged Tiger U.S. tour; later on that year, R&B singer Teena Marie
recorded the song, "My Dear Mr. Gaye" with Gaye's 1970s collaborator, Leon Ware
. A year afterwards, two tribute songs, Diana Ross
' "Missing You
" and The Commodores' "Nightshift
", were released to national acclaim, both reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles
chart while also reaching the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100
.
That same year, David Ritz
released the biography, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
, which quickly became a national best-seller upon its release. In 1984 Columbia
and Motown
re-released Marvin's popular records, What's Going On
, Let's Get It On
, and Midnight Love
on the charts. The following year, the labels, with help from Marvin's friend Harvey Fuqua
and his brother-in-law, Gordon Banks
, released two works featuring unreleased Marvin material, Dream of a Lifetime
and Romantically Yours
.
In 1987, Gaye was posthumously inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Ashford & Simpson
, Gaye's frequent collaborators in the 1960s during his duets with Tammi Terrell
. Two years later, another tribute song, "Silky Soul", was released by Frankie Beverly
& Maze
, a group Marvin had mentored and had allowed to open for him during a 1977 tour. In 1994, Motown re-released more of Gaye's works, including 1976's I Want You, 1978's Here, My Dear, and 1981's In Our Lifetime. All three albums were critically reevaluated by music critics who hailed the former two albums as landmark masterpieces in Gaye's career.
Marvin's What's Going On (1971), Let's Get It On (1973), I Want You (1976), Here, My Dear (1978) and Midnight Love (1982) albums have been on several best-of lists over the years while rock critic Dave Marsh
declared Marvin's international number-one 1968 hit, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine
" as the greatest song in rock history. In 1996, Gaye was given another posthumous honor with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1990, Gaye was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
, six years after his death.
The singer has been honored in song by a number of artists, including The Commodores, Seal and Annie Lennox
. In his 2008 album, Something Else
, Robin Thicke
mentioned Marvin's death in the song, "Dreamworld" with the lyric "I would say, Marvin Gaye, your father didn't want you to die." The Violent Femmes
honor the complexities surrounding Gaye's death with a powerful double-entendre that expresses anxiety about paternal filicide
as a final, negative judgement of a person by "the father" (synonymous with God in many religions
) in "See My Ships" (from 3
, 1989): "Mercy mercy me, Marvin Gaye, he was shot by his father, O my father have mercy on me"
Since his death and the release of Divided Soul, three more books, Steve Turner's Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye, brother Frankie's My Brother, Marvin and Michael Eric Dyson's Mercy Mercy Me: The Art, Life and Demons of Marvin Gaye have been released. Two planned films on the singer's life are also in the works.
Rapper B. Dolan
's 2010 album 'Fallen House, Sunken City' features the track "Marvin," a tribute which details the events leading up to Gaye's death.
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gaye, Sr. in the West Adams
West Adams, Los Angeles, California
West Adams, also known as Historic West Adams, is a large district located in the center of Los Angeles, California, southwest of Downtown and west of USC...
district of Los Angeles at their house on Gramercy Place. Gaye was shot twice after an altercation he had with his father after intervening in an argument between the elder Gaye and his mother Alberta
Alberta Gay
Alberta Cooper Gay was the mother of influential Motown singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye and singer-songwriter Frankie Gaye, wife of minister Marvin Gay, Sr. and the grandmother of singer-actress Nona Gaye...
. Gaye's wounds proved to be fatal and he was pronounced dead on arrival
Dead on arrival
Dead on arrival or D.O.A. is a term used to indicate that a patient was found to be already clinically dead upon the arrival of professional medical assistance, often in the form of first responders such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics, or police...
at the California Hospital Medical Center
California Hospital Medical Center
California Hospital Medical Center is a hospital in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West.-Services:The emergency department at CHMC is certified as a level II trauma center for adults.-History:...
. Gaye's death produced several musical tributes over the years including recollections of the incidents leading to his death. Gaye was given a burial plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
and was later cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
with his ashes spread around the Pacific Ocean.
Musical comeback and personal problems
Marvin Gaye was, in his own words, at a low personal ebb when he reached the shores of OstendOstend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
in February 1981. After rising to the top of the pop charts in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist for the Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
label, Gaye had struggled with several albums and had sometimes cancelled, postponed or abruptly departed from concerts despite owing a heavy debt to the IRS. At the time Gaye began his exile from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1980, the singer owed the IRS up to $8 million in debt. Several concerts were created to alleviate the debt, which shortened to $4 million by the time Gaye announced a musical revival. After Motown released his final album with the label, In Our Lifetime, Gaye had requested to leave the label, finally settling for a multi-million dollar offer from CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. The deal helped to temporarily heal Gaye's struggling finances. Having found sobriety while in Ostend, the singer felt refreshed enough to record a new album. In September of 1982, "Sexual Healing
Sexual Healing
"Sexual Healing" is a 1982 song recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye on the Columbia Records label. It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, following the release of the In Our Lifetime album the previous year...
" was released and quickly brought Gaye back on top hitting the top ten in several countries and winning Gaye two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s. Its parent album, Midnight Love
Midnight Love
Midnight Love is the final studio album recorded and issued by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and was the singer's first release from Columbia months after leaving his longtime label, Motown. It claimed the number one slot on NME Album of the Year....
, also became an international success.
Gaye then announced a U.S. tour that started in April 1983 to promote the album. However, Gaye had been reluctant to return to the United States. Reports stated his return to his native country was due to his mother recovering from a stroke while in surgery for bone cancer. Struggling to deal with pressure from promoters and his hatred for live performances, Gaye returned to drugs. In August 1983, the tour wrapped up in Los Angeles and Gaye retreated to the home he had bought for his mother. According to family, things were peaceful enough though Gaye struggled to come to terms with his drug abuse. In October of that year, Gaye's father Marvin Gaye, Sr., an ex-minister who reportedly had physically abused Gaye and his three siblings growing up in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, moved back in the house. Gaye had learned prior to his father's arrival that he was in the beginnings of selling Marvin's childhood home, something that angered both Gaye and his mother, since he didn't contact either of them about it. While at Gramercy, Gaye rarely left his room without wearing a maroon
Maroon
Maroon, marooning, or marooned may refer to:* Maroon , a dark shade of red* Maroon , runaway slaves, of African origin, in the Americas* Marooning, the act of leaving someone on a deserted island-Music:...
robe and carrying a pistol and a BB gun in his pockets. Gaye struggled with paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
and, during his last tour, he had hired a group of bodyguards to watch out for potential killers. Gaye was reportedly spooked by the death of musical contemporary John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
; and, a few years before, a report stated that someone had poisoned Gaye's drink while attending a party. In December 1983, Gaye gave his father a .38 pistol as a Christmas present to protect him.
Death
On March 31, 1984, Marvin's parents had a domestic argument over misplaced business documents while Marvin, ill from drug use, lay in bed. Upon hearing this, he woke up and told his dad to leave his mother alone, though neither man physically attacked the other. The next day, April 1, the arguments started again.Marvin's brother Frankie
Frankie Gaye
Frankie Gaye was a singer and the younger brother of the more famous singer Marvin Gaye. Born the son of minister Marvin Pentz Gay, Sr. and domestic Alberta Cooper in Washington, D.C., Frances watched as Marvin became a superstar...
and his wife, Irene, were next door when Irene heard the shots. When Irene rushed outside, she saw Marvin's mother screaming for help saying, "He shot my son!" Frankie ran upstairs to see his dying brother struggling to breathe, while Irene called 9-1-1
9-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
. Paramedics arrived to find Gay, Sr. sitting on the front porch. They demanded to see the gun before they would enter the house. Irene found it under Marvin Sr.'s pillow and threw it on the lawn. When police arrived, Gay, Sr. was quickly escorted to the police station for questioning.
Gaye was pronounced dead on arrival
Dead on arrival
Dead on arrival or D.O.A. is a term used to indicate that a patient was found to be already clinically dead upon the arrival of professional medical assistance, often in the form of first responders such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics, or police...
upon his entry to the California Hospital Medical Center
California Hospital Medical Center
California Hospital Medical Center is a hospital in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West.-Services:The emergency department at CHMC is certified as a level II trauma center for adults.-History:...
at 1:01 pm PST, dying a day before his 45th birthday (April 2). Fans and neighbors of Marvin crowded around the scene of the crime shortly after hearing the news.
Four days later, on April 5, Gaye was given a star-studded funeral attended by over 10,000 mourners, including his Motown colleagues Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
CEO Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
who was, at one point, Gaye's brother-in-law. The singer's two ex-wives Anna Gordy Gaye
Anna Gordy Gaye
Anna Gordy Gaye is an American songwriter and composer, known as the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy and the first wife of soul legend Marvin Gaye, who used their troubled marriage as the focal point of his critically acclaimed 1978 effort, Here, My Dear, an album from which Gordy...
and Janis Gaye
Janis Gaye
Janis Gaye is best known as the second wife of American musician Marvin Gaye.-Biography:...
and his three children, Marvin P. Gaye III, 18; Nona Gaye
Nona Gaye
Nona Marvisa Gaye is an American singer, former fashion model, and screen actress. The daughter of soul music legend Marvin Gaye and granddaughter of jazz great Slim Gaillard, she began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s...
, 9; and Frankie "Bubby" Gaye, 8; also attended the funeral. Gaye had an open casket funeral led by one of the ministers from his Pentecostal church. Shortly afterwards the singer's remains were cremated and Marvin's children and his ex-wife Anna spread his ashes at the Pacific Ocean.
Around the same time, police interviewed Marvin Sr. on the events leading up to his son's murder. When asked if he loved his son, Marvin Sr. reportedly took his time before finally answering, "Let's just say I didn't dislike him".
Shortly after their son's death, Alberta Gaye filed for divorce from Marvin Sr. after 49 years of marriage. Marvin Sr., then 69 years old at the time of his son's death, continued to live in the Gramercy house until eventually he was sent to a rest home in Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
, where he eventually died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on October 10, 1998 at the age of 84.
Marvin, who was in debt at the time of his death, reportedly left no will. In his autobiography, Marvin's friend Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
said he gave some money for Marvin's second ex-wife, Janis, to help try to cover up Marvin's financial ruins leading to the death.
Court case
Gaye, Sr. was arrested under suspicion of murder shortly after the shooting, found standing on the front lawn of their home. He was held at the Los Angeles County Jail on $100,000 bail. An interview with The Los Angeles Herald Examiner quoted Gaye, Sr.: "I didn't mean to do it."A benign tumor discovered at the base of Gaye, Sr.'s brain was removed on May 17, 1984 at County-USC Medical Centre. Despite this development, Superior Court Judge Michael Pirosh ruled that Gaye, Sr. was competent to stand trial on June 12, 1984 after reviewing a two-page report, including two psychiatric evaluations conducted by Dr. Ronald Markman. He appeared in court again on June 20, 1984, where he was ordered to return on July 16 for a preliminary hearing. His wife, Alberta, posted the reduced bond of $30,000 via a bondsman to secure Gaye, Sr.'s release.
Though initially charged with first degree murder, Marvin Gaye, Sr. pleaded no-contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge on September 20, 1984 via a plea bargain. On November 2, 1984, Judge Gordon Ringer sentenced Marvin Gaye, Sr. to a six-year suspended sentence and five years probation. During the sentencing, a deeply emotional and frail Marvin, Sr. told the court that he regretted killing his son. As quoted during the sentencing, Marvin, Sr. said, "If I could bring him back, I would. I was afraid of him. I thought I was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry for everything that happened."
Tributes and reevaluation of Marvin's music
A day after Marvin's death, British rock group Duran DuranDuran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
dedicated the song "Save A Prayer" to Gaye while on their Seven and the Ragged Tiger U.S. tour; later on that year, R&B singer Teena Marie
Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...
recorded the song, "My Dear Mr. Gaye" with Gaye's 1970s collaborator, Leon Ware
Leon Ware
Leon Ware is a soul music singer, songwriter and producer. Best known for crafting the hit album, I Want You, originally recorded for Ware, until friend and Motown icon Marvin Gaye was assigned to the album in 1976...
. A year afterwards, two tribute songs, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
' "Missing You
Missing You (Diana Ross song)
"Missing You" is a 1984 song by Diana Ross. The third 45 release from her album Swept Away, the song was written and produced by Lionel Richie as a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who died earlier that year...
" and The Commodores' "Nightshift
Nightshift
"Nightshift" is a 1985 hit song by the Commodores and title track from the album of the same name. The song was a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, two famous R&B musicians who had died in 1984....
", were released to national acclaim, both reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart while also reaching the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
That same year, David Ritz
David Ritz
David Ritz is an American author, most of whose books are biographies of soul music and R&B legends such as Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Janet Jackson. On four occasions, his co-authored autobiographies of musicians have been awarded the Ralph J...
released the biography, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye
Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye is the name of a 1985 biography on American singer Marvin Gaye. The biography was written by music reviewer David Ritz including conversations he had with the singer, who put the biography together shortly after Gaye's death at the hands of his father Marvin...
, which quickly became a national best-seller upon its release. In 1984 Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
re-released Marvin's popular records, What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
, Let's Get It On
Let's Get It On
Let's Get It On is the twelfth studio album by American soul musician Marvin Gaye, released August 28, 1973, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 1970 to July 1973 at Hitsville U.S.A. and Golden World Studio in Detroit, and at Hitsville West in Los Angeles...
, and Midnight Love
Midnight Love
Midnight Love is the final studio album recorded and issued by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and was the singer's first release from Columbia months after leaving his longtime label, Motown. It claimed the number one slot on NME Album of the Year....
on the charts. The following year, the labels, with help from Marvin's friend Harvey Fuqua
Harvey Fuqua
Harvey Fuqua, was an African-American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive.Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s...
and his brother-in-law, Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (musician)
Gordon Banks , aka Gordon 'Guitar' Banks, is an American guitarist, producer, writer and musical director. He was voted one of the top 100 guitarists in America in 1985.Banks played an important part in Marvin Gaye's later years...
, released two works featuring unreleased Marvin material, Dream of a Lifetime
Dream of a Lifetime
Dream of a Lifetime was the first posthumously released compilation of music by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It spawned the #2 R&B hit, "Sanctified Lady".-Background:...
and Romantically Yours
Romantically Yours
Romantically Yours was the second posthumous release for American soul music legend Marvin Gaye, also released by Columbia Records in 1985....
.
In 1987, Gaye was posthumously inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Ashford & Simpson
Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....
, Gaye's frequent collaborators in the 1960s during his duets with Tammi Terrell
Tammi Terrell
Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, known as Tammi Terrell was an American singer-songwriter most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye. As a teenager she recorded for the Scepter–Wand, Try Me and Checker record labels. She signed with Motown in April 1965 and enjoyed...
. Two years later, another tribute song, "Silky Soul", was released by Frankie Beverly
Frankie Beverly
Frankie Beverly is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer, known primarily for his recordings with the soul and funk band, Maze.-Early life and career:...
& Maze
Maze (band)
Maze a soul / quiet storm band, also known alternately as Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Frankie Beverly and Maze, was established in San Francisco, California in the early 1970s.-Career:...
, a group Marvin had mentored and had allowed to open for him during a 1977 tour. In 1994, Motown re-released more of Gaye's works, including 1976's I Want You, 1978's Here, My Dear, and 1981's In Our Lifetime. All three albums were critically reevaluated by music critics who hailed the former two albums as landmark masterpieces in Gaye's career.
Marvin's What's Going On (1971), Let's Get It On (1973), I Want You (1976), Here, My Dear (1978) and Midnight Love (1982) albums have been on several best-of lists over the years while rock critic Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
declared Marvin's international number-one 1968 hit, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine
I Heard It through the Grapevine
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a landmark song in the history of Motown. Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1966, the single was first recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles...
" as the greatest song in rock history. In 1996, Gaye was given another posthumous honor with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1990, Gaye was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, six years after his death.
The singer has been honored in song by a number of artists, including The Commodores, Seal and Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
. In his 2008 album, Something Else
Something Else (Robin Thicke album)
-Singles:*Magic*The Sweetest Love*Dreamworld - A video for the song, directed by Anthony Mandler was released on February 11, but no further information shows that the song will be released officially....
, Robin Thicke
Robin Thicke
Robin Charles Thicke is an Award-winning American R&B singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. Thicke's albums, which he previously released under the moniker Thicke, are noted for their feature of a predominantly R&B sound. Robin Thicke has penned hits for popular artists such as...
mentioned Marvin's death in the song, "Dreamworld" with the lyric "I would say, Marvin Gaye, your father didn't want you to die." The Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes were an American alternative rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active between 1980 and 1987 and again from 1988 to 2009...
honor the complexities surrounding Gaye's death with a powerful double-entendre that expresses anxiety about paternal filicide
Filicide
Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing his or her own son or daughter. The word filicide derives from the Latin words filius meaning "son" or filia meaning daughter and the suffix -cide meaning to kill, murder, or cause death...
as a final, negative judgement of a person by "the father" (synonymous with God in many religions
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
) in "See My Ships" (from 3
3 (Violent Femmes album)
-Personnel:* Gordon Gano – Guitar, Vocals, Composer* Brian Ritchie – Bass* Victor DeLorenzo – Drums* Sigmund Snopek III – Keyboards* Peter Balestrieri – Baritone Saxophone* Warren A...
, 1989): "Mercy mercy me, Marvin Gaye, he was shot by his father, O my father have mercy on me"
Since his death and the release of Divided Soul, three more books, Steve Turner's Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye, brother Frankie's My Brother, Marvin and Michael Eric Dyson's Mercy Mercy Me: The Art, Life and Demons of Marvin Gaye have been released. Two planned films on the singer's life are also in the works.
Rapper B. Dolan
B. Dolan
B. Dolan is an American rapper, activist, and performance artist, based in Hanton City, Rhode Island.As an activist, Dolan is known primarily as the co-creator and co-founder of , a wiki devoted to connecting consumers with Social Responsibility information about corporations. As well as being a...
's 2010 album 'Fallen House, Sunken City' features the track "Marvin," a tribute which details the events leading up to Gaye's death.