![]() He sounded just as sparkling in a duet, whether this was “Once Upon A Time” alongside Mary Wells or “What Good Am I Without You” with Kim Weston. His vocal style seemed immediately mature on early hits like “Hitch-Hike,” “Pride And Joy” and “Can I Get A Witness,” and though his voice did develop somewhat, a fan of the older Marvin Gaye would never mistake these records for anybody else. ![]() There was a certain magic about Gaye from the start. Perhaps he saw its hit status as a sign that authenticity worked for him. His fourth single and first hit, 1962’s “Stubborn Kind Of Fellow,” had an element of truth in its title. His headstrong nature meant it took a while for him to realize this was good advice, and unlike other Motown artists, he refused to take lessons in stagecraft and how to deport himself. His tendency for introspection while working led to him being told to sing with his eyes open on stage. He signed to Motown in early 1961, and his first releases, cut in a style ranging between R&B, swing, and the emergent soul sound, didn’t sell well, though Gaye’s vocal verve was evident from the get-go. ![]() The first group of note he worked with was Harvey & The New Moonglows. Marvin began his musical career singing doo-wop. There were many real Marvins over the years, but working as a performer meant he had to learn to let the true one out at any given moment. Famously, he wasn’t a fabulous dancer and disliked performing enough to suffer from stage fright, though he accepted his role and his performances still marked a peak of his fans’ musical lives. ![]() But Marvin wasn’t about versions, he was about the authentic moment. You had to put a version of yourself across. But this wasn’t really Marvin at his peak, digging in his soul and discovering what was there to let it out. Trying to replicate that moment to order on tour could be done because he was such a brilliant singer. The microphone was his confessional, the vocal booth his confession box: this is how I feel, right here, right now. Someone who was so in touch with his intimate nature and feelings probably had no place on stage. Marvin Gaye’s “realness” was hard-earned. Marvin suffered for his art, for his soul – and you could hear it. Listen to the best of Marvin Gaye on Apple Music and Spotify. More of the former than the latter, but if you don’t know hell, you won’t recognize heaven when you see it. Soul music is about heaven and hell, and that’s what Marvin Gaye gave us. But what resulted was, at its best, real, unflinching, honest – and, yes, tough and true. You might expect that there would be suffering in the relationship between the truest artist and the most driven label head, and there was. He saw him become his brother-in-law, then watched Gaye and Anna Gordy’s marriage disintegrate in a manner that was unique, delivering a record that was beautiful and tragic, and probably the first true “divorce album.” He watched him leave Motown, suffering addiction, perhaps hoping that he would one day return to wear his crown as Motown’s greatest male artist – perhaps its greatest, period. He saw the singer fall apart and reassemble himself after the death of his greatest vocal partner, the constituent parts all present, but not necessarily in the same configuration. Gordy witnessed him making some of the greatest soul music ever committed to tape – and some of the most incendiary. ![]() Gordy spent the best part of two decades working with the man born on April 2, 1939, as Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. And probably the toughest,” he knew what he was talking about. When the Motown founder called soul legend Marvin Gaye “the truest artist I’ve ever known. Berry Gordy, Jr knows something about artists – of the musical kind at least. ![]()
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