Gaye, Marvin Pentz Jr.
1939-1984 · Contribution: 1962-1982
Became one of Motown's most versatile and influential artists, known as the “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul,” and in 1971 broke from Motown's producer-driven system to create What's Going On, a self-produced concept album addressing war, poverty, and the environment that Rolling Stone later ranked the greatest album of all time
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Impact on the world
Starting as a session drummer for Motown acts including the Miracles and the Marvelettes, Gaye emerged as a hitmaking solo artist with songs including “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which became the top-selling Motown single of the 1960s, and recorded a celebrated string of duets with Tammi Terrell, including “Ain't No Mountain High Enough.” Devastated by Terrell's 1970 death from a brain tumor, Gaye returned with 1971's What's Going On, using his brother's account of the Vietnam War and the 1967 Detroit riots as inspiration for an album that fused soul with jazz and classical elements to directly address American political and social crises — a radical departure that Motown founder Berry Gordy initially resisted releasing. He followed it with the sensuous Let's Get It On (1973) and, after a career resurgence with 1982's Grammy-winning “Sexual Healing,” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, three years after his death.
Life & background
Born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C., the son of a Pentecostal minister, Gaye began his recording career as a Motown session drummer in 1961 before becoming one of the label's premier solo artists throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He was shot and killed by his father during a family altercation at his parents' Los Angeles home on April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; Motown Museum
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