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Marvin Gaye
Background information
Birth name	Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr.
Born	April 2, 1939(1939-04-02) Washington, D.C., United States
Died	April 1, 1984 (aged 44) Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)	R&B, soul, quiet storm, funk, Motown, pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, composer, musician, record producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion, clavinet
Years active	1957–1961 (groups) 1961–1984 (solo)
Label(s)	Motown (Tamla-Motown), Columbia
Associated acts	The Moonglows, Martha and the Vandellas, Tammi Terrell, The Originals, Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross, Harvey Fuqua

Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr., April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an iconic two-time Grammy-winning American singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained international fame as an artist on the Motown record label in the 1960s and 1970s.

Beginning his career at Motown in 1961, Gaye quickly became Motown's top solo male artist and scored numerous hits during the 1960s, among them "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and several hit duets with Tammi Terrell, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "You're All I Need to Get By", before moving on to his own form of musical self-expression. Gaye is notable for fighting the hit-making, but creatively restrictive, Motown record-making process, in which performers and songwriters and record producers were generally kept in separate camps.

With his successful 1971 album What's Going On and subsequent releases including Trouble Man (1972) and Let's Get It On (1973), Gaye, who was a part-time songwriter for Motown artists during his early years with the label, proved that he could write and/or produce his own albums without having to rely on the Motown system. He is also known for his environmentalism, perhaps most evident in his song "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)".

During the 1970s, Gaye would release several other notable albums, including Let's Get It On and I Want You, and had hits with singles such as "Let's Get It On", "Got to Give It Up", and, in the early 1980s, "Sexual Healing". Before his death, Gaye won two Grammy Awards: one for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and one for Best Instrumental Recording for for the single, Sexual Healing on February 23, 1983 on the Grammy Awards 25th Anniversary. By the time of his death in 1984 at the hands of his clergyman father, Gaye had become one of the most influential artists of the soul music area. In 1996, Gaye was awarded with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on its 38th Anniversary ceremony.

Marvin's career has been described as one that "spanned the entire history of rhythm and blues from fifties doo-wop to eighties contemporary soul." Critics have also stated that Gaye's musical output "signified the development of black music from raw rhythm and blues, through sophisticated soul to the political awareness of the 1970s and increased concentration on personal and sexual politics thereafter."

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. ) ( April 2 , 1939 – April 1 , 1984 ) was an American singer , songwriter , composer , multi-instrumentalist , and record producer who ...

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Marvin Gaye - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marvin Gaye Live! was the second live album released by Marvin Gaye in 1974. At the time of the recording Marvin Gaye was on the height of his career, having sold over ten million ...

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