It’s time for another “Motown Minute.” Let’s take a look at the late Marvin Gaye.
Life is very strange indeed. Imagine a struggling boxer in the late 50s finding a singing career that generated fame, fortune, and all the spoils success brings – only to be shot dead by your father well before you time?
Marvin was born in Washington D.C. to a strict religious family, his father Marvin Sr. a church minister whom he fought with his whole life. This would be the pivotal relationship in Marvin’s life. Marvin dropped out of High School at 17 joining the Army, but became disillusioned and faked a mental illness to get out. After a brief stint as an amateur boxer, he discovered that song writing was his talent. Marvin wrote the Motown hit “Beachwood 4-5789” and “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” which brought him solo success.
Marvin would only be alive for 44 years, but his musical soul will last forever. While on earth Marvin won nearly every conceivable award available, yet remained a sad and distorted celebrity. If you ever have the chance, “Trouble Man,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” and “Inner City Blues,” are the songs we believe best define his soul.
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