Early career After Gaye left the Air Force, he formed a vocal quartet,
the Marquees, with his good friend Reese Palmer. The group performed in the D.C. area and soon began working with
Bo Diddley, who tried to persuade his own label,
Chess, to sign them to a record deal. Failing that, he sent them to
Columbia subsidiary
OKeh Records. Diddley co-wrote the group's sole single, "Wyatt Earp"; it failed to chart and the group was soon dropped from the label. Gaye began
composing music.
Moonglows co-founder
Harvey Fuqua later hired the Marquees as employees. Under Fuqua's direction, the group changed its name to Harvey and the New Moonglows, and moved to Chicago. The group recorded several sides for Chess in 1959, including the song "Mama Loocie", which was Gaye's first lead vocal recording. The group found work as
session singers for established acts such as
Chuck Berry, singing on the songs "
Back in the U.S.A." and "
Almost Grown". In 1960, the group disbanded. Gaye moved to Detroit with Fuqua, where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a session musician, playing drums on several Tri-Phi releases. Soon, Fuqua got in touch with
Motown president
Berry Gordy and offered Gaye to Gordy to sign with the label's Tamla subsidiary selling half of his interest in Gaye. Marvin reportedly signed on September 19, 1960. Gaye initially pursued a career in jazz
standards, rather than in
R&B or
rock and roll. In May 1961, Tamla issued Marvin's first single, a rendition of "The Masquerade Is Over" under his original surname of "Gay". The single was a limited release and shortly afterwards, Marvin added an "e" to his last name. His first official single under his new name was the Gordy-penned
blues ballad, "
Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide", in May 1961, with the album
The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, following a month later. Gaye's initial recordings failed commercially and he spent most of 1961 performing session work as a drummer for artists such as
the Miracles,
the Marvelettes and blues artist
Jimmy Reed for $5 (US$ in ) a week. While Gaye took some advice on performing with his eyes open (having been accused of appearing as though he were sleeping) and also got pointers on how to move more gracefully onstage, he refused to attend grooming school courses at the John Robert Powers School for Social Grace in Detroit because of his unwillingness to comply with its orders, something he later regretted.
Early success In 1962, Gaye found success as co-songwriter of the Marvelettes track "
Beechwood 4-5789", on which he also played drums. His first solo hit, "
Stubborn Kind of Fellow", was later released that September, reaching No. 8 on the R&B chart and No. 46 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in November and December 1962 respectively. Around the time of the song's release, Gaye joined the first
Motortown Revue; he was filmed along other Motown acts later that December at the
Apollo Theater. In March 1963, Gaye first hit the
Billboard pop top 40 with the dance song, "
Hitch Hike". "
Pride and Joy" was Gaye's first top ten single on the
Billboard Hot 100 on July 20, 1963. Gaye's first chart album was with
Mary Wells on their 1964 collaborative album,
Together, reaching No. 42 on the
Billboard 200 and featured the double-A sided single "
Once Upon a Time" / "
What's the Matter with You Baby". Both sides reached the top 20 of the
Billboard Hot 100 and increased Gaye's popularity. Most of Gaye's hit recordings during this period were of interpretations of songs given to him by the label's staff writers, the first of which were the team of
Holland-Dozier-Holland, with whom he scored the hits "
Can I Get a Witness" and "
How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)", which peaked at number six on the
Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. Later in the year, Gaye released the hit singles "
I'll Be Doggone" and "
Ain't That Peculiar", written for him by
Smokey Robinson; both songs reached the
Billboard Hot 100 top ten and became his first two number one singles on
Hot R&B Singles chart, each selling a million copies. In 1966, during a chart lull where he failed to score a follow-up solo top ten single, Gaye returned to
duet work with
Kim Weston, scoring a top 20 hit with "
It Takes Two". Gaye's aspirations of being a pop crooner continued with the release of albums such as ''
When I'm Alone I Cry, Hello Broadway and A Tribute to the Great Nat King Cole'' — all of which were released to little fanfare. A
live album, recorded at the
Copacabana, set for
a 1967 release, was shelved due to Gaye and Gordy fighting over control of the project. In 1967, Gaye began collaborating with
Tammi Terrell on a series of hit singles such as "
Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "
Your Precious Love", "
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "
You're All I Need to Get By", the latter three reaching the top ten of the pop charts. Gaye won his first
Grammy Award nomination in the
Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental category for "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". On October 14, 1967, Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms during a performance at
Hampden–Sydney College in
Farmville, Virginia. Terrell was rushed to Farmville's Southside Community Hospital, where doctors discovered a malignant
tumor in her brain. The diagnosis ended Terrell's career as a
live performer, though she continued to record music under careful supervision; Terrell's tumor would be operated on seven times. Gaye was reportedly devastated by Tammi's sickness and became disillusioned with the record business. On October 6, 1968, Gaye sang the
U.S. national anthem live for the first time during Game 4 of the
1968 World Series, held at
Tiger Stadium, in
Detroit, Michigan, between the
Detroit Tigers and the
St. Louis Cardinals. In December 1968, Gaye's recording of "
I Heard It Through the Grapevine" became his first to reach No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for seven consecutive weeks. His biggest international hit, it would sell more than four million copies and later win Gaye a Grammy Award nomination for
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, losing to
Otis Redding for his hit "
(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay". However, due to his
depressive mood brought on by Terrell's illness, Gaye felt the success was something he "didn't deserve" and that he "felt like a puppet – Berry's puppet,
Anna's puppet". Gaye followed it up with "
Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "
That's the Way Love Is", both of which reached the top ten on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. That year, his album
M.P.G. became his first No. 1 album on the R&B album charts. During this period, Gaye produced and co-wrote "
Baby I'm For Real" and "
The Bells" for
the Originals. Tammi Terrell died from
brain cancer on March 16, 1970; Gaye attended her funeral. After a period of depression, Gaye sought out a position on the
professional football team, the
Detroit Lions, where he later befriended
Mel Farr and
Lem Barney. The Lions played along for the publicity, but ultimately declined an invitation for Gaye to try out, owing to legal liabilities and fears of possible injuries that could have affected his music career.
''What's Going On'' and subsequent success On June 1, 1970, Gaye returned to
Hitsville U.S.A., where he recorded his new composition "
What's Going On", inspired by an idea from
Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the
Four Tops after he witnessed an act of
police brutality at an
anti-war rally in Berkeley. Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy refused its release due to his feelings of the song being "too political" for radio and feared Gaye would lose his crossover audience. Gaye responded by deciding against releasing any other new material before the label released it. Released in January 1971, it reached
No. 1 on the R&B charts within a month, staying there for five weeks. It also reached the top spot on
Cashbox's pop chart for a week and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and the
Record World chart, selling more than two million copies. Mel Farr and Lem Barney participated in singing harmony vocals on the song and would later receive gold records for their participation in Gaye's project. After giving an ultimatum to record a full album to win creative control from Motown, Gaye spent ten days recording the ''
What's Going On'' album that March. Motown issued the album that May after Gaye remixed the album in Hollywood. The album became Gaye's first million-selling album launching two more top ten singles, "
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "
Inner City Blues". One of Motown's first autonomous works, its theme and segue flow brought the
concept album format to rhythm and blues and soul music. An
AllMusic writer later cited it as "the most important and passionate record to come out of
soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices". For the album, Gaye received two
Grammy Award nominations at the 1972 ceremony and several
NAACP Image Awards. The album also topped
Rolling Stones year-end list as its album of the year.
Billboard magazine named Gaye "Trendsetter of the Year" following the album's success. In 1971, Gaye signed a new deal with Motown worth $1 million (US$ in ), making it the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist at the time. Following the deal, Gaye began recording a similar follow-up album, ''
You're the Man. The title track was only a modest hit upon release, only reaching No. 50 on the Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 7 on the
Hot Soul Singles chart, the failure of the song led to Gaye to shelve the project, which wouldn't be released until 2019. Not too long afterwards, Gaye relocated to Los Angeles and agreed to produce the
soundtrack and subsequent
score to the
blaxploitation criminal thriller, "
Trouble Man", which was released in November 1972. The
title track became Gaye's fifteenth top ten hit on the
Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 7 in February 1973. In August 1973, Gaye released the ''
Let's Get It On'' album. Its
title track became Gaye's second No. 1 single on the Hot 100 in September 1973. The album was later hailed as "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy". Other singles from the album included "
Come Get to This", which recalled Gaye's early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive "
You Sure Love to Ball" reached modest success on the R&B charts, while also managing to make the pop top 50, its success halted by radio refusing to play the sexually explicit song. In the 1970s, Gaye's sister-in-law turned her attention to
Frankie Beverly, the founder of
Maze. Gaye took them on his tours, featured them as the opening acts of his concerts, and persuaded Beverly to change the band's name from Raw Soul to Maze. Gaye's final duet project,
Diana & Marvin, with
Diana Ross, garnered international success despite contrasting artistic styles. Much of the material was crafted especially for the duo by Ashford and Simpson. Responding to demand from fans and Motown, Gaye started his first
concert tour in four years at the
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum on January 4, 1974. The performance received critical acclaim and resulted in the release of the live album,
Marvin Gaye Live! and its single, a live version of "
Distant Lover", an album track from ''Let's Get It On
, reached the Billboard'' charts, peaking at No. 12 on the
soul chart later that November. The tour helped to enhance Gaye's reputation as a live performer. For a time, he was earning $100,000 a night (US$ in dollars) for performances. Gaye toured throughout 1974 and 1975. A renewed contract with Motown allowed Gaye to build his own
custom-made recording studio. In October 1975, Gaye gave a performance at a
UNESCO benefit concert at New York's
Radio City Music Hall to support UNESCO's African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to
Ghana Shirley Temple Black and
Kurt Waldheim. Gaye's next studio album,
I Want You, followed in March 1976 with the title track
"I Want You" reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts. The album would go on to sell over one million copies. That fall, Gaye embarked on his first European concert tour, starting off at the
Royal Albert Hall in
London. In early 1977, Gaye released the live album,
Live at the London Palladium, which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of its studio song, "
Got to Give It Up", which charted at No. 1. In September 1977, Gaye opened Radio City Music Hall's New York Pop Arts Festival.
Last Motown recordings and European exile In December 1978, Gaye released
Here, My Dear, inspired by the fallout from his first marriage to
Anna Gordy. Recorded with the intention of remitting a portion of its royalties to her as
alimony payments, it performed poorly on the charts. During that period, Gaye's
cocaine addiction intensified while he was dealing with several financial issues with the
IRS. These issues led him to move to
Maui, where he struggled to record a
disco-influenced album titled
Love Man, with a probable release date for February 1980, though he would later shelve the project. That year, Gaye went on a European tour, his first in four years. By the time the tour stopped, he had relocated to London when he feared
imprisonment for failure to pay
back taxes, which had now reached upwards of $4.5 million (US$ in ). Gaye then reworked
Love Man from its original disco concept to another socially-conscious album invoking religion and the possible
end time from a chapter in the
Book of Revelation. Titling the album
In Our Lifetime?, Gaye worked on the album for much of 1980 in London studios such as
AIR and
Odyssey Studios. In the fall of that year, a master tape of a rough draft of the album was stolen from one of Gaye's traveling musicians, Frank Blair, and taken to Motown's Hollywood headquarters. Motown remixed the album and released it on January 15, 1981. When Gaye learned of its release, he accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, allowing the release of an unfinished production (
"Far Cry"), altering the cover art and removing the album title's question mark, muting its irony. He also accused the label of rush-releasing the album, comparing his unfinished album to an unfinished
Pablo Picasso painting. Gaye then vowed not to record any more music for Motown. On February 14, 1981, under the advice of music promoter
Freddy Cousaert, Gaye relocated to Cousaert's apartment in
Ostend, Belgium. While there, Gaye shied away from heavy drug use and began exercising and attending a local Ostend church, regaining personal confidence. In this period, Gaye lived in the home of Belgian musician . In March 2024, it was revealed that when he moved on, Gaye had given the family a large collection of unreleased recordings made during his stay in the country. Following several months of recovery, Gaye sought a comeback onstage, going on the short-lived Heavy Love Affair tour in England and Ostend from June to July 1981. Gaye's personal attorney Curtis Shaw would later describe Gaye's Ostend period as "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin". When word got around that Gaye was planning a musical comeback and an exit from Motown,
CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold eventually convinced Gaye to sign with
CBS Records. On March 23, 1982, Motown and CBS negotiated Gaye's release from Motown. The details of the contract were not revealed due to a possible negative effect on Gaye's settlement to creditors from the IRS and to stop a possible bidding war by competing labels.
Midnight Love Assigned to CBS's
Columbia subsidiary, Gaye worked on his first post-Motown album titled
Midnight Love in Belgium and Germany. The first single from the album, "
Sexual Healing", which was composed at Ostend in Freddy Cousaert's apartment and later recorded in Ohain, was released in November 1982, and became the biggest-selling single in Gaye's career, spending ten weeks at No. 1 on the
Hot Black Singles chart. The single took just four weeks to rise up the charts, the fastest on the R&B charts since 1977. The song also became Gaye's eighteenth and final top 10 single on the
Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 3 in January 1983, while reaching the top ten in several international markets including the UK, Australia and Belgium and topping the charts in Canada and New Zealand. It would sell more than two million copies in the U.S. alone, becoming Gaye's most successful single to date. The video for the song was shot at Ostend's Casino-Kursaal. "Sexual Healing" won Gaye his first two
Grammy Awards including
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, in February 1983, and also won Gaye an
American Music Award in the
R&B category.
People magazine called it "America's hottest musical turn-on since
Olivia Newton-John demanded we get '
Physical. On its year-end chart,
Billboard ranked "Sexual Healing" the top ranked R&B song of 1983, resulting in Gaye winning a
Billboard Number-One Award.
Midnight Love was released to stores less than a week after the single's release, and was equally successful, peaking at the top 10 of the
Billboard 200 and becoming Gaye's seventh No. 1 album on the
Top Black Albums chart, and was his first album in his career to be certified, going
platinum in December 1982. Sales eventually reach three million units, going triple-platinum posthumously in 2000, becoming his most successful album to date. Ten days later, on February 23, Gaye performed "Sexual Healing" at the
25th Annual Grammy Awards and later won his Grammy shortly after the performance, presented to him by
Rick James and
Grace Jones. Gaye's final television performance occurred at the
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever TV special on May 16, 1983, where, after playing the piano and delivering a speech on the history of
black music, including Motown itself, he performed "What's Going On". Gaye embarked on his final concert tour in North America, titled the
Sexual Healing Tour, on April 18, 1983, at Humphreys by the Bay in
San Diego. The 51-date tour included 50 dates in the United States and one date in Canada. Earlier shows were received well, including several dates at the
Circle Star Theater in
San Carlos, California. Gaye broke
Barry Manilow's then-record of five sold-out shows at
Radio City Music Hall with six. By then, however, due to
cocaine and
PCP-triggered
paranoia, increasing vocal issues and illness, the tour struggled to perform well and midway through as Gaye finished the tour in the
Pacific Southwest, the tour began suffering from ticket losses before ending on August 14, 1983, at the
Pacific Amphitheatre in
Costa Mesa, California. In February 1984,
Midnight Love was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category, his 12th and final nomination. ==Personal life==