Marvin Gaye Essentials

When Marvin Gaye started cutting records under his own name for Motown—where he had already found success as a session drummer and songwriter—he was positioned as a jazz balladeer. It was only when he turned his fluid tenor to R&B on 1962’s “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” that things clicked, followed by crossover hits like 1964’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and 1965’s “Ain’t that Peculiar” and a series of Tammi Terrell duets epitomised by 1968’s “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”. Gaye edged into a more emotionally and musically sophisticated place with 1968’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, later immortalised in the opening scene of 1983’s The Big Chill. Then he helped alter the course of soul with 1971’s complexly textured and self-produced What’s Going On, included on Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. With hits like the title track and “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)”, Gaye wove such heavy topics as police brutality and environmental grief into supple, layered ballads. He tapped into another new facet with 1973’s “Let’s Get It On”, a sex-positive celebration that reframed him as a lover who was equally sensual and sensitive. Gaye never stopped innovating—his disco-friendly 1977 smash “Got to Give It Up” was a crucial influence on Michael Jackson’s adult career, and the synths and drum machine of 1982’s electro-soul burner “Sexual Healing” once again led R&B someplace new. His career may have been cut tragically short when he was killed in 1984, but his songs will live on forever.