{"id":3499,"date":"2021-05-23T23:49:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T03:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coldfury.com\/?p=3499"},"modified":"2021-05-23T23:50:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T03:50:07","slug":"a-gaye-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldfury.com\/wp\/a-gaye-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gaye anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legendary Marvin Gaye’s seminal album turns fifty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marvin Gaye famously sang that \u201cwar is not the answer\u201d in his signature protest song\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s Going On.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for the late Motown legend, football was the answer to help lift him out of a deep depression after the 1970 death of Tammi Terrell \u2014 his frequent duet partner on hits such as\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain High Enough\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 and into creating \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On,\u201d\u00a0his classic album\u00a0that was released 50 years ago on May 21, 1971.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Be mindful of the bit about Tammi Terrell. You’ll be seeing this material again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was during a time when he was trying out for the Detroit Lions and being a football player,\u201d said David Ritz, author of 1985\u2019s\u00a0\u201cDivided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye,\u201d\u00a0the definitive biography of the singer. \u201cHe was a good athlete, and he had this notion of wondering if he could turn pro, but I\u2019m not sure he had the chops. But he certainly had the drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, his would-be teammates stepped in. \u201cThey told him, \u2018Hey Marvin, we\u2019re crazy about you, but go home \u2018cause we don\u2019t want to hurt you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Gaye went on to become such good buddies with Detroit Lions players Lem Barney and Mel Farr that they teamed up to provide background vocals on \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On,\u201d the song that inspired and introduced Gaye\u2019s masterpiece album, which last year Rolling Stone ranked at No. 1 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition to coming in at Numero Uno on Rolling Stone<\/em>‘s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list, along with a tremendous number of other Best Ever enumerations from around the planet, What’s Going On<\/em> remains the biggest-selling album Motown ever has had.<\/p>\n

You DID remember what I said about keeping that Tammi Terrell mention fresh in mind, right? As promised, we’re coming back to that material, if from a somewhat sideways direction. See, although Marvelous Marvin did indeed produce a whole slew of truly wonderful work with Terrell, the duet of his I always liked best was with Kim Weston.<\/p>\n


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