While Gaye was dreaming of Jazz credibility, Gordy saw in him the potential to be a dynamic, romantic popular Soul singer. The best of his jazz discs was When I'm Alone I Cry, an album of standards such as "I'll Be Around" and "I Was Telling Her About You" that showed Gaye to be an understated (and somewhat uninspiring) jazz stylist, but which was nonetheless an extremely enjoyable album with great song selection and production. Gaye had the longing at Motown to be a jazz singer, and much of his early work was modeled after Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine. Gaye went on to marry Gordy's sister, Anna - a marriage that would end in bitter divorce in the mid-70s. He came to the attention of the fledgling Motown label and its founder, Berry Gordy, and was signed by the label in 1960 as session musician and solo artist. After a stint in the armed forces, he was discovered by legendary Soul figure Harvey Fuqua and recruited to join a latter day version of Harvey and the Moonglows, principally as a drummer. A brilliant yet troubled artist who rarely found consistent joy during his lifetime, he has become an iconic figure in the history of Soul music.īorn in Washington D.C., the son of a disturbed, violent minister, Gaye (then Marvin Gay) grew up with a hard-wired attraction to and gift for music, which he nurtured from childhood on. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Marvin Gaye on the popular music of the last 40 years.
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