Yasiin Gaye

In celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the iconic Marvin Gaye album “Let’s Get It On,” Motown/UMe is releasing digitally a revised and expanded “Let’s Get It On: Deluxe Edition” on August 25, the day before the album’s original release date in 1973 fifty years prior. Featuring a fascinating trove of 33 bonus tracks, 18 of them previously unreleased, the Prince of Soul’s creative explorations continued to unfold with the production of this pivotal release. Collectively, the bonus material leans into the story of Gaye’s multi-layered personal struggles during the album’s creation. To honor this milestone, a “Let’s Get It On” event will take place at the GRAMMY Museum on August 23 featuring Smokey Robinson, Jimmy Jam, and Marvin Gaye biographer David Ritz. Get tickets here.

I Want You, while it a Top Ten smash for Marvin Gaye in 1976, is not as generally as well-known as its predecessors for several reasons. First, it marked a sharp change in direction, leaving his trademark Motown soul for lush, funky, breezy disco. Secondly, its subject matter is as close to explicit as pop records got in 1976.

New York, NY (November 17, 2022) – The music of Marvin Gaye transcends time in ways that can’t be described. From relatable songs about romance and heartbreak like “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” to socially conscious meditations “What’s Going On” and “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”, his music continues to resonate across generations. One of the most soulful, celebrated voices and songwriters in music history, Marvin Gaye cemented a legacy as a trailblazer in R&B and beyond. His lush arrangements, irresistible grooves, and silky smooth yet emotive vocal delivery earned him 12 Grammy nominations, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. However, the true magic of Gaye’s music was his ability to weave emotion or deep socio-political commentary into melodies and harmonics that, sonically, left the listener feeling good, no matter what the sentiment behind the lyrics – a rare feat that is truly difficult to achieve.

Marvin Gaye Graced with an extraordinary voice, complex personality, musical genius, and a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie, Marvin Gaye wasn't your average soul singer. Born in Washington on the 2nd of April in 1939, the now legendary singer began his career singing at church at the age of four, accompanied by his father on piano. Marvin's mother was a supportive figure who encouraged her son to pursue music, and once he got to high school, he joined various doo-wop groups. By contrast, Marvin's father was a violent man who would regularly beat his son, and this pushed Marvin to join the U.S air force once he had completed his schooling. He quickly became disillusioned with the forces however, and faked madness in order to be discharged.

Graced with an extraordinary voice, complex personality, musical genius, and a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie, Marvin Gaye wasn't your average soul singer. Born in Washington on the 2nd of April in 1939, the now legendary singer began his career singing at church at the age of four, accompanied by his father on piano. Marvin's mother was a supportive figure who encouraged her son to pursue music, and once he got to high school, he joined various doo-wop groups. By contrast, Marvin's father was a violent man who would regularly beat his son, and this pushed Marvin to join the U.S air force once he had completed his schooling.

Midnight Love is the seventeenth and final studio album (that is not a posthumous one) by Marvin Gaye. He signed with the label Columbia in March 1982 following his exit from Motown. The final album to be released before his death, it ultimately became the most successful album of Gaye's entire career. The disc was certified triple platinum in the United States, selling well over six million copies worldwide. It was nominated for a 1984 Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, spawning the two-time Grammy Award-winning smash, "Sexual Healing". It was ranked number 37 on the Rolling Stone list of the best albums of the 1980s decade and the NME named the album as its Album of the Year in 1983. In 1998, Sony Music re-released the album as a two-CD "Legacy" edition set titled Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions. The same edition would be re-released in 2007, to celebrate the album's 25th anniversary since its release.

This is a stripped-down reissue of Motown's 1986 Marvin Gaye release of the same title, which in turn was a CD issue of the Telstar LP set. As a single-disc collection it's decent, but hardly the end all of Marvin Gaye compilations, although it does include Gaye's masterful 1982 Columbia Records hit "Sexual Healing" along with classic Motown hits from various stages of his career like "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "What's Going On," and several of his duets with Tammi Terrell. For a greatest-hits type anthology, though, there's a fair amount of lesser tracks and filler here, and better collections are easily available.

Graced with an extraordinary voice, complex personality, musical genius, and a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie, Marvin Gaye wasn't your average soul singer.