|
|
What’s Going On: A Tribute to a Misunderstood Legend Like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra before him, Marvin Gaye’s death has given him new life. Since his premature demise, interest in his art has only blossomed. “He’s our John Lennon. The longer he’s gone, the more young people appreciate his contribution. He changed our musical world,” says Steve Turner, author of Trouble Man: the Life and Death of Marvin Gaye(Turner, Introduction). Billboard magazine reports that since 1983, Marvin’s name has been mentioned, in reverential tones, on no less than seven top-ten hit records(Ritz, preface). This only proves how much of an influence he was not only in the world of popular music, but in the world of pop culture. However, Marvin was not always the show stopper that he became. Frankie Gaye, younger brother and author of Marvin Gaye, my brother, tells us, “Marvin liked to sing, but he never had the nerve to sing in front of people”(Gaye, pg. 8). As a child, Marvin’s voice was strictly for church. Marvin Sr., a stringent Seventh Day Adventist, believed that Marvin was to service God with his voice, not the streets. Marvin went along with his father’s beliefs stating, “I didn’t know any better”(Turner, pg.14). Yet, as an adolescent, Marvin was stimulated by the overriding powers of sex and singing (Ritz, pg.23). This motivated him to dream of a day when he would perform for thousands of people. According to David Ritz, a personal friend and author of Divided Soul: the Life of Marvin Gaye, “Those two preoccupations often merged into a single psychological force, which brought both pleasure and fear as Marvin sought the courage to move from fantasy to performance”(Ritz, pg.23). However, his father had different plans. Marvin Sr. believed that rhythm and blues represented the devil and wanted Marvin to have no part of it. Nonetheless, Marvin’s dream was a lot more powerful than his father’s words. “Music was a way for Marvin to escape his father’s tormenting world,” says Dewey Harvey, a junior high class mate of Marvin(Gaye, pg.17). So, in 1957, Marvin and a couple of friends started a band, Marvin’s first venture into the music world. That was the beginning of the end for Marvin and his father. Frankie remembers that day when it all started going downhill. “Father threatened to disown Marvin and banned him from the house. I think my father never really loved Marvin”(Ritz, pg.25). Turner tells us that Marvin’s father condemned his musical side yelling, “You’ll never make it by turning your back on family and most importantly, God”(Ritz, pg.25). It seemed his father was right. In 1960, after four years of trying to sign with a record label, Marvin and the Moonglows broke up. Marvin returned home a defeated soul afraid to face his father. However, Marvin’s dream did not die off with the breakup of the band. He still wanted to be a part of something that was “rocking the hell out of the world”(Gaye, pg.30). In 1961, Marvin moved to Detroit in order to scope out the music scene.
|
