Bobby Debarge, his legancy continues

I was 14 years old sneaking out of middle school to Hollywood (California) unannounced to my then, mentor (and means to have a chance on becoming a Soul train dancer myself)and best friend, Jermaine Stewart. Hiking up the steep hill of Ivar, I finally arrive to the tiny cottage where Jermaine resided. Jermaine was my big brother in every way, but to my surprise, I to was about to be adopted by others that day. Robert 'Bobby' Debarge jr.

Upon my arrival I knocked on the wooden door of the landing scape of the cottage stoop of Jermaine's residence. I stood on the porch of the small house covering as the door opens, I see standing in the doorway a stranger I'd never seen, who looked as though he had been out all night and I'd just awaken him from an hour of deep sleep, scratching his tangled curly hair, stretching his thin muscular chest, pulling up his flannel pants that were falling.

"Who are you?" this stranger asked. With my childlike, widen, doe-like eyes, and speechless as a child would be when questioned by it's parent, i look up and asked, " I'm Perez. Is Jermaine, here?" He looked to me, 'wait here!" Bobby and Tommy who were members in a music group named switch. Bobby was the oldest [Bobby Debarge former lead singer to the music group Switch] of the Debarge children and Tommy was the second oldest. Bobby was the lead singer in the R&B group switch before he left the group. Bobby had a beautiful falsetto voice, and it was his voice that made Switch so popular.



And, our kindred friendship/big brother relationship.



After a week long of ditching school, Bobby sat me down, telling me during school hours I was no longer welcome to the cottage he and his younger, Tommy shared with Jermaine. At the time I thought Bobby was being an ol' meanie, but now looking back at the moment (as they say 20/20 is hindsight) he was showing me nothing but big brotherly love and guidance that i was so running away from and rejecting. I became very angry, screaming to the top of my lungs "You can't tell me what to do. You're nothing to me!" Within a beat, Bobby dashed across the room before Jermaine, or Tommy could interject, collaring me, eyeing me through slitted eyes, "I'm like your big brother!" And that was the revelation that was adequate for shaping my life.

Robert Debarge jr., (named after his father Robert Debarge), and the Debarge children are the light of life of their mother Etterlene Debarge were born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Debarge family was one of the most successful R&B groups of the late 1970's and 80s.

Etterlene Abney was 17 when she met the 21-year-old Army soldier Robert Debarge at a Detroit skating rink. Etterlene (Debarge) said "At first I didn't think he would like me, because I was so dark," Etterlene recalls. "A white man with a black woman… we were a freak show." They were married in 1953, two weeks before he was shipped out overseas. Etterlene says she'd never known brutality in her life — until she wed. "Robert was very jealous," she said with a sigh, "and an extremely abusive father." They stayed together 21 years before divorcing in 1974.

Bobby Had a lot of inner pain about living with his father Robert Debarge Sr. a lot of that pain came from childhood. You could hear that anguish in Bobby's music. He was not a bad person, he simply suffered in life like any one of us.

It began 1975, when Barry White fired a crew known as White Heat, one of his many backing bands, which included pianist/singer Robert "Bobby" DeBarge Jr., the second oldest of the 10 DeBarge siblings. The whole DeBarge family loved music. They'd sing on the radio in Detroit on Sunday mornings and perform at talent shows. Bobby's talents stood out.
"I've never heard anyone sound quite like him, and with so much ease," producer Bernd Lichters has said. "I knew I saw a star." Lichters worked with former White Heat members Bobby DeBarge and Gregory Williams (a schoolmate of Bobby's) to launch the pioneering soul-pop group Switch. Bobby co-wrote and co-produced much of the group's best music, but behind the good looks and dazzling talent lurked a tortured soul."I've never heard anyone sound quite like him, and with so much ease," producer Bernd Lichters has said. "I knew I saw a star." Lichters worked with former White Heat members Bobby DeBarge and Gregory Williams (a schoolmate of Bobby's) to launch the pioneering soul-pop group Switch. Bobby co-wrote and co-produced much of the group's best music, but behind the good looks and dazzling talent lurked a tortured soul.











Bobby's drug issues were common knowledge among the members of Switch, but his voice was too gorgeous to ignore. Still, Switch - which released five albums on Motown's subsidiary Gordy Records - almost bounded into the studio without his supple crooning. "I wasn't sure I wanted Bobby to be in the group because he was still on drugs," says Williams. But when a chance meeting in Los Angeles with Jermaine Jackson and his wife, Hazel (Berry Gordy's daughter), got them an audition with Gordy, Williams reconsidered.



Bobby was determined to kick his habit before reaching Hollywood, sweating the junk out of his system on the Greyhound bus ride west from Grand Rapids. By the time anyone from Motown met him, Bobby was clean. Switch - which consisted of Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, vocalist Phillip Ingram, Williams, Eddie Flueller, and Jody Simms - was offered a contract.Released in 1978, Switch's self-titled debut featured the standout "There'll Never Be," which rode the Billboard R&B charts for 26 weeks, peaking at No. 6. The album went on to sell a million copies and formed the sonic template for future groups as diverse as Jodeci and Mint Condition.

"The night we wrote 'I Call Your Name' was a strange one," says Williams of the achy slow-jam, which was sampled in 2006 by Polow Da Don for Rich Boy's big hit "Throw Some D's." "Bobby was dating LaToya Jackson," Williams says, "and she was the only girl on his mind. One night, he started fooling around on the Fender Rhodes. I started singing along, and next thing you know we had a song. I'm not saying the song was written for LaToya, but they were in love, and Bobby couldn't wait to play her the completed song."













While Bobby was working on that second Switch album, Mark and Randy DeBarge visited Los Angeles to see what their brothers were up to. Before long Bunny, Mark, Randy, El, and James made the journey west. Lichters leased a five-bedroom house and took them to buy instruments. "Motown put us on salary, because we were starving," says Bunny by. "Because he'd lost the Jacksons, we became his pet project." Motown encouraged the DeBarges to fire their managers and sign with DePassse and Bob Jones management, which was affiliated with Motown. They eventually agreed.












friends could sense the trouble at home. "To put it simply," says Williams, who has known and worked with the DeBarges since they were all youngsters, "their father was psychotic. Bobby was always very sensitive and withdrawn," says Williams, "and there was a lot of abuse at the hands of Mr. DeBarge. Heroin became his main way to escape." Though he stayed clean for a while, after the success of Switch II, Bobby began slipping. "He was back on drugs, and his ego was out of control," Williams says. "Bobby was going around saying, 'I'm Switch.'"
But Etterlene believes her son had simply outgrown the group. "There was a lot of hating going on," she says. "People might have bought Switch records, but they were really buying Bobby's voice."






El and Bobby Debarge



















Maybe he didn't need the band to show off his musical talents, but Bobby did seek refuge at his former bandmate's California home, "Bobby's last years were hell," Williams says. "He was separated from his wife and kids, and acting paranoid toward everybody. Bobby knew his life was basically over." He moved back to Grand Rapids the following year, and his family checked him into a hospice. After riding the heroin horse since his teens, Bobby was laid to rest where he'd finally found the peace he'd long for, for so long.




My last moment of spending time with the Debarge family was Labor day, 1996, as Jermaine Stewart, James Debarge and myself set around playing with the second generation of Debarge's and talking of fond memories of Bobby. Sharing that moment was closure for my peace of self and the desist of a long chapter of growth in my period of existence, that this angel of God was sent into life to assist in my development of direction.

Bobby, I will always love you!

I love you more today, than yesterday: Diana Ross

On June 9th, 2010, at 8pm at the Los Angeles 'Nokia' theater, Miss Diana Ross brought her 'I love you more today, than yesterday' tour into town with full force.
Entering on a multi-tiered stage by way of a hydraulic lift before descending a winding staircase like a queen primped for a ball. The Superstar Diva showed off her enviable physique in a colorful array of glamorous dresses, fancy wraps and feather boas that would've made a fashion designer blush. She struck poses, shook hands and blew kisses. The cheerful legend basked in the overwhelming adulation, flashing constant smiles and interacting with the crowd.















Diana also brought the hits and material that spanned decades of dominant pop tastes. Miss Ross touched on disco, R&B, jazz and soul, counting on a slick 18-piece band to process the changes. Projected beautiful visuals of period videos and photos framed multiple songs trends and artistry.


Touching on her early days as a member of the most famous girl group in history, The Supremes, Miss Ross sang chart topping hits, such as, 'Reflection, Forever came today, Love child,' and the most famous Supreme hit ever, 'Stop in the name of love,' transitioning into her early solo hits, 'Touch me in the morning, Theme from Mahogany,' into her first number one solo hit, 'Ain't no mountain high enough,' before bringing down the house with her on flavored rendition of 'I will survive.'





As the show was coming to it's finale, Miss Ross ordered the house lights to be turned up so that she was able to good a glimps of the audience and then introduced her family, as well as extended Motown family to the adorning fans, starting with the man who "made it all happen for her," Berry Gordy jr.,










At the show's finale, the house lights, once again fell black and appeared on the screen, again, was Diana, but this time singing duet with the King of Pop, myself, Michael Jackson.




But, before singing her top 10 hit, 'Missing you' and her rendition of 'You are not alone,' Miss Ross had a special surprise for the audience, by introducing Michale's children to the Ross fans, where the kids were greeted with a standing O!




This was the best concert I've witnessed this year. My one and only wish was that the new up and coming female, as well as male artist of this generation could have attended ti witness real entertainment at it realness, because Ross kept it very REAL.

Bravo, Miss Ross......Bravo!

Untold Heros & heroines: Thelma Houston

Thelma Houston (née Jackson; born May 7, 1946, Leland, Mississippi is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.





Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother. She and her three sisters grew up primarily in Long Beach, California. After marrying and having two children, she joined the Art Reynolds Singers gospel group and was subsequently signed as a recording artist with Dunhill Records.

In 1969, Houston released her debut album, entitled Sunshower, produced by Jimmy Webb. In 1971 she signed with Motown Records but her early recordings with them were largely unsuccessful. Her most notable single during that period was "You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long" which peaked at #64 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1974. However Houston's vocal prowess on that track secured her a nomination for a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In April 1974 Houston joined the cast of The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, playing various characters during the shows skits. The show was canceled in August and for the next several years her work was limited to demo recordings and performing at small venues.

Houston took acting classes and received her first role in the 1975 made-for-television film Death Scream. In that same year Sheffield Lab released "I've Got the Music in Me" a recording by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker that went on to become a benchmark vinyl recording for audiophiles. The following year she recorded songs for the soundtrack to the film The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. In 1975 Houston appeared on the Golden Globe Award broadcast performing the nominated song "On & On" and also was featured in a tribute to Berry Gordy on that year's American Music Award broadcast singing "You've Made Me So Very Happy". That year Houston's version of "Do You Know Where You're Going To" was being set for single release when it was pulled and the song given to Diana Ross to serve as the theme song for the movie Mahogany. In 1976 Houston sang backing vocals for Motown labelmate Jermaine Jackson on his album My Name Is Jermaine.












Houston released her third album Any Way You Like It in 1976. The first single released was her version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' 1975 song "Don't Leave Me This Way". In February 1977 the track hit #1 in the U.S. on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts as well as on the Club Play Singles chart. "Don't Leave Me This Way" won Houston the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the Grammys for 1977. Besides its US success "Don't Leave Me This Way" became a hit in at least twelve countries, including the UK where it reached #13 despite the concurrent single release of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes which reached #5. Also in 1977 Houston teamed up with Jerry Butler to record the album Thelma & Jerry and that November 1977 she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. It was announced in February 1977 that Houston would star as Bessie Smith in a filmation of the play Me and Bessie, to be produced by Motown; after an announcement that December that Houston was set to portray Bessie Smith in a biopic to be produced in 1978 by Columbia Pictures nothing more was heard of the project.







The second single from Any Way You Like It was Houston's rendition of "If It's the Last Thing I Do", a standard written by Charlie Chaplin; the track had been recorded and prepped for single release in 1973 but canceled. The impact of "If It's the Last Thing I Do" was far less than that of "Don't Leave Me This Way", as the former fell short of both the R&B Top Ten and the Pop Top 40. With the lead single from her 1978 album The Devil in Me: "I'm Here Again", Houston returned to the style of "Don't Leave Me This Way" without recapturing the earlier single's success. Houston did enjoy considerable commercial success in 1978 via the inclusion of her track "Love Masterpiece" on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack album which sold double platinum but her own album release that year Ready to Roll again failing to consolidate the stardom augured by "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album's second single: "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", gradually accrued airplay entering the national charts in March 1979 and ascending as high as #34 (#19 R&B) that June. "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" was issued on a new album by Houston: Ride to the Rainbow but the track's relative success was not enough to forestall Houston's planned departure from Motown.








Houston continued recording into the 1980s, beginning with the RCA release Breakwater Cat which reunited her with Jimmy Webb who'd produced her debut Sunshower and which like their earlier collaboration was a commercially overlooked critical success. In the 22 December 1984 Billboard magazine interview, Houston admitted to "'no real commercial success' since the single 'Don't Leave Me This Way' broke on the Pop charts in late 1976" indicating that the disco backlash had left her with "no real base of audience support" and that her current album Qualifying Heat, executive produced by Houston herself, was a concentrated initiative to restore her as a viable chart presence; the album featured three cuts from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - including the single "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and production work from Glen Ballard, Dennis Lambert, Cliff Magness and - in his first known recording work - Lenny Kravitz (then billed as Romeo Blue), who each produced a cut apiece. "You Use to Hold Me So Tight" became Houston's most successful post-'70s' release with a #13 R&B peak but it parent album was a comparative failure - charting #41 R&B - and Houston would not cut another album for six years.

The constant ranking of her '80s releases of the '80s as moderate or minor R&B hits led Houston to concentrate on alternate exposure: having appeared in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf in 1979, Houston made guest-starring appearances into the mid-1980s in several popular television programs including Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon - a January 1986 appearance that featured her performing "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and Faerie Tale Theatre. Houston also appeared in the 1987 CBS after school special Little Miss Perfect (1987) - as "Prison Singer" - in the 1988 film And God Created Woman.

On the 19 May 1985 NBC broadcast Motown Returns to the Apollo Houston performed "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" in the guise of Dinah Washington. Houston continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, recording "Keep It Light" for the 1985 film Into the Night and she remade Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" for the 1989 film entitled Lean on Me. Houston also co-wrote and sang back-up on the song "Be Yourself" for Patti LaBelle's 1989 album of the same title.











The fall of 1990 saw the release of Houston's first album in six years, Throw You Down, a long-planned collaboration with producer Richard Perry which briefly extended Houston's career as a minor R&B chart presence. The title song reached #5 on the U.S. dance chart. A remix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was released, and once again charted on the Hot Dance Club Play chart at #19 in 1995. Subsequent singles include "I Need Somebody Tonight" and "All of That".

In 1994, Houston participated in an AIDS benefit at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, performing gospel music with Phoebe Snow, Chaka Khan and CeCe Peniston as "Sisters of Glory". Intended as a one-off performance troupe, the Sisters of Glory remained together - with the addition of Mavis Staples and Lois Walden, and without Chaka Khan - to perform at Woodstock '94. Houston performed with the Sisters of Glory for the Pope in Vatican City and in 1995 Houston, Snow, Peniston, Walden and Albertina Walker recorded the Warner Brothers album Good News in Hard Times as the Sisters of Glory.

Houston provided backing vocals on guitarist Scott Henderson's 1997 Atlantic album, Tore Down House. and in 1998 she made cameo appearances in two films: in 54 Houston portrayed herself singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" supposedly at Studio 54, and in Beloved Houston played 'One of The Thirty Women'.

In 2000, Houston toured successfully throughout Australia in the stage musical version of Fame. Upon returning to the U.S. Houston toured with Nile Rodgers and Chic, and with was among the opening acts of the originally intended finale of Cher's Farewell Tour in Toronto on 31 October 2003. Houston regularly performs at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco.












Her version of "Don't Leave Me This Way" continues to be popular today. In recent years she has been invited to sing this song on dozens of TV shows and specials including NBC's Today Show, ABC's Motown 45 and The Disco Ball...A 30-Year Celebration, and PBS' specials American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love and Soul, Soul Superstars, and Old School Superstars. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was mentioned by VH1 as being among the greatest dance songs in 2000, and was ranked number eighty-six on the channel's countdown of The 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. She won an episode of the NBC show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time with her renditions of her own hit and "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. On September 20, 2004, Houston's rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.

On August 14, 2007, Houston released her first studio album in seventeen years, A Woman's Touch. The album features cover versions of songs by male artists such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, and Sting that Houston had been inspired by. The first single from the album was "Brand New Day". On August 20, 2007, Houston's 1984 album Qualifying Heat was reissued as an import title in the U.S. with a bonus track.

She sang "Don't Leave Me This Way" on American Idol Wednesday April 22, 2009 and on "America's Got Talent" on September 16, 2009.

Untold Heros & heroines: Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye’s extraordinary career matched his extraordinary life, a mixture of blessings and banes, dazzling success and inscrutable pain. His biography and discography are twin reflections of the same dualty: the artistic and personal struggle to heal the split between head and heart, flesh and spirit, ego and God. Meanwhile, the music lives on for the pleasures of its beauty and the marvel that was Marvin’s voice.
Marvin’s work divides along decades – the sixties when he hit as a commercial if somewhat rebellious artist, a brilliant product of the Motown assembly line; the seventies when he matured as an independent force, a self-produced self-reflective auteur who both rose to the challenge and fell to the temptations of his times; and the early eighties when, for a brief moment, he came roaring back on the scene for the final, tragic act of his spectacular drama.







Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist with a three-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties.

Because of solo hits such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul".

His mid-1970s work including the Let's Get It On and I Want You albums helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was tragically shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Marvin Gaye, Jr. was born at 12 p.m. on April 2, 1939 at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.. His father, Marvin Gay, Sr., who was originally from Lexington, Kentucky, was a minister at the House of God. It advocated strict conduct and mixed teachings of Orthodox Judaism and Pentecostalism. His mother, Alberta Cooper, from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was a domestic and schoolteacher.

The eldest son of Gay Sr.'s children, Marvin has a half brother, Michael Cooper ( 1935) and an older sister Jeanne ( 1937), younger brother Frankie (1942–2001), and sister Zeola "Sweetsie" ( 1945). Marvin's parents raised their children at the southeast section of D.C. at the Simple City projects and, after Marvin turned 14, lived in the segregated section of Washington, D.C.'s Deanwood neighborhood in the northeastern section of the city. As a teen, he caddied at Norbeck Country Club in Olney, Maryland.

As a child, Gaye sang and played instruments in the choir in his father's church. During his high school years, he listened to doo-wop and joined the DC Tones as a drummer and pianist with his best friend Reese Palmer. After dropping out of 11th grade at Cardozo High School, Gaye joined the United States Air Force in hopes of becoming an aviator. After faking mental illness,[9] he was discharged. His sergeant stated that Gaye refused to follow orders.






Returning to D.C., Gaye rejoined his childhood friend Reese Palmer who had formed The Marquees and Bo Diddley signed them to Okeh Records, where they recorded "Wyatt Earp", with "Hey Little Schoolgirl" as its B-side. It received moderate success. Harvey Fuqua, of the R&B/doo-wop group The Moonglows, recruited them, after the break up of the original members to be The New Moonglows. Gaye and the group sang background on records by Chuck Berry and Etta James and had a modest hit with "The Twelve Months of the Year". "Mama Loochie" (1959) was Gaye's first lead single.

After the Moonglows disbanded in 1960, Fuqua brought Gaye to Detroit and he was signed to the local Anna Records label, founded by Gwen Gordy. After Motown Records' Berry Gordy absorbed Anna, Gaye was moved to Motown's Tamla subsidiary. Upon signing to Tamla, Gaye found out that Fuqua had sold 50% percent of his stake in the singer to the label. Gaye worked as a session drummer for The Miracles, The Contours, Martha and the Vandellas, The Marvelettes and others, notably on The Marvelettes' 1961 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" and Little Stevie Wonder's live version of 1963 hit, "Fingertips". Both singles reached number one of the pop singles chart.

After signing with Motown as a solo artist in 1961, Gaye changed his name from Marvin Gay to Marvin Gaye, later stating he added the 'e' because it "sounded more professional". His author and best friend David Ritz insisted Gaye added the 'e' to separate himself from his father, and to imitate R&B singer Sam Cooke, who also added an 'e' to his name. Gaye and Berry clashed over music to record. Though with help from Gaye's girlfriend, Gordy's sister Anna, Berry allowed him to record a standard album.






Gaye scored his first hit single "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in September. The song, co-written by Gaye, was an autobiographical pun on his nonchalant, moody behavior. Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson with background vocals supplied by Martha & The Vandellas, the recording became a hit on the Hot R&B Songs chart.
The single would be followed by his first Top 40 singles "Hitch Hike", "Pride and Joy" and "Can I Get a Witness", which charted for Gaye in 1963. The success continued with the 1964 singles "You Are a Wonderful One", "Try It Baby", "Baby Don't You Do It" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which became his first signature song.
Gaye contributed to writing and playing drums on the 1964 hit by Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing in the Street". His work with Smokey Robinson on the 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, spawned consecutive top ten singles in "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar". Due to this success and the singer's well-crafted image, Gaye became a favorite on the teen shows American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hullaballoo and The T.A.M.I. Show. In August 1966, he became just the second Motown act to successfully perform at the Copacabana, though due to label friction, a live album cut from the performances set to be released in 1967 was shelved for nearly 40 years.


However, it was Gaye's work with Tammi Terrell that became the most memorable. Terrell and Gaye were a good standing duet at the time and their first album, 1967's United, birthed the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love".
Real-life couple Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided the writing and production for the Gaye/Terrell records. While Gaye and Terrell were not lovers — though rumors persist — they portrayed lovers on record. Gaye claimed that for the songs he was in love with her. On October 14, 1967, while in concert at the homecoming for Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, outside the college town of Farmville, Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms. She was rushed to Southside Community Hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.[13] Contrary to popular belief, the concert was not at Hampton University. The chairperson of the event recounted the events on WFLO FM radio in Farmville in April 2007 for the anniversary of Marvin's passing.
Motown decided to carry on with Gaye/Terrell recordings, issuing the You're All I Need album in 1968, which featured "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". By the final album, Easy in 1969, Terrell's vocals were mostly by Valerie Simpson. Two tracks on Easy were archived Terrell solo songs with Gaye's vocals overdubbed.








Terrell's illness put Gaye in a depression; he refused to acknowledge the success of his song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (About this sound sample, released in 1967 by Gladys Knight & The Pips (his was recorded before, but released after theirs), his first #1 hit and the biggest selling single in Motown history to that point, with four million copies sold. His work with producer Norman Whitfield, who produced "Grapevine", resulted in similar success with the singles "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is". Meanwhile, Gaye's marriage was crumbling and he was bored with his music. Wanting creative control, he sought to produce singles for Motown session band The Originals, whose Gaye- produced hits, "Baby I'm For Real" and "The Bells", brought success.






Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor on March 16, 1970. Gaye was so emotional at her funeral that he talked to her lying in state as if she were going to respond. He went into seclusion and did not perform in concert for nearly two years. Gaye told friends he had thought of quitting music, at one point trying out for the Detroit Lions (where he met acquaintances Mel Farr and Lem Barney), but after the success of his productions with the Originals, Gaye entered the studio on June 1, 1970 and recorded "What's Going On", "God Is Love", and "Sad Tomorrows" - an early version of "Flying High (In The Friendly Sky)". Gaye wanted to release "What's Going On", but Gordy refused, calling the single "the worst record I ever heard". Gaye threatened to leave Motown unless the record was released. Gordy eventually relented and the song was released with little publicity in January 1971. Despite no backing from Motown, the single became a hit, peaking at number-one on the Billboard R&B charts for five weeks.[14][15] It is also rated the fourth best song of all time by Rolling Stone. After the single's success, Gordy requested an entire album of similar tracks.
Gaye performing live at the Oakland Coliseum during his 1973-1974 tour

The What's Going On album became one of the highlights of Gaye's career and is his best-known work. Both in terms of its funk and jazz-influenced sound and personal lyrical content, it was a departure from his earlier Motown work. Two more of its singles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", became Top 10 pop hits and #1 R&B hits. The album became one of the most memorable soul albums and, based upon its themes, the concept album became the frontier for soul music. It has been called "the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices"

Gaye decided to switch from social to sensual with Let's Get It On in 1973. The album was a departure for its sensual appeal. Yielded by the title track and tracks such as "Come Get to This", "You Sure Love to Ball", and "Distant Lover", Let's Get It On became Gaye's biggest selling album during his lifetime, surpassing What's Going On. Also, with the title track, Gaye broke his own record at Motown by surpassing the sales of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The album would be hailed "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy."

Gaye began working on his final duet album, this time with Diana Ross for the Diana & Marvin project, an album of duets that began recording in 1972, while Ross was pregnant with her second child, Tracee Ellis Ross. Gaye refused to sing if he couldn't smoke in the studio, so the album was recorded by overdubbing Ross and Gaye at separate sessions. Released in fall 1973, the album yielded the US Top 20 hit singles "You're a Special Part of Me and "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" as well as the UK versions of The Stylistics's "You Are Everything" at #5 and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" at #25, respectively.

In 1976, Gaye released the I Want You LP, which yielded the title track as the number-one R&B single, and the modest charter, "After the Dance." Album tracks such as "Since I Had You" and "Soon I'll Be Loving You Again" geared Gaye towards more funky material. The following year, Gaye released the funk single, "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1", which became a simultaneous number-one US hit. The single was featured on his Live at the London Palladium album, which partially helped in the album selling over two million copies, becoming one of the top-selling albums of that year. During the same period, Gaye was honored by the United Nations for his charitable work.

On the advice of Belgian concert promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye moved to Ostend, Belgium, in early 1981 where he enjoyed a brief period of sobriety from drug abuse. Still upset over Motown's decision to release In Our Lifetime, he negotiated a release from the label and signed with Columbia Records in 1982, releasing the Midnight Love album late that year. The album included "Sexual Healing", which was Gaye's last hit. He wrote it during his 2 month stay in the village Moere, near Ostend. Gaye's friend and lawyer Curtis Shaw calls this Moere-period "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin". The video clip of "Sexual Healing" is recorded in the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend.

The single reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart, where it stayed for ten weeks, later crossing to number three on Billboard's Hot 100. The single sold two million copies in the U.S. earning a platinum certification. The song also gave Gaye his first two Grammy Awards (Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, Best R&B Instrumental) in February 1983. It was nominated for Best R&B Song but lost to George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around".








The following year, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again, this time for the Midnight Love album. In February 1983, Gaye performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California, accompanied by Gordon Banks who played the studio tape from stands. In March 1983, he gave his final performance in front of his old mentor Berry Gordy and the Motown label for Motown 25, performing "What's Going On". He then embarked on a U.S. tour to support his album. The tour, ending in August 1983, was plagued by health problems and Gaye's bouts with depression, and fear over an attempt on his life.

When the tour ended, he isolated himself by moving into his parents' house. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after it was revealed that Marvin Sr. had been beaten by Marvin Jr. before the killing. Doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor but was deemed fit for trial. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998.

In 1987, Marvin Gaye Jr. was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.