Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1939. His father was a preacher, and the full-gospel music of his church formed the basis of Gaye's art. Through Harvey Fuqua, who rechristened his group Harvey and the Moonglows in 1958 with Gaye among the singers, he found a path to Detroit: Fuqua dissolved the group and took only Marvin with him to Berry Gordy's new label. Gaye's Motown work included extensive session drumming and backing vocals before his solo career developed.
Collaboration remained central to his recordings. He sang duets with Mary Wells ("What's the Matter With You Baby"), Kim Weston ("It Takes Two") and Tammi Terrell, whose series of love songs with Gaye became the high point of his duo work. With What's Going On in 1971, he addressed the futility of war, the eroding ecology, the dangers of drug addiction and the brutality of law enforcement through an interconnected album of songs.
The album's starting point belonged partly to another artist. Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops began writing the title song after witnessing police violence at an antiwar protest in Berkeley, and he developed it with songwriter Al Cleveland before Gaye shaped it into the record that opens the album. Gaye also drew on his brother Frankie's accounts of serving in Vietnam.
Gaye later released Let's Get It On in 1973 and worked with producer Leon Ware on I Want You in 1976. His comeback hit, "Sexual Healing," won two Grammy Awards in 1983, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Gaye died on April 1, 1984, at forty-four. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
