Marvin Gaye

 

Marvin Gaye’s death is among the most tragic of all the celebrity deaths of the last 50 years.  



I was too young to understand the magnitude of his death on music history but was instinctively aware he was important and that he will be missed deeply. It would take me about 15 years to understand what a loss we suffered that April of 1984.

I saw his name on old 7” singles while growing up and distinctly remembered Sexual Healing was a huge hit in the summer of 1982.

If What’s Going On is Marvin’s socio-political, spiritual masterpiece, Let’s Get It On is Marvin’s celebration of sex. What a talent to respectively produce music dealing with the cerebral and carnal elements of humanity.

My consciousness of Marvin’s music pretty much stopped at Let’s Get It On. I never heard Trouble Man except for the single. I’m not too familiar with I Want You but I love the song almost as much as the late Robert Palmer must have. I owned the Marvin Gaye live album containing all 11 minutes of the great Got to Give It Up. I heard Here, My Dear once years ago and understand the story behind that album. A copy crossed my crate digging or purchasing path. I have Midnight Love twice somewhere in my collection.



The first week of April marks Marvin’s anniversary because he died close to his birthday.

In the immortal words of Diana Ross, we are missing you Marvin.

History repeated itself because I filled in for WeFunk just before the 2013 holiday season began in November.

To hear what I did as fill-in host, click play on the Cloudcasts below.

DJ Solespin - WeFunk (November 2013) by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud