What's up welcome to Soul Sundays! Today's selection is in memory of the very talented Marvin Gaye... Last week April 1st was his B-day. When we think of Marvin Gaye we think of probably his most popular hits like "Let's Get it on", " Distant Lover" "Sexual Healing"&"I heard it through the grapevine"... Marvin Gaye had a very difficult life that involved drugs, divorce, hardship & murder. Today's selections are from his album "Here my Dear" "When did you stop loving me,When did I stop loving you"
1962, Marvin Gaye at the age of 22 wed 17 yr old Anna Ruby Gordy, the sister of Motown Record Corporation founder Berry Gordy, Jr. By the time Anna filed for divorce thirteen years later, the couple had been separated for over two years, and each had accused the other of infidelities. (Marvin's infidelity was hardly a matter of debate, as he was living with a teenage girl who was 17 & who was pregnant with his child. The son Marvin and Anna Gaye had claimed as their own was actually a child Marvin Gaye had fathered by his wife's fifteen-year-old niece. The divorce proceedings dragged out over two years as Marvin continually failed to show up for court dates, refused to pay court-ordered support for Anna and their son, and claimed his expenses exceeded his income even as he continued to spend money recklessly, purchasing luxury automobiles, boats, and beachfront properties. If that's not already complicated & a huge mess. By the time Marvin's day of financial reckoning arrived, he had little cash and was well in for a large amount of back taxes, so his attorney worked out a settlement under which Anna would be paid off from the royalties earned by Gaye's next album. That next album turned out to be "Here, My Dear" a harrowing "concept album of divorce" which chronicled the turmoil of Anna and Marvin's relationship. The record's symbolism was hardly subtle: The inner sleeve depicted a Monopoly-like board game emblazoned with the word JUDGMENT, across which a male hand passed a record to a female hand. On the man's side of the board were only a piano and some recording equipment, while the female's side of the board included money, a house, a Mercedes, and a diamond ring. Doesn't this sound familiar to most divorces today? I'm sure he wished he would've signed a pre-nup. It is true that Gaye initially considered giving the album less than his best effort, but his lack of motivation was primarily due to the knowledge that he wouldn't be receiving any money from the record, not a conscious intent to cheat his ex-wife. In any case, Gaye soon found that he was incapable of recording with anything less than a complete commitment to his art, and if he had any intent to "get" his ex-wife, it was through the album's lyrics, not its sales: Although the album was not a commercial success, it was admired in many quarters for its artistic qualities. So Marvin Gaye (who was by then officially bankrupt) was obligated to begin making monthly payments to Anna to cover the shortfall. However, if that wasn't enough Drama for poor Marvin Gaye he was killed april 2nd in 1984 by his own father a day before his b-day over an arguement & trying to defend his mother. The deceased Marvin Gaye still owed Anna the additional $293,000 that was owed to her, and monies earned by his estate since his death have gone to paying off the IRS rather than benefiting his ex-wives and children, thereby proving the maxim about life's only two certainties. So much for revenge. Marvin Gaye's music will continue to live on. I'm sure a lot of Babies we're made his music. Hopefully, his soul is at peace now. Thanks, for Tooning In!
Mrs. Toons
Skidrow Soul
Soul Sundays
