By the late forties, Gaye's father split from the House of God and joined the newly-formed House of the Living God, but later rejoined the original House of God and headed its Board of Apostles by the early fifties.

Gaye's father eventually quit the House of God in the mid-fifties, after he wasn't named Chief Apostle of the church.

During his teen years, Gaye's relationship with his father further deteriorated and he often was kicked out of the house by his father for what he perceived was misbehavior.

The next day, April 1, Gaye's parents started arguing again, with Gaye's father yelling from downstairs.

When Gaye's father marched upstairs to argue with Gaye's mother, Gaye began physically dominating his father, shoving him, knocking him down and kicking him.

At approximately 11: 38 am, Gaye's father entered Gaye's room and shot at Gaye twice with a. 38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.

Gaye's father stepped closer and shot Gaye again at point blank range at his shoulder before leaving the room.

Gaye's father later served six years probation for the crime after agreeing to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Growing up, as a child, Gaye's main influence was that of his minister father, something he would later acknowledge to biographer David Ritz and also in interviews he gave, often mentioning that his father's sermons left a big impression on him.

According to Marvin Gaye's relatives, it was one of the few times in which father and son's relationship wasn't so troubling.

In a review for Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye, Erlewine also wrote " A few tracks stand out from the mire, particularly Madonna and Massive Attack's trip-hop re-interpretation of " I Want You "..." Jim Farber of the New York Daily News stated that " has never sounded better than in the cover of Marvin Gaye's " I Want You ".

Gaye's version was never released in the U. S. as a single but was featured on his 1970 album, That's the Way Love Is, and was one of his first experiments with social messages in his music which would culminate in his legendary 1971 album, What's Going On.

" Other singles from the album included " Come Get to This ", which recalled Gaye's early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive " You Sure Love to Ball " reached modest success but was kept from being promoted by Motown due to its sexually explicit nature.

Gaye's first recordings involving social commentary occurred a couple years before working on What's Going On, including " Abraham, Martin & John " and " The Onion Song ", two songs of which gave Gaye hit success in Europe where it charted mainly in the United Kingdom pop chart.

The group found modest success in the latter half of the 60s, often working as background singers for recordings by artists such as Jimmy Ruffin's " What Becomes of the Brokenhearted ", Stevie Wonder's " For Once In My Life " and " Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday ", David Ruffin " My Whole World Ended ( The Moment You Left Me )", Marvin Gaye's " Chained " and " Just to Keep You Satisfied ", Edwin Starr's " War " and " 25 Miles ", and many more.

' Forever Changes ' unlocked a new musical palette for African American musicians to utilize, which paved the way for future song cycles like Marvin Gaye's ' What's Going On ' and Sly Stone's ' There's a Riot Going On ,' classics by other African Americans that also chronicled the increasingly despondent state of the American dream.

In March 1982, Motown and CBS Records negotiated for Gaye to be released from Motown, but didn't release the contents of their contract fearing a negative effect on Gaye's settlement to pay his creditors.

While in Memphis in June 1968, Burke worked at the Sun Studios with Tamiko Jones ( born 1945 in Kyle, West Virginia, who was later both his manager and fiancée, on her album I'll Be Anything for You ( A & M SP3011 ), arranging several songs, including his own composition, " Suddenly "; singing duets with Jones on her cover of The Temptations ' " Please Return Your Love To Me " and Marvin Gaye's " Try It Baby "; and providing a vocal on " There's Got To Be A Better Way.

That year, the quartet began applying background vocals for emerging Motown star Marvin Gaye, singing on Gaye's first hit single, " Stubborn Kind of Fellow " After Mary Wells failed to make a scheduled recording session feigning a short illness, the Vels recorded what was initially a demo recording of " I'll Have to Let Him Go ".

The ladies provided backup vocals for Marvin Gaye's " Stubborn Kind of Fellow ".

Gaye's " Grapevine " also held number one on the R & B chart during the same seven weeks, and stayed at number one in the United Kingdom for three weeks starting on March 26, 1969.

Gladys Knight was not pleased that Gaye's version usurped her own, and claimed that Gaye's version was recorded over an instrumental track Whitfield had prepared for a Pips song, an allegation Gaye denied.

Marvin Gaye's version of the song is used in the opening credits of The Big Chill ( 1983 ) as each of the main characters gets to hear ( through the " grapevine ") about the death of their college friend, and then travels to his funeral ; the song serving in an extradiegetic fashion to both unite the main characters ' friendship and to locate it nostalgically for the viewer.

A deeply personal and controversial album, Here, My Dear is notable for chronicling Gaye's ill-fated first marriage to Anna Gordy.

He had a long and distinguished writing career, initially for New York artists on the Wand / Sceptre labels such as such as Dionne Warwick ( e ) and Tommy Hunt, as well as Gene Pitney before moving to Motown, where he provided songs for Smokey & The Miracles, the Marvelettes, David Ruffin, the Four Tops and Chuck Jackson before hitting the big time with a co-authorship of Marvin Gaye's " What's Goin ' On?

The song, a response to Gaye's label Motown pushing for the singer to record commercially accessible dance music to fit the music industry's embrace of dance rhythms, was released in March 1977.

After nearly five minutes, Gaye's vocals appear in a falsetto, which he sangs in for most of the song.

The single's success helped its parent album, Live at the London Palladium find substantial success — especially in Gaye's home country, where it stayed at the top ten for several weeks.

Gaye's song became an important influence and motivation for Michael Jackson, who was searching to write a potential hit after The Jacksons had struggled with previous offerings.

He is noted for later having been one of the key figures in the development of the Motown label in Detroit, Michigan: his group gave Marvin Gaye's musical career a start, and Fuqua and his wife at the time, Gwen Gordy, distributed the very first Motown hit single, Barrett Strong's " Money ( That's What I Want )", on their record label, Anna Records.

The original recording by Gaye and Terrell peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on Billboard's Hot R & B / Soul Singles chart for five weeks, becoming one of the longest-running number one R & B hits of 1968 and the most successful duet recording of Marvin Gaye's entire career.

They included his biggest success, " Dancing in the Street ", which he co-wrote with Hunter and Marvin Gaye ; " It Takes Two " ( Gaye and Weston ), " Ask the Lonely " for the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin's " What Becomes of the Brokenhearted ", " My Baby Loves Me " ( Martha & The Vandellas ), " Uptight ( Everything's Alright )" for Stevie Wonder and Gaye's " Stubborn Kind of Fellow ".

Although the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor was, it contained three high-charting singles, including the title track, " True Colors " which became Lauper's second song to hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, " Change of Heart " ( No. 3 ) and a cover of Marvin Gaye's " What's Going On " ( No. 12 ) followed.

Gaye's success grew the following year after three of his singles, " How Sweet It Is ( To Be Loved By You )", " I'll Be Doggone " and " Ain't That Peculiar ", reached the top-10 and sold a million copies.

The Rock & Roll Hall has listed at least three of Gaye's songs in its list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll including " I Heard It Through the Grapevine ", " What's Going On " and " Sexual Healing ".

For example, most Motown records feature two drummers, playing together or overdubbing one another — Marvin Gaye's " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " used three drummers.

It was an instant success, landing at number-one on three different Billboard charts and helping its parent album, Gaye's live album, Live at the London Palladium, sell more than two-million copies.

Gaye's death in 1984 devastated Gordy ; later she and Marvin's three children disposed of Gaye's ashes near the Pacific Ocean following his cremation after his funeral.

Gaye's jazz ambitions continued after the album's release, throughout the 1960s, he recorded three more albums featuring jazz covers, which didn't go well with audiences used to the singer's grittier R & B work during the sixties.

" Gaye's sister Jeanne said Gaye was beaten often between age seven well into his teenage years.

Classic quiet storm recordings include Frankie Beverly and Maze's " Golden Time of Day ," Marvin Gaye's " Let's Get It On ", the orchestrations of Philadelphia soul, the recordings of Al Green, Barry White, and Bill Withers, much of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery's work during his CTI ( Creed Taylor, Incorporated ) years, and the work of jazz-funk saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.

He also was a featured soloist on many of Marvin Gaye's original albums on Motown during the 1970s, as well as on many other pop and r & b sessions during 25 years as a first-call musician in the studios in LA.

In 1985, two years following Gaye's death, the song was re-released in the UK reaching number eight thanks to a Levi's commercial ( starring Nick Kamen ).

The album was re-evaluated in the years following its original release, and is today seen as a landmark in Gaye's career.