Gaye's first album, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, released in June 1961, failed to chart, however.

Gaye's first single, " Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide ", found regional success but also failed to chart, as would two more of Gaye's recordings by 1962.

In 1964, he scored his first hit duets with singer Mary Wells including " Once Upon a Time ", which was later featured on the duo's album, Together, which became Gaye's first charted album.

In October 1968, Gaye's recording of " I Heard It Through the Grapevine ", which became Gaye's first to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the top of the charts in other countries, selling well over a million copies.

The album became Gaye's first million-selling album and featured two more top-ten hits, " Mercy Mercy Me ( The Ecology )" and " Inner City Blues ".

When VH1 launched on January 1, 1985, Gaye's 1983 rendition of the national anthem was the very first video to be aired.

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 first video played is Marvin Gaye's rendition of " The Star-Spangled Banner ".

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 ".

Initially the band was essentially a joke band rather than a serious one ; their first " show " was in class singing Marvin Gaye's " Got to Give It Up ", using rolled-up maps as guitars because they could not actually play any instruments.

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

Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of " Billie Jean " ( which contained his first recorded moonwalk ), Linda Ronstadt duetting with Smokey Robinson, a Temptations / Four Tops " battle of the bands ", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of " What's Going On ", a Jackson 5 reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final # 1 hit, " Someday We'll Be Together " from 1969.

Motown struggled to get Gaye in the studio as Gaye focused on work on an album ( which would later be released as Here, My Dear, dedicated to Gaye's troubled first marriage ).

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 song was also Gaye's first top ten pop single peaking at number ten on the chart and just missed the top spot of the R & B singles chart peaking at number two.

The single was the top selling R & B single of the year, and was the first release from Gaye's 1969 studio album M. P. G ..

" It Takes Two " was also Gaye's first major hit in the UK, where it peaked at # 16 on the British singles charts in the spring of that same year.

Released in September of that year, the song gave Gaye his first taste of fame that would make him Motown's leading hit maker peaking at number eight on the Billboard Black Singles chart and number forty-six on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and was the leading single from Gaye's second album, the aptly titled That Stubborn Kinda Fellow.

The two first met in 1978 shortly after the release of Gaye's tormented Here, My Dear album.

It's most notable as the album that caused the first known struggle of Gaye's turbulent tenure with the label.

The success later translated to the top ten on the pop chart in January 1983, while the record reached international success, reaching the top spot in New Zealand and Canada and reaching the top-10 in the United Kingdom, later selling over two million copies, becoming Gaye's most successful single to date.

It featured two UK top 10 hits with covers of Bob Dylan's " I'll Be Your Baby Tonight "-collaboration with UB40-and Marvin Gaye's cover " Mercy Mercy Me ".

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.

The song also helped continue Gaye's successful hit streak as the singer would score another Top 40 pop hit at the end of that year with " Can I Get a Witness ".

Released on April 30, 1969, the album became Gaye's first solo album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, peaking at # 33, and also became his first # 1 album on the Soul Albums Chart.

Rogers also co-wrote The Temptations ' 1965 hit " My Baby ", Mary Wells ' hit, " What Love Has Joined Together ", The Contours ' 1965 hit " First I Look at the Purse ", ( later covered by the J Geils Band ), Marvin Gaye's 1966 Top 40 hit, " One More Heartache " and The Miracles ' own 1964 Top 40 hit, " That's What Love Is Made Of ", and their 1966 hit, " Going to a Go-Go ".

Its title track became Gaye's second number-one single on the Billboard pop chart.

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.

The original album peaked at number four R & B and number twenty-six pop becoming Gaye's lowest-charting studio album of the 1970s.

Gaye peaked at # 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart with the song in January 1965, and # 3 on Billboard's R & B Singles chart making it Gaye's most successful single to that point with record sales well over 900, 000 copies.

' 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.

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 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame page lists the Capris ' song, " God Only Knows " as " critical to his musical awakening ".

*" Right On " ( song ), the seventh track on Marvin Gaye's landmark album What's Going On

* At the end of the movie This Christmas the main cast danced down a " Soul Train " line to Marvin Gaye's song " Got to Give It Up " ( before the credit roll ).

His most recent album, Hardcastle VI, released in September 2011, features yet another remake of " Rainforest " -- this time mixed with R & B legend Marvin Gaye's signature song, " What's Going On.

When Gaye's album with his version of Grapevine was released in August 1968 radio disc jockeys were playing the song, so Gordy had it released as a single in November when it went to number one.

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.

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 ).

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.

" U Can't Touch This " sampled " Super Freak " by Rick James ; " Dancin ' Machine " sampled the Jackson 5 ; " Have You Seen Her " is a semi-cover of The Chi-Lites song ; " Help the Children " interpolates Marvin Gaye's " Mercy Mercy Me ( The Ecology )"; " Pray " and " She's Soft and Wet " sample the Prince songs " When Doves Cry " and " Soft and Wet " respectively.

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.

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.

" The song, " Don't Stop ' til You Get Enough ", written solely by Jackson and recorded the same year as " Shake Your Body ", took even more of Gaye's approach with the entire song, using percussive instruments as the basis of the song and a continued funk guitar riff, that was also present on " Got to Give It Up ".

Gaye's leading vocals brought in both falsetto and a gospel approach near the ending coda of the song.

Written and produced by Motown songwriting and producing team Holland – Dozier – Holland, the song was built among gospel-styled music and heralded Gaye's beginnings in the church with a rhythm and blues / rock and roll setting.