Gaye's later music influenced the quiet storm, urban contemporary, slow jam and neo-soul music genres.

According to several music critics and historians, Marvin Gaye's career " spanned the entire history of rhythm and blues from fifties doo-wop to eighties contemporary soul.

" Critics stated that Gaye's music " signified the development of black music from raw rhythm and blues, through sophisticated soul to the political awareness of the 1970s and increased concentration on personal and sexual politics thereafter.

Gaye's music has been covered a variety of different artists including James Taylor, Brian McKnight, Chico DeBarge, Michael McDonald, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Aaliyah, A Perfect Circle, The Strokes and Gil Scott-Heron.

Other artists such as Maxwell, Nas and Common adapted his early 1970s fashion style of wearing kufis and beanie skull caps and jean outfits which was also later appropriated by Eddie Murphy in his role as James " Thunder " Early in Dreamgirls, while Michael Jackson, who admitted Gaye was an influence on his music and once described his music as " ridiculous " in a good way, in 2001, allegedly was also influenced by Gaye's fashion style in the 1980s adapting the military-styled suits Gaye wore on his final concert tour.

Gaye's music has also been used in numerous film soundtracks including Four Brothers, which frequently played Gaye's music from his Trouble Man soundtrack.

" Along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, this album ushered in a new socially conscious, funky style of popular soul music.

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.

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.

Around the same time, Gaye's label Motown tried to get the artist to record in the current sound of the times, disco music.

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.

The divorce court was extensive due to Gaye's absence in court as Gordy's attorneys discussed matters of payments for spousal support and alimony for their son, the few times Gaye did show up to court, he would leave angered enough to compose music.

The songs showcased Gaye's vocal and musical growth, as he headed into a crossroads in his music career.

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.

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 ".

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 ".

' 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.

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 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.

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.

She is also a part of the yet to be released documentary Marvin Gaye's sister made about her brother's life, My Brother Marvin.

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.

Marvin Gaye's version was recorded in spring 1967, and is the second known recording, though was also rejected by Gordy as a single, and would also later go onto an album, In the Groove.

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.

" Dancin ' Machine " sampled The Jackson 5, " Help the Children " ( also the name of an outreach foundation Hammer started ) interpolates Marvin Gaye's " Mercy Mercy Me ( The Ecology )", and " She's Soft and Wet " also sampled Prince's " Soft and Wet ".

Psychedelic influences could also be heard in the work of Stevie Wonder and in Marvin Gaye's socially conscious work from What's Going On ( 1971 ).

" 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 ".

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 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 ".

" 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.

Based on an autobiographical account of Gaye's moody behavior, it was also penned ( alongside William " Mickey " Stevenson ) during the time Gaye had just married Anna Gordy, the sister of Motown head Berry Gordy.

Following Gaye's death, several of Gaye's social commentary songs that had been unreleased including " The World Is Rated X " and " Where Are We Going " started showing up in compilation albums.

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.

Gaye's vocal style changed in the late 1960s in which he was told to incorporate a sharper raspy voice especially in Norman Whitfield's recordings, which Gaye initially profoundly disliked, considered it out of his range, but said he was " into being produce-able ".

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.

This resulted in the recordings of successful and critically acclaimed albums such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On ( 1971 ) and Let's Get it On ( 1973 ), and Stevie Wonder's Music of My Mind ( 1972 ), Talking Book ( 1972 ), and Innervisions ( 1973 ).

The performance documented on the resulting double LP, entitled Live at the London Palladium and released in 1977, is considered one of Gaye's finest live recordings.

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.

It became one of Gaye's signature 1960s recordings, and was his best-known solo hit before 1968's " I Heard It Through the Grapevine ".

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.

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.

His brother Frankie later recounted how Gaye's public performance at a school play when he was 11 encouraged him to pursue a singing career.

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

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.

Gaye's father never kept a job, working for a total of three years, working at the Western Union and the post office.

Gaye's mother supported the family as a domestic worker.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

" 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.

The tour helped to increase Gaye's reputation as a live performer.

Gaye continued to tour into 1975 following Gaye's success in sold-out concert dates.

Gaye's next studio album, I Want You, followed in 1976 with the title track becoming a top-20 smash.