What's Going On also provided another first in Motown and R & B music: Gaye and his engineers had composed the album in a song cycle, segueing previous songs into other songs giving the album a more cohesive feel as opposed to R & B albums that traditionally included filler tracks to complete the album.

Accompaniment is provided by The Funk Brothers, including Marvin Gaye on drums.

With Marvin Gaye and Stevenson, he cowrote the Martha and the Vandellas hit " Dancing in the Street " which, in the fall of 1964, provided an American counterpart to the British Invasion.

However, with the exception of the Grammy Award-winning " Nightshift " (# 3 in the U. S., a tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson ; in 2010 a new version was recorded dedicated to Michael Jackson ), the band never achieved the same level of success it had enjoyed with Richie.

It was also later determined that the revolver used in the murder was the same revolver Gaye had given to his father during the Christmas holidays.

In the early 1970s Ed Townsend teamed up with Marvin Gaye to produce one of the biggest hits of all times, " Let's Get It On " from the album of the same title.

His work includes Motown hits such as, among hundreds of others, " Shotgun " by Jr. Walker & the All Stars, " For Once in My Life ", " I Was Made To Love Her " by Stevie Wonder ( sometimes noted as being claimed by Carol Kaye, Ms Kaye actually claims the track on the late 60s Beach Boys version of the same song ), " Going to a Go-Go " by The Miracles, " My Girl " by The Temptations, " Dancing in the Street " by Martha and the Vandellas, " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and later by Marvin Gaye, and most of the album What's Going On by Marvin Gaye, " Reach Out I'll Be There " and " Bernadette " by the Four Tops, and " You Can't Hurry Love " by The Supremes.

Ross ' version was produced by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and was built around the same thematic basis that made Ross ' 1970 remake of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's " Ain't No Mountain High Enough " a success.

The song was conceived after Gaye reluctantly agreed to perform in the same R & B-rooted productions of his fellow Motown label mates rather than try to be " the Black Frank Sinatra ".

Whitfield was known for recording dramatically different versions of the same song with different Motown artists, including Smokey Robinson & the Miracles ' " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " ( re-recorded as hit records for Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Marvin Gaye ) and the Temptations ' " War " ( re-recorded as a hit for Edwin Starr ).

As the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name, the Trouble Man soundtrack was a more contemporary move for Gaye, following his landmark politically charged album What's Going On.

Despite his previous affinity with politically and socially-charged lyrical themes, Gaye helped popularize sexual and romance-themed music and funk, while his 1970s recordings, including Let's Get It On ( 1973 ) and I Want You ( 1976 ) helped develop the quiet storm sound and format.

Also during this time, Moonglows founder Harvey Fuqua who sang background on many of Diddley's home studio recordings was introduced to Gaye, and asked him to join the Moonglows.

Gaye holud ( literally " yellow on the body ") is a ceremony observed mostly in the region of Bengal ( comprising Bangladesh and Indian West Bengal ).

Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father at his home in Los Angeles on April 1, 1984, one day before what would have been his 45th birthday.

A series of distinguished British actresses have portrayed Queen Mary on stage and screen, including Dame Wendy Hiller ( on the London stage in Crown Matrimonial ), Dame Flora Robson ( in A King's Story ), Dame Peggy Ashcroft ( in Edward & Mrs Simpson ), Phyllis Calvert ( in The Woman He Loved ), Gaye Brown ( in All the King's Men ), Dame Eileen Atkins ( in Bertie and Elizabeth ), Miranda Richardson ( in The Lost Prince ), Margaret Tyzack ( in Wallis & Edward ), and Claire Bloom ( in The King's Speech ).

After spending years as a European tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit, " Sexual Healing " and the Midnight Love album.

Gaye also ranked high on music magazines ' lists, ranking at number 18 on the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time on the American music magazine, Rolling Stone, and he ranked number 20 on VH-1's list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Gaye, who composed a three-octave vocal range, was subsequently ranked at number 6 on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Singers of All Time in 2008.

Gaye began singing at his father's church and in church revivals starting around the age of five, with his first public performance being a version of " Journey to the Sky " at a Kentucky church revival with his father accompanying him on piano.

Gaye is located fourth on the right from a seated Fuqua.

In 1959, the group signed with Chess and recorded several sides for the label, including the Fuqua-led " Twelve Months of the Year ", to which Gaye opened the song on spoken word, and the Gaye-led " Mama Loochie ".

In early 1961, Gaye played drums on The Spinners ' Tri-Phi single, " That's What Girls Are Made For ", which became the group's first national hit that year.

Following his signing to Motown's Tamla label, Gaye having been inspired by such singers like Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra to perform standards, figuring the move would make him a crossover success, rather than perform the usual R & B performed on Motown, bringing him to conflict with the label.

Gaye had aspired to be a Perry Como-styled performer that did not have to resort to " shaking ass onstage ", rather, just sit on a stool and croon.

Gaye spent most of 1961 afterwards playing drums on the road for The Miracles and blues artist Jimmy Reed.

While Gaye wasn't required to later attend Gordy's artist development course, he took advice on performing with his eyes open rather closed after Maxine Powell told him that it " looked like was sleeping when was performing.

" Marvin drummed on The Marvelettes ' " Please Mr. Postman " and several of their other recordings, including " Beechwood 4-5789 ", which Gaye co-wrote.

Later in 1962, Gaye released his first charted hit, " Stubborn Kind of Fellow ", which peaked in the low top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on the R & B side.

Gaye notched his next duet success late the following year with Kim Weston, on the song, " It Takes Two ".

In 1967, Gaye began working on duets with singer Tammi Terrell.

However, Gaye felt the success was something he " didn't deserve " and that he " felt like a puppet -- Berry's puppet, Anna's puppet ..." Gaye followed it with songs such as " Too Busy Thinking About My Baby " and " That's the Way Love Is ", which reached the top-ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

The film also featured such acts as The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Gerry & the Pacemakers, James Brown, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Lesley Gore, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and The Beach Boys ( whose sequence was later cut from the film, due to contract issues ).

During their early years, David Ruffin, who later found fame as lead singer of The Temptations, noted that he and Gaye spent time stockpiling records at Anna's building.

After a period of depression, Gaye sought out a position in the professional football team, the Detroit Lions where he later befriended Mel Farr and Lem Barney.

Gaye later played the song to Berry Gordy, who refused to release it due mainly to its jazz-oriented sound, which Gordy labeled " outdated ".

The concert was later recorded for the live album, Marvin Gaye Live !.

Friends and some of Gaye's family members later contended that the gun was an act of " premeditated suicide " by Gaye, who had suffered from depression in the months leading up to his death.

Their relationship consummated a year later and resulted in the births of two children, Nona Marvisa and Frankie Christian Gaye, in 1974 and 1975 respectively.

In 1979, Gaye attempted suicide a second time by ingesting an ounce of cocaine while in Hawaii, later stating, " I just wanted to be alone and blow my brains on high-octane toot.

A year later, Gaye's mother founded the Marvin P. Gaye Jr. Memorial Foundation in dedication to her son to help those suffering from drug abuse and alcoholism ; however she died a day before the memorial was set to open in 1987.

Three years later, the 5200 block of Foote Street NE in Deanwood, Washington, DC, was renamed Marvin Gaye Way.

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.

A documentary about Gaye – What's Going On: The Marvin Gaye Story – was a UK / PBS co-production, directed by Jeremy Marre and was first broadcast in 2006 ; two years later, the special re-aired with a different production and newer interviews after it was re-broadcast as an American Masters special.

" And while he noted that ballads and jazz was " his basic soul ", he stated Gaye " had the ability to take a roughhouse, rock and roll, blues, R & B, any kind of song and make it his own ", later citing that Gaye was the most versatile vocalist he ever worked with.

The TR-808 would later be further popularized in 1982, with the release of the mainstream American hits " Sexual Healing " by Marvin Gaye and " Planet Rock " by Afrika Bambaataa.

Kravitz's other musical influences at the time included Fela Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye and Miles Davis ; John Lennon and Bob Marley proved later to be influential as well.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including " I Heard It Through the Grapevine ", ( recorded later by Marvin Gaye ), " Friendship Train " ( 1969 ), " If I Were Your Woman " ( 1970 ), " I Don't Want To Do Wrong " ( 1971 ), the Grammy Award winning " Neither One of Us ( Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye )" ( 1972 ), and " Daddy Could Swear ( I Declare )" ( 1973 ).

Fuqua would later be credited for bringing Marvin Gaye to the label, which signed Gaye in 1960.

Several tracks which later became critical and commercial favorites were initially rejected by Gordy ; the two most notable being the Marvin Gaye songs, " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " and " What's Going On ".