â¨ď¸ #ArtIsAWeapon
#MarvinGaye - my favorite musical artist of all time - was born 85 years ago today (April 2, 1939).
Gifted, flawed, spiritual, tormented, beautiful...
Caption reposted from @nmaahc What's a Marvin Gaye song that speaks to you?
#OnThisDay in 1939, singer Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was born. The Washington, D.C. native developed an early love of music through the church, and by the 1960s came to be known as the #PrinceofSoul.
The son of a Hebrew Pentecostal minister, it was the Pentecostal Church that served as the context of his faith formation and creative musical genius. Gaye mastered the piano and drums as a child and caught the attention of Motown founder Berry Gordy, who hired him as a session drummer for the label working on songs for Stevie Wonder and The Supremes. Under the label, Gaye would enjoy a steady string of hits including âStubborn Kinda Fellowâ (1962), âIâll Be Doggoneâ (1965), and âI Heard It Through the Grapevineâ (1968). As a major Motown artist, Gaye is credited as one of the sonic architects responsible for creating the labelâs distinctive sound.
Described by Ebony as âintensely spiritual, almost mystical,â and seemingly in âpursuit of some ethereal other worldâ because of his preoccupation with religion and sexuality, Marvin Gayeâs artistry further complicated conventional notions of the holy and the profane. Alongside the strong religious and sexual sensibilities evidenced in later songs such as âSexual Healing,â âSanctified Lady,â and âLetâs Get It On,â Gayeâs 11th album, Whatâs Going On, is acclaimed for the socially conscious quality of his lyrical content. Themes explored on the album include an anti-war critique, ecology, love, sensuality, and community, all informed by his formative Hebraic-Pentecostal worldview.
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đ¸ Photograph Credits:
Images 1 & 2 by Ed Caraeff @thebulletlisttrip Van Nuys, California March 28, 1976.
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Images 3 & 4 by Isaac Sutton - reposted from @nmaahc - Johnson Publishing Company Archive. Courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
