Loop Diggin' Thursdays, News & Rants 04.26.07
Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 04.26.2007
Marvin, Part 3: Divorce courts, comeback attempts, and that fateful April Fool's Day. Plus: Marvin tries to RAP!!!
Following the success of I WANT YOU, Marvin sandwiched that with ANOTHER live album, the 2Disc LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM, in 1977. Unlike the first concert album (creatively titled LIVE!), this album brought more of his 60's hits into the mix in the form of two medleys. The first included the songs "Ain't That Peculiar", "You're A Wonderful One", and "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" while the third spotlighted two of the songs he did with Tammi Terrell (whose parts were sung by Florence Lyles), "You're All I Need…" and "Nothing Like The Real Thing". Right before the Tammi songs, he nearly broke down when the crowd cheered her name ("Oh, she'd like that…for her I thank you.") However, the hits from his 70's albums got most of the spotlight, particularly the I WANT YOU album which was in stores at the time. By the way, this album also included one new studio song which would become just as big of a hit as the songs sung at the London Palladium: the 11-minute opus "Got To Give It Up", which was a bonafide dance floor classic! Add it all up, and you have one of the highest selling soul artist concert albums of all time (DOUBLE PLATINUM, BITCHES!) and Album-Of-The-Year honors!
Even with the success of this album (and the fact that he married Janis that same year), Marvin's whole world was soon going to come crashing down. See, he had been walking in and out of courtrooms over those past few years, but things haven't exactly gone his way. In the end, the courts sided with Anna Gordy, resulting in Marvin being ordered to make good on missing alimony payments by recording a new album, with the intention that all royalties earned from its sales would then be awarded to his ex.
Marvin hired Curtis Shaw to represent him during those divorce hearings. Curtis stated the following in an interview with Marvin biographer David Ritz: "When I arrived on the scene, Marvin was already in contempt of court for not paying his temporary alimony payments. They were about to padlock his ranch in Hidden Hills where he was living with Janis and the kids. Everyone was on his back: Berry Gordy was on his back because he wanted an album, and Anna was furious because Marvin was flaunting his new family. There weren't many joint-estate assets because during the Marvin/Anna years they lived high on the hog. Berry lent Marvin all sorts of money. Meanwhile Anna was demanding a million dollars. How was this ever going to get resolved? I came up with a plan: Marvin was getting $305,000 advance per album at that point, and I suggested he pay the next album's advance to Anna, plus the first $295,000 of earnings. That meant she'd have $600,000. Anna went for the idea. I got Marvin to go along, and the judge went for the order."
Marvin adds the following: "I figured I'd just do a quickie record--nothing heavy, nothing even GOOD. Why should I break my neck when Anna was going to wind up with the money anyway? But the more I lived with the notion of doing an album for Anna, the more it fascinated me. Besides, I owe the public my best effort. Finally, I did the record out of deep passion. It became a compulsion. I had the free myself of Anna, and I saw this as the way. All those depositions and hearings, all those accusations and lies--I knew I'd explode if I didn't get all that junk out of me. So I had [engineer Art Stewart] open up the mikes. I sang until I drained myself of everything I'd lived through. That took me three months, but then I held the album back for over a year. I was afraid to let it go."
The result? HEAR, MY DEAR (1978)…
I guess I'd have to say this album is dedicated to you.
Although perhaps you may not be happy, this is what you want, so I conceded.
I hope it makes you happy.
You don't have the right to use the son of mine [Marvin and Anna's adopted son, Marvin III] to keep me in line...
Most of my life I had been all, all alone
And you're so sweet to me, don't think i'll ever roam
And then one day as time will pass
I had this feeling that our love would last
Nothing could go wrong and it seemed everything I did
Seemed to please you, all the heartaches you hid
Then one night after we made it, and we were through...That's when I decided I wanted to marry you...
[1964!!!!] Once you really loved me...once I really loved you...
[1976!!!!] Then time would change you...As time would really change me.
We thought our love would stand the test of time...
You know, when you say your marriage vows, they're supposed to be for real. I mean...
if you think back about what you really said, what it's all about, "honor, loving and
obeying till death do us part" and all. But it shouldn't be that way, it shouldn't...it
shouldn't, it shouldn't be lies because it turns out to be lies. If you don't honor what
you said, you lie to God...
I had to leave you for my health's sake...
Do you remember all of the fights we had?
You say you love me with all your heart
If you ever loved me will all of your heart
You'd never take $1 million to part
We tried, but all of those promises was nothin' but lies...we really lied, didn't we baby?
And on top of that you have sandalized my name!
I'd rather remember all the fun we had
All I ever really wanted was to love you and treat you right
All we did was fuss and fight
It don't matter baby, take a lesson from them all
I never thought I'd see the day when you'd put me through what you put me through...
When did you stop loving me? When did I stop loving you?
Someday soon I hope and pray like Jesus...I'll reach that wiser age
Hope I will learn I really never never profit from things I do in rage...
I was young and fine, and you plucked me clean...
Too possessive and jealous...you was too possessive, jealous...
Is that enough, baby? Is that enough to keep you happy?
I know you just love that expensive stuff...you got a flair for style...What could I do? The judge said, "She gotta keep living the way she's accustomed to."
You try to break a man...tell me, please...WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY ATTORNEY FEES?!
JESUS SAID TIME WILL HEAL ALL WOUNDS!
…BUT YOU HAVE TO LIVE RIGHT TO GET THE TIME!!!
I've been racing against time, trying my best to find my way
Change this world in just one day, blowing coke up in my nose,
getting in and out of my clothes, foolin' 'round with midnight hoes
but that chapter of my life's closed...
We were over at Gwen's [Marvin‘s sister-in-law], and we was trying one more time to make amends...Suddenly, it occured to me that it did not matter
whether I was mad at her, she was mad at me...
You can leave, but IT'S GOING TO COST YOU...that young girl [Janis] is gonna cost you...
If you want happiness, YOU GOTTA PAY!!
You tried to have them SHACKLE ME and BRING ME IN...tell me, WHAT FOR?!
...you won the battle, but DADDY'S GONNA WIN THE WAR!
Her lawyers worked so hard trying to take my riches...
they're trying to sell my home, trying to take my child, too...
You used to say, "Ahh what a gorgeous hunk of man..."
But that didn't help me, baby, when you was on the stand!
Anna…
AaaannAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Damn…
The fact that Marvin took all that pent-up anger and managed to craft such a great 2-disc album out of it (not to mention handle most of the drums and keyboards himself as well) stands as a testament to his abilities as an artist.
Now, to be fair, I'm going to defend Anna Gordy just a bit, because like they say, there are two sides to every story. If it weren't for Anna, Marvin's legacy wouldn't exist. Yes, re-read that. Yes, it seemed that she nagged a lot, especially if you heard Marvin's side of the story (his pet peeve is that he hates when people act like they have control over him), yet, there were times when he needed to be fussed at. After all, she was the one who had to get Marvin's ass out of that bed to go to the studio (Marvin often HATED the studio, and tried to find any excuse to stay away from it!) On top of that, she has written songs for him and with him, from his 60's career to WHAT'S GOING ON. She has always been a driving force in his career, whether directly or, in the case of every album from LET'S GET IT ON forward, indirectly. Like the old saying goes, it takes pressure to make a diamond, and one only knows how many of those classic albums the Marvin made would ever have been conceived if it were not for Anna's influence.
On top of that, Marvin himself wasn't exactly making any of this easier. Remember, when things got too hot for him, he decided to leave her…for a girl young enough to be his daughter, at that. Despite his platinum riches, he did everything he could to keep from paying her. That was the reason why the courts made the decision to have Anna get a portion of the money from the HERE MY DEAR album in the first place, so those alimony payments could get paid off. Besides, it's not like Marvin wasn't going to make any more money after paying her…all it takes is one big tour, and he'd have been swimming in dough again, right? Thing is, for some reason, Marvin held the album back for one year…and when the album got released, he did everything possible to keep it from getting any promotion whatsoever. When Berry tried to release "The Funk Space Reincarnation" (which was about a reincarnated Marvin mackin‘ on a reincarnated Anna in a spaceship, chillin‘ in a spacebed, while tokin‘ on some space-weed from PLUTO!), the ONLY up-tempo, light-hearted track on the album, as a single, Marvin did everything possible to railroad him. To make an already tumultuous situation worse was the ever popular combination of booze, weed, and nose candy, which definitely made Marvin a joy to be around! Bottom line: It's very easy to paint Anna as the villain here, this whole situation was brought about by Marvin's own doing. (FUN FACT: Even years after Marvin's tragic death, Anna STILL hasn't gotten all of her alimony payments!)
And through all this, one person got caught in the crossfire: JANIS. She got married to Marvin not too long before the HEAR MY DEAR album was made, and after watching Marvin's obsession with Anna and the record company, and the way he dealt with the adversity (booze, weed, and nose candy), she finally had enough. This resulted in Marvin dealing with yet ANOTHER set of divorce hearings (their divorced finalized in 1981).
Marvin lost one wife, on the verge of losing another wife, lost his house, lost lots of money…and on top of that…he's on the verge of losing HIS AUDIENCE, TOO!
The HEAR MY DEAR album BRICKED! Yeah, Marvin felt he got revenge on Anna by keeping her from getting her money, but even if Marvin didn't railroad the promotion of the album, many of the people that heard it were left scratching their heads, wondering WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? This was NOT the Marvin they wanted to hear. Even though the album finally got the praise it deserved (albeit long after his murder), at the time of it's release, the people just couldn't get into it. The album became a jump-off point for a lot of his fans. Besides, when you got such great artists like Barry White, Isaac Hayes, Teddy Pendergrass, Ron Isley, and many others carrying on the lover-man angle while Marvin was obsessed with the divorce bullshit, many of those fans had plenty of options and decided to move on. Marvin fell back and realized that he HAD to do something to get those people back.
He had to prove that he still got it…
Which brings us to…THE LOVE MAN album…
Uh…what? You never heard of it?
Okay…it's like this….
Marvin wanted to make an album that would re-solidify his place as the greatest as the KING OF R&B, especially with all these new guys trying to claim his spot. So, to test the waters, he puts out a single called "EGO-TRIPPIN' OUT". But get this: during the first few minutes of the song, Marvin tries to RAP. That's right…MARVIN TRIES TO RAP!!!
I got the BADDEST COOL--could never be the fool---the ladies wait to GET DOWN WITH ME!
I bought the BADDEST HOUSE I COULD FIND!
Oh it must be said…I'm GREATEST IN THE BED!!
I know I'm really HOT!!! MY DIAMONDS SHINE A LOT!!! Check out this hear 4.50 S.E.!!!
Yup…that's right. Marvin Gaye…rappin about his mansion, his 4.5, the ice on his wrist, and his raging libido!!
The second half of the song has Marvin going over the bad side of the business (SINGING this time!), even mentioning his drug problems ("cuz the toot [nose candy] and the smoke [weed] won't fulfill my need…").
The reception? Well, let me put it to you this way: the people Marvin didn't lose with the HEAR MY DEAR album he definitely lost with this song! Despite the intentions, this comeback attempt proved to be his ultimate JUMP-THE-COUCH MOMENT as it BOMBED even harder than his last album did! Because of that embarrassment, Marvin had to fall back again and rethink his strategy…thus, the LOVE MAN album was shelved.
To add to that, the IRS was on Marvin's ass, as he has had difficulties getting his bills paid. This, plus more divorce hearings (this time against JANIS), and more stress, which led to more sniffin'. All this led Marvin to move to Hawaii, where he slept in a bread van.
Think about that for a minute…
Influential soul music legend…struggling to make a hit.
The definitive lover man…whose relationships ended with nasty divorce hearings!
Mansions, fancy cars…foreclosed by the IRS.
Big time multi-platinum superstar…stuck sleeping in a bread van.
Marvin officially hit rock-bottom.
Thankfully, there was some hope. Right when the 80's rolled right in, a British concert promoter Jeffrey Kruger offered to bring Marvin to Europe for a little tour, eventually leading to a royal performance right in front of Princess Margaret. Marvin leapt at the opportunity. Talk about a chance to get his life and his career back on track. So he moved to Europe and did a few show. However, when it came time to so that big royal shindig, Marvin was LATE! By the time he showed up, everyone pretty much left. Good going, Marv.
Marvin moved to London, where he spent time dwelling on his next project. He took another look at that Ego-Trippin' Out" song--as bad as it was--and thought long and hard about the concept behind the song…and how that very concept can make for a good album, which lead to…
IN OUR LIFETIME? (1981)
This was to be a more philosophical record, a record that deals with spirituality and how sometimes, the temptations of the music business can make you lose your way…as it did many times in Marvin's life. Marvin also wanted to incorporate more funk into his sound.
However, industry rule #4080 would rare its ugly head yet again, as Berry Gordy was getting more fed up than ever with Marvin and decided to rush the album to the stores---long before it was even FINISHED!!! Not only was the question mark removed from the title, most of the songs were edited and remixed, all without his permission! They also included the aforementioned "Ego-Trippin' Out" single that bombed a few years before, and a song called "Far Cry", which was noticeably UNFINISHED!! Marvin also claimed that the album cover (which featured an angelic Marvin and a devilish Marvin facing each other) parodied the original intent of the album. It's very difficult to figure out what Marvin meant to have on the album and what Marvin didn't want on it.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
It was that point right there where Marvin wanted OUT. He was royally PISSED! He felt that Berry did him dirty and decided to end his relationship with the label that he spent over 20 years of his career with.
Pretty soon, Marvin would get a call from the people at Columbia Records, which was then owned by the CBS network, and asked him to sign with them…and Marvin promptly took it. However, when it came time to make that comeback, he was starting to get cold feet. Besides, what if this comeback attempt flops harder than the last one? Face it: Marvin hasn't had a hit since "Got To Give It Up", which was 6 YEARS AGO! From there he had that album that he tried desperately to keep from being a hit, that embarrassing rap attempt, and that unfinished album the label just threw on the shelf without his permission. With the audience being fickle, will they even REMEMBER him? When the album comes out, will they welcome him back with open arms, or will they see him as some 40-year-old relic who needs to step aside and let such hot-hot-hot young acts like O'Bryan shine? There was only one way to find out…
MIDNIGHT LOVE (1982)
While his 70's albums always delved into a certain concept, MIDNIGHT LOVE was more straight-forward, with mostly songs about love and sex, with nothing deep. During this period, the music landscape was changing into a more synth-heavy sound, and since Marvin has been using keyboards for a while, he felt that he could fit right in. Marvin not only wrote most of the songs, he also handled the synths and the percussion on this album, both behind the drumset (like in "Midnight Lady") or the preprogrammed variety (like most of the album).
One day, David Ritz, who was in the middle of writing Marvin's biography DIVIDED SOUL, noticed a whole bunch of porno mags in Marvin's room. He tried to talk to him about it, probably telling him how sad it was that a man who was once the definitive loverman is reduced to jacking off to porno mags, then he mentioned that Marv is in dire need of some sexual healing. A light bulb went up! Marv quickly got a pen and pad, and went straight to work! The end result: His first big hit in six years, which spent 10 weeks at #1, which push the album to sell over 6 million copies!
Granted the album as a whole would've been much better if it had the more lush arrangements of his past work (which would've helped the ballad "'Til Tomorrow"), but since the whole industry was going this direction (eventually eliminating the string section and horn section in favor replacing everything that wasn't nailed to the floor with a synthesizer), Marvin had to make do in order to adapt. Even though the album wasn't his best, but it did its job: it made Marvin a STAR again.
1983...Motown was about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The show was to be taped in front of a live studio audience on March 25, 1983 and air on May 16. Berry wanted this to be a star-studded occasion. There was just one little problem: Some of his biggest stars have left on iffy, if not really bad terms.
The Temptations: Their grand reunion tour was cut short because Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin left, leaving Otis Willaims, Melvin franklin, Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, and Ron Tyson to carry on.
The Four Tops: Left Motown during the early 70's after a dry period there. Went to ABC-Dunhill Records and made their first hit in years, "Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got". Once 1980 hit, they moved to Casablanca for their final hit, "She Was My Girl".
Diana Ross and the Supremes: Diana had a falling out with the Supremes (that foolishness at Florence Ballard's funeral, with Diana fake-fainting, didn't help), and Diana would leave Motown for RCA years later.
The Jackson fam: All of them wanted to leave for creative control. Jermaine left for Arista, while Michael, and the gang left for Epic, with Randy taking Jermaine's spot.
..and Marvin: Who left PISSED because of the fiasco behind the rushed release of IN OUR LIFETIME?.
With some of his most legendary artists having left, he had to invest on some really good kneepads and beg for them to come back. Marvin especially so. Thankfully, he was able to get them all to come back. The special, MOTOWN 25: YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER, was a massive success. Yeah, there were some iffy moments (let's just say that Diana and the Supremes were still not cool with each other, so their 'performance' had to be cut short), but the rest of the legends stole the show:
Sadly, I can't find the full version where he first gives a speech on black music while playing the piano like a true maestro. It's definitely something that needs to be tracked down.
No soon after that, Marvin showed up at NBA All-Star game to perform the National Anthem…in the very same manner that he would sing any of his sexual songs! Whether they were tripped out by it or were scratching their heads from it, it was a moment that stuck in the minds of a lot of people.
Tragically, those two standout performances would be his last…
As his tour was winding down, he was plagued with many health problems caused by his years of drug use, as well as depression…and paranoia. After years of court hearings and financial problems, he felt, for some reason that someone was out to kill him. At one point, he even made peace with Anna Gordy, burying the hatchet. In 1984, Marvin made the decision to move back to his parents house. He was strung out on coke, and carried a .38 just in case someone tried to kill him. Sadly, he wouldn't find any solice in that house, as his father was still there and still had no semblance of respect for him and the feeling was mutual…
…bringing us back to that terrible April Fool's Day in 1984.
The following came straight from Alberta Gay, Marvin's mother:
"That morning, my husband (Gay Sr.) came walking through my bathroom door, and asked me where he could find this insurance letter. I couldn't hear him very well, so Marvin asked him to come into the room where we were. My husband said no, he wouldn't come in the room."
Marvin told him, ''If you don't come in now, don't you ever come into my room again.''
"Then my husband came in the room. Marvin told him to get out, and got up from the bed, walked over to my husband, and pushed him back. Marvin pushed him a couple of times. My husband turned and walked back to his bedroom. Marvin followed him, yelling little cuss words at him. Marvin told his father, ''I'll beat you up.''
Both of them went into the father's room. "I didn't see what happened in the bedroom," related Alberta, "I heard my husband say, He's kicking me. I don't have to take that.''
"When I entered the room, my husband was on the floor, and Marvin was standing a short distance away. I took Marvin by the arm and led him back to his room. I sat him on the foot of the bed. Marvin told me, "Mother, I'm going to get my things and get out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back."
"I was standing about eight feet away from Marvin, when my husband came to the door of the bedroom with his pistol. My husband didn't say anything, he just pointed the gun at Marvin. I screamed but it was very quick. He, my husband, shot - and Marvin screamed. I tried to run. Marvin slid down to the floor after the first shot."
The first slug had entered his right chest at a 30 degree downward angle, perforating the right lung, heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and left kidney before coming to rest against his left flank. It was immediately fatal.
Gay Sr. stepped forward and fired again at point-blank range. He then went downstairs to the front porch, threw the pistol out onto the lawn and sat down to await police.
Marvin's father was arrested and left to rot in prison until his death in 1998.
*****
Like I said before, there's so much to be learned from this:
LINER NOTES: I want to thank ?uestlove for this. He's the one who got me into paying more attention to the liner notes on most albums. In some of Marvin's album reissues (particularly the deluxe 2-CD reissues of his 70's albums), they put a whole lot information in those liners. In fact, a good 90% of the info in my Marvin retrospective came from the liner notes.
PAYING DUES: Like I said in Part 1, Marvin didn't become a music legend overnight. It took years for him to find his voice. One of his trademarks, the overdubs where he handles his own background vocals, came from what he learned during his years with the Moonglows. He also learned a lot from his years when he was under contract as just a drummer. It was that experience that helped him when he started producing, arranging, and working the instruments in his own albums.
INDUSTRY RULE #4080: "…record company people are SHADY!" While Berry Gordy received lots of credit for creating the Motown empire, at the end of the day, he's just like any other record exec, and like all execs, he has to look at the bottom line. Money has to be made. You could work your ass off creating the album of your lifetime, but if it isn't commercially viable to the exec, forget it. When an exec's direction doesn't coincide with yours, you better be prepared to fight. (to add insult to injury, Motown and Columbia decided to come out with a posthumous album to profit off his death, DREAM OF A LIFETIME, which, like the other LIFETIME album, was filled with unfinished songs, some of which Marvin never intended to release.)
FACING ADVERSITY: The truest test of a man is how well he overcomes the obstacles set before him. There were times when Marvin took the most tragic moments of his life and used the experience as inspiration, resulting in some of the greatest albums of all time. There were times when Marvin wasn't as strong and resorted to drugs. Sometimes it takes pressure to make a diamond; sometimes, too much pressure can break a man.
