Rise to Fame
Early Motown years were mostly other people's songs. He charted hits on demand and felt, by his own account, like a 'puppet.' The break came when his brother's letters arrived from Vietnam describing what the war actually looked like. Detroit was burning. Singing love songs started to feel dishonest. Berry Gordy called 'What's Going On' the worst record he'd ever heard and refused to release it. Gaye staged a recording strike to force his hand. Gordy relented. Nothing at Motown sounded the same after.
In the Spotlight
Fifty-plus years in and What's Going On still polls near the top of every serious 'greatest albums' list. The final years were a different story: fleeing to Belgium to escape tax debt and cocaine, two failed marriages, no recording contract. He wrote 'Sexual Healing' in Ostend and won his only two Grammys for it at the 1983 ceremony. By late 1983 he was living at his parents' house in Los Angeles. His father shot him twice in his bedroom on April 1, 1984.
Side Notes
The divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy (Berry Gordy's sister), ended with a court ordering him to sign over royalties from his next album. He made that album about their marriage. Here, My Dear (1978) is 70 minutes of the worst personal secret in soul history - Anna Gordy walked away with the royalties from a record that documented her failed marriage. He also left 66 unreleased recordings in a Belgian villa, 38 featuring his voice, including eight unheard versions of 'Sexual Healing.' Nobody's heard them yet.
Final Chapter
A no-contest plea to voluntary manslaughter on September 20, 1984 earned Gay Sr. a six-year suspended sentence and no prison time. Smokey Robinson delivered a eulogy at Forest Lawn on April 5, 1984, with Stevie Wonder performing 'Lighting Up the Candles' for over 10,000 mourners. Diana Ross released the tribute single 'Missing You' in November 1984. His father outlived him by 14 years, dying in a California nursing home in 1998.