February 14, 2013

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There's more to Marvin Gaye's life than just his greatest hits, and his sister, Zeola "Sweetsie" Gaye tells Essence magazine that she's determined to share those parts of him with fans in her new play, My Brother Marvin.

The traveling play is doing a run this week in Detroit, with performances scheduled across the country.

Various stories and books have attempted to tell Marvin's life story since his death in 1984, but Zeola believes many of them miss the mark. "Through the years, I became taken aback and disappointed with everything that had been written, said and published about my family, especially my brother Marvin, that wasn't accurate," she tells Essence.

Through her play My Brother Marvin, Zeola hopes to share a "true account about Marvin the man and our family," she says. "People need to know what really happened and Marvin would want his fans to really know what happened. We are finally bringing the truth the world needs and must know."

My Brother Marvin will make stops in several major cities, including Chicago, Atlanta and New York.

i worked with zee very briefly about 7 or 8 years ago (wow, time flies!)

one day i saw her in the copy room after i had learned that she was marvin's sister. i told her that i couldn't help but grow up to be a fan of the brother's music b/c my mother absolutely loved him, and wore his albums out. she was very gracious.

i once told her that i didn't see her in that collage on the "what's goin' on" album. she told me that marvin's wife at the time, anna gordy(?), didn't like her and didn't want her in it. i just said 'oh', and i never brought marvin up again!

she looks good in that pix.

edit: i really shouldn't say *i* worked with her. more like she worked on the other side of the office in another area and i would bump into her in the copy room, or break room, walking around.

[Edited 2/14/13 15:11pm]

kibbles said:

i worked with zee very briefly about 7 or 8 years ago (wow, time flies!)

one day i saw her in the copy room after i had learned that she was marvin's sister. i told her that i couldn't help but grow up to be a fan of the brother's music b/c my mother absolutely loved him, and wore his albums out. she was very gracious.

i once told her that i didn't see her in that collage on the "what's goin' on" album. she told me that marvin's wife at the time, anna gordy(?), didn't like her and didn't want her in it. i just said 'oh', and i never brought marvin up again!

she looks good in that pix.

edit: i really shouldn't say *i* worked with her. more like she worked on the other side of the office in another area and i would bump into her in the copy room, or break room, walking around.

[Edited 2/14/13 15:11pm]

I checked out this play. It was a bust. Apparently, they had no rights to any of the songs because not a single Marvin Gaye song was sung, not a single Marvin and Tammi Terrell duet was sung. The performer's (actor's) got on the stage and sung songs that I'd never heard of. It was confirmed afterwards by someone working with the production that they couldn't use the music. Talk about disappointment!

Gaye's second wife calls play 'completely and utterly exploitative'

Susan Whitall / Detroit News Music Writer

February 15, 2013

The play "My Brother Marvin," which opened Tuesday at the Fisher Theater and continues through Sunday, has exposed fault lines within the surviving family of the late Motown singer Marvin Gaye.

After a storied career and many hits at Motown -- Gaye recorded the label's most popular single, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" -- the singer was caught in a downward spiral of drug abuse and emotional turmoil in the late 1970s. His career perked up in 1983 with the single "Sexual Healing," but a year later he was shot and killed by his elderly father after a fight over insurance papers.

Gaye remains one of the most popular of the classic Motown artists with younger generations, thanks in part to the timelessness of his poetic, era-defining "What's Going On."

His younger sister, Zeola Gaye, 67, wrote a memoir that forms the basis of "My Brother, Marvin," which was scripted by Angela Barrow-Dunlap. As Zeola told The Detroit News last week, the play is about "Marvin, the man behind the music. You know the Motown star, but you don't know the man."

Gaye's second wife, Janis Hunter Gaye, who goes by Jan, isn't happy about the play. "I saw the TV ad that's airing in Detroit, and the first thing you see is, bang! 'Singer Marvin Gaye Shot Dead!' To me, that's ghoulish," Jan said. "It's morbid, it's a fascination with his murder and completely and utterly exploitative. It pulls in the kind of audience that I don't think deserves that. These are people who loved Marvin, and they're not going to get what they deserve."

She resents the implication that the play is endorsed by Gaye's family.

"(Zeola) puts it out there that the family sanctions this whole thing, and it's not true," said Jan, 57. "Her portion of the family does. But do they reach out to his children? Not at all. To hear Zeola tell it, we hardly exist.

"How about showing what a great brother he was, and hey, you should listen to this fantastic music."

Gaye had an adoptive son, Marvin III, with his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye (sister of Berry Gordy). Marvin III has been vocal about his father's legacy, calling on Lenny Kravitz to drop plans to portray Gaye in a film. Most recently he's been exchanging angry messages with his aunt Zeola via Twitter over the play.

Marvin Gaye and Jan had two children -- singer/actress Nona, 38, and Frankie, 37. Last week, Zeola said this version of her play has new information about long-simmering family issues that led up to the shooting, gleaned from journals she and her sister, Jeanne, recently discovered. She says the journals were written in the 1980s by her parents (both died years ago).

Jan is skeptical. "Marvin has been dead for 30 years. If you had this, why didn't you reveal it before?"

The 40th anniversary of her first meeting with Gaye is within weeks. It was in March 1973, when Gaye was recording "Let's Get It On," that he met Janis Hunter.

The 17-year-old moved in with him almost immediately, and it was a mini-scandal within Motown circles, because Gaye was still married to Anna. As a Gordy brother-in-law, there were certain expectations.

Gaye legally separated

But he was legally separated from Anna at the time he took up with Jan, she takes pains to point out. She had Nona in 1974 and Frankie in 1975, and they married after his complicated divorce became final. They were divorced in 1981.

Jan now lives in Providence, R.I., near daughter Nona, where she acts as "Mama Bear." Gaye has three grandchildren, Marvin IV, Dylan and Nolan.

"It's sad that Marvin's grandkids, who never met their grandfather, that this is all they have to look at as far as people who claim to be their family," Jan said. "That's a pretty sad situation."

Gaye's wife Anna is, Jan reports, in good health.

"Anna is 91 and doing well, looks fantastic. She gets out. The Gordys are long-lived," Jan pointed out. "(Berry's father) Pops Gordy was 101 when he passed on; his wife was not much younger."

There have been many books written about Marvin Gaye since his 1984 death; Jan Gaye dismisses most of them, including Michael Eric Dyson's "Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye" (Basic Civitas, $13.95).

"That's really not a good one, but since he's a professor at Georgetown, people think, 'Oh, it must be true if he wrote it,'" she said. "The only one I have any respect for is 'Divided Soul' (by David Ritz). And he didn't interview me."

Because there are so many rumors she feels she needs to address, Jan is writing her own memoir.

"I'm almost done with it. Believe me, it's not going to be anything like 'My Brother, Marvin.' It's more leading up to the time where I met him, and the 11 years that we spent together, the good, the bad and the indifferent.

"I'm not afraid of the truth; the truth is so interesting I don't have to make up a thing. The life that I lived with him from (age) 17 to 28, those were unbelievable years. Not always positive, but whose marriage is?"

Youth part of her problem

That she grew up during their marriage was part of what caused it to falter, Jan says. "That was part of our issue."

Apart from Gaye's three children, there are other family members who Jan feels have been unjustly forgotten. Many knew his younger brother Frankie, who died in 2001, but there was an older brother as well, Michael, and a younger brother, Antwaun Carey Gay, who was his father's child with another woman.

"Marvin's brother Antwaun lives in Washington, D.C.; he is younger than Zeola," Jan said. "He looks like Marvin, sounds like Marvin. He can sing, too; he says he can't, but he's not bad."

She plans to go buy a ticket and see "Motown: The Musical," Berry Gordy's Broadway narrative about his life and the glory days of Motown, although she wishes that Gaye's children were invited to it and other Motown events.

Actor Bryan Terrell Clark plays Gaye, and in his first scene in the musical, he's playing the piano at a Christmas party, where Berry Gordy first laid eyes on him.

"Yes, that's how they met," Jan said. "Berry Gordy couldn't believe what he heard."

Did Clark look anything like Gaye, she wondered? No, but few men look like that.

She laughed. "Nobody looks as good. Marvin was a classically chiseled -- if there's such a thing as a perfect face on a man, I hate to say it, but he had that."

As for "My Brother Marvin," Jan Gaye wants people to know that they won't hear Gaye's music in the play.

"What they're going to get are sound-alike (songs), where it sounds almost like 'What's Going On,' or almost like 'Let's Get It On,' same chord changes, same beat, but slightly different."

Gaye's publisher, Sony ATV, hasn't allowed use of his music in the play.

"Zeola thinks it's me personally doing it, or Nona, Frankie and Marvin ganging up on her. But Sony is aware of the other play, and said no. They are trying to protect his legacy."

Despite their differences, she craves healing in the Gaye family.

Her message for Zeola: "Open your arms to the children of your dead brother and show them your love. They don't have a lot of people, family-wise, that they're close to. When Nona tried to get close, it didn't go well, and it was all about money. It would be nice if it could be about the Gaye family being family."

swhitall@detroitnews.com

twitter.com/swhitall

kibbles said:

i worked with zee very briefly about 7 or 8 years ago (wow, time flies!)

one day i saw her in the copy room after i had learned that she was marvin's sister. i told her that i couldn't help but grow up to be a fan of the brother's music b/c my mother absolutely loved him, and wore his albums out. she was very gracious.

i once told her that i didn't see her in that collage on the "what's goin' on" album. she told me that marvin's wife at the time, anna gordy(?), didn't like her and didn't want her in it. i just said 'oh', and i never brought marvin up again!

she looks good in that pix.

edit: i really shouldn't say *i* worked with her. more like she worked on the other side of the office in another area and i would bump into her in the copy room, or break room, walking around.

[Edited 2/14/13 15:11pm]

I guess the one woman Zeola thought was Marvin's true love hates her guts too. I wonder why, Zeola!

kellistarr120 said:

kibbles said:

i worked with zee very briefly about 7 or 8 years ago (wow, time flies!)

one day i saw her in the copy room after i had learned that she was marvin's sister. i told her that i couldn't help but grow up to be a fan of the brother's music b/c my mother absolutely loved him, and wore his albums out. she was very gracious.

i once told her that i didn't see her in that collage on the "what's goin' on" album. she told me that marvin's wife at the time, anna gordy(?), didn't like her and didn't want her in it. i just said 'oh', and i never brought marvin up again!

she looks good in that pix.

edit: i really shouldn't say *i* worked with her. more like she worked on the other side of the office in another area and i would bump into her in the copy room, or break room, walking around.

[Edited 2/14/13 15:11pm]

I checked out this play. It was a bust. Apparently, they had no rights to any of the songs because not a single Marvin Gaye song was sung, not a single Marvin and Tammi Terrell duet was sung. The performer's (actor's) got on the stage and sung songs that I'd never heard of. It was confirmed afterwards by someone working with the production that they couldn't use the music. Talk about disappointment!

really? i'm not surprised that they didn't get the rights. i'm sure that universal/motown has those rights "on lock". but i'm curious about what music they would get to replace the motown stuff?

kibbles said:

kellistarr120 said:

I checked out this play. It was a bust. Apparently, they had no rights to any of the songs because not a single Marvin Gaye song was sung, not a single Marvin and Tammi Terrell duet was sung. The performer's (actor's) got on the stage and sung songs that I'd never heard of. It was confirmed afterwards by someone working with the production that they couldn't use the music. Talk about disappointment!

really? i'm not surprised that they didn't get the rights. i'm sure that universal/motown has those rights "on lock". but i'm curious about what music they would get to replace the motown stuff?

Universal Motown probably wouldn't release it if they had viewed a biography or play that wasn't suitable to how Marvin is supposed to be received...

However in the Janis article I posted, it said Marvin's music was in control of Sony ATV. So that could include his Motown stuff too?

Timmy84 said:

kibbles said:

i worked with zee very briefly about 7 or 8 years ago (wow, time flies!)

one day i saw her in the copy room after i had learned that she was marvin's sister. i told her that i couldn't help but grow up to be a fan of the brother's music b/c my mother absolutely loved him, and wore his albums out. she was very gracious.

i once told her that i didn't see her in that collage on the "what's goin' on" album. she told me that marvin's wife at the time, anna gordy(?), didn't like her and didn't want her in it. i just said 'oh', and i never brought marvin up again!

she looks good in that pix.

edit: i really shouldn't say *i* worked with her. more like she worked on the other side of the office in another area and i would bump into her in the copy room, or break room, walking around.

[Edited 2/14/13 15:11pm]

I guess the one woman Zeola thought was Marvin's true love hates her guts too. I wonder why, Zeola!

hmmmmm....maybe i was right not to not pry. sounds like a deep subject!

kibbles said:

Timmy84 said:

I guess the one woman Zeola thought was Marvin's true love hates her guts too. I wonder why, Zeola!

hmmmmm....maybe i was right not to not pry. sounds like a deep subject!

And Janis, Nona, Frank (Marvin's son not brother) and MGIII are NOT happy with Zeola at the present time concerning this...

double post

[Edited 2/18/13 17:16pm]

Timmy84 said:

Gaye's second wife calls play 'completely and utterly exploitative'

Susan Whitall / Detroit News Music Writer

February 15, 2013

The play "My Brother Marvin," which opened Tuesday at the Fisher Theater and continues through Sunday, has exposed fault lines within the surviving family of the late Motown singer Marvin Gaye.

After a storied career and many hits at Motown -- Gaye recorded the label's most popular single, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" -- the singer was caught in a downward spiral of drug abuse and emotional turmoil in the late 1970s. His career perked up in 1983 with the single "Sexual Healing," but a year later he was shot and killed by his elderly father after a fight over insurance papers.

Gaye remains one of the most popular of the classic Motown artists with younger generations, thanks in part to the timelessness of his poetic, era-defining "What's Going On."

His younger sister, Zeola Gaye, 67, wrote a memoir that forms the basis of "My Brother, Marvin," which was scripted by Angela Barrow-Dunlap. As Zeola told The Detroit News last week, the play is about "Marvin, the man behind the music. You know the Motown star, but you don't know the man."

Gaye's second wife, Janis Hunter Gaye, who goes by Jan, isn't happy about the play. "I saw the TV ad that's airing in Detroit, and the first thing you see is, bang! 'Singer Marvin Gaye Shot Dead!' To me, that's ghoulish," Jan said. "It's morbid, it's a fascination with his murder and completely and utterly exploitative. It pulls in the kind of audience that I don't think deserves that. These are people who loved Marvin, and they're not going to get what they deserve."

She resents the implication that the play is endorsed by Gaye's family.

"(Zeola) puts it out there that the family sanctions this whole thing, and it's not true," said Jan, 57. "Her portion of the family does. But do they reach out to his children? Not at all. To hear Zeola tell it, we hardly exist.

"How about showing what a great brother he was, and hey, you should listen to this fantastic music."

Gaye had an adoptive son, Marvin III, with his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye (sister of Berry Gordy). Marvin III has been vocal about his father's legacy, calling on Lenny Kravitz to drop plans to portray Gaye in a film. Most recently he's been exchanging angry messages with his aunt Zeola via Twitter over the play.

Marvin Gaye and Jan had two children -- singer/actress Nona, 38, and Frankie, 37. Last week, Zeola said this version of her play has new information about long-simmering family issues that led up to the shooting, gleaned from journals she and her sister, Jeanne, recently discovered. She says the journals were written in the 1980s by her parents (both died years ago).

Jan is skeptical. "Marvin has been dead for 30 years. If you had this, why didn't you reveal it before?"

The 40th anniversary of her first meeting with Gaye is within weeks. It was in March 1973, when Gaye was recording "Let's Get It On," that he met Janis Hunter.

The 17-year-old moved in with him almost immediately, and it was a mini-scandal within Motown circles, because Gaye was still married to Anna. As a Gordy brother-in-law, there were certain expectations.

Gaye legally separated

But he was legally separated from Anna at the time he took up with Jan, she takes pains to point out. She had Nona in 1974 and Frankie in 1975, and they married after his complicated divorce became final. They were divorced in 1981.

Jan now lives in Providence, R.I., near daughter Nona, where she acts as "Mama Bear." Gaye has three grandchildren, Marvin IV, Dylan and Nolan.

"It's sad that Marvin's grandkids, who never met their grandfather, that this is all they have to look at as far as people who claim to be their family," Jan said. "That's a pretty sad situation."

Gaye's wife Anna is, Jan reports, in good health.

"Anna is 91 and doing well, looks fantastic. She gets out. The Gordys are long-lived," Jan pointed out. "(Berry's father) Pops Gordy was 101 when he passed on; his wife was not much younger."

There have been many books written about Marvin Gaye since his 1984 death; Jan Gaye dismisses most of them, including Michael Eric Dyson's "Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye" (Basic Civitas, $13.95).

"That's really not a good one, but since he's a professor at Georgetown, people think, 'Oh, it must be true if he wrote it,'" she said. "The only one I have any respect for is 'Divided Soul' (by David Ritz). And he didn't interview me."

Because there are so many rumors she feels she needs to address, Jan is writing her own memoir.

"I'm almost done with it. Believe me, it's not going to be anything like 'My Brother, Marvin.' It's more leading up to the time where I met him, and the 11 years that we spent together, the good, the bad and the indifferent.

"I'm not afraid of the truth; the truth is so interesting I don't have to make up a thing. The life that I lived with him from (age) 17 to 28, those were unbelievable years. Not always positive, but whose marriage is?"

Youth part of her problem

That she grew up during their marriage was part of what caused it to falter, Jan says. "That was part of our issue."

Apart from Gaye's three children, there are other family members who Jan feels have been unjustly forgotten. Many knew his younger brother Frankie, who died in 2001, but there was an older brother as well, Michael, and a younger brother, Antwaun Carey Gay, who was his father's child with another woman.

"Marvin's brother Antwaun lives in Washington, D.C.; he is younger than Zeola," Jan said. "He looks like Marvin, sounds like Marvin. He can sing, too; he says he can't, but he's not bad."

She plans to go buy a ticket and see "Motown: The Musical," Berry Gordy's Broadway narrative about his life and the glory days of Motown, although she wishes that Gaye's children were invited to it and other Motown events.

Actor Bryan Terrell Clark plays Gaye, and in his first scene in the musical, he's playing the piano at a Christmas party, where Berry Gordy first laid eyes on him.

"Yes, that's how they met," Jan said. "Berry Gordy couldn't believe what he heard."

Did Clark look anything like Gaye, she wondered? No, but few men look like that.

She laughed. "Nobody looks as good. Marvin was a classically chiseled -- if there's such a thing as a perfect face on a man, I hate to say it, but he had that."

As for "My Brother Marvin," Jan Gaye wants people to know that they won't hear Gaye's music in the play.

"What they're going to get are sound-alike (songs), where it sounds almost like 'What's Going On,' or almost like 'Let's Get It On,' same chord changes, same beat, but slightly different."

Gaye's publisher, Sony ATV, hasn't allowed use of his music in the play.

"Zeola thinks it's me personally doing it, or Nona, Frankie and Marvin ganging up on her. But Sony is aware of the other play, and said no. They are trying to protect his legacy."

Despite their differences, she craves healing in the Gaye family.

Her message for Zeola: "Open your arms to the children of your dead brother and show them your love. They don't have a lot of people, family-wise, that they're close to. When Nona tried to get close, it didn't go well, and it was all about money. It would be nice if it could be about the Gaye family being family."

swhitall@detroitnews.com

twitter.com/swhitall

All of this!

Timmy84 said:

kibbles said:

really? i'm not surprised that they didn't get the rights. i'm sure that universal/motown has those rights "on lock". but i'm curious about what music they would get to replace the motown stuff?

Universal Motown probably wouldn't release it if they had viewed a biography or play that wasn't suitable to how Marvin is supposed to be received...

Exactly. The way that Berry Gordy was portrayed acting (Acting? Well, I'm sort of kidding. I've got nothing but love for Berry, but I know many of the artists did not), like a lunatic! Really? You really expected the music? And Jan Gaye, wasn't featured in a favorable ight, either. After the show, a woman told me that she had seen another Marvin Gaye show that was awesome, complete with the music which led her to this play, hoping she'd view more of the same. Didn't happen.

kellistarr120 said:

Timmy84 said:

Universal Motown probably wouldn't release it if they had viewed a biography or play that wasn't suitable to how Marvin is supposed to be received...

Exactly. The way that Berry Gordy was portrayed acting (Acting? Well, I'm sort of kidding. I've got nothing but love for Berry, but I know many of the artists did not), like a lunatic! Really? You really expected the music? And Jan Gaye, wasn't featured in a favorable ight, either. After the show, a woman told me that she had seen another Marvin Gaye show that was awesome, complete with the music which led her to this play, hoping she'd view more of the same. Didn't happen.

Do you know what the name of that show is?

purplethunder3121 said:

kellistarr120 said:

Exactly. The way that Berry Gordy was portrayed acting (Acting? Well, I'm sort of kidding. I've got nothing but love for Berry, but I know many of the artists did not), like a lunatic! Really? You really expected the music? And Jan Gaye, wasn't featured in a favorable ight, either. After the show, a woman told me that she had seen another Marvin Gaye show that was awesome, complete with the music which led her to this play, hoping she'd view more of the same. Didn't happen.

Do you know what the name of that show is?

No, I didn't get the name of it. She did say that she saw it in 2012. I didn't get to ask too many questions because it was so cold and she scurried away. I hadn't heard of any other Marvin Gaye play, but I'm not all knowing. Supposedly, "My Brother Marvin" was into production 6 years ago, for a short time, but needed more fine tuning, this was told to the audience at the beginning of the play.

kellistarr120 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Do you know what the name of that show is?

No, I didn't get the name of it. She did say that she saw it in 2012. I didn't get to ask too many questions because it was so cold and she scurried away. I hadn't heard of any other Marvin Gaye play, but I'm not all knowing. Supposedly, "My Brother Marvin" was into production 6 years ago, for a short time, but needed more fine tuning, this was told to the audience at the beginning of the play.

It could possibly be this play, which includes Marvin songs, and was approved by Jan Gaye. I highlighted the relevant part of the article.

Rashawn Thompson stars as the title character in "The Marvin Gaye Story" at Black Ensemble Theater.

Updated: May 29, 2012 4:27PM

What is more enduring about the way Marvin Gaye died is the way he lived.

Gaye was the most socially conscious songwriter and peformer out of the Motown stable. His songs, such as “What’s Going On” and “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” may be more powerful today than when Gaye recorded them in 1970.

Gaye’s father Marvin Gaye Sr. fatally shot the soul singer in April, 1984 after an argument. Gaye was 44-years-old.

The soulful singer is the subject of the Black Ensemble Theater’s newest musical production, “The Marvin Gaye Story (Don’t Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend),” which makes its world premiere May 20 at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4550 N. Clark. The show was written, produced and directed by theater founder, Jackie Taylor.

The production has the blessing of Jan Gaye, who was married to Marvin from 1977 through 1981.

“There was another (Black Ensemble) play that was supposed to take place that was a little less complementary to Marvin and his memory,” Gaye said in a candid interview from her Rhode Island home. “Jackie [Taylor] changed the perception of the story. It could have been a musical revue, it could have been a love story. Jackie has a great spirit. What drove her was to tell a story that’s not sensationalizing his murder, which is what so many want to do. People immediately want to go into the death. Of course it has to be addressed because it is a historical fact, but the way Jackie handled it by putting it at the beginning to get it out of the way is incredible.”

Gaye is no stranger to the work of the Black Ensemble Theater. She was even factored into “I Am Who I Am (The Story of Teddy Pendergrass),” which premiered at the Black Ensemble in March, 2008. Marvin Gaye considered Pendergrass a rival, right down to the way Pendergrass grew a similar beard. Jan Gaye even dated Pendergrass for a brief period.

“Teddy invited me to see his play open,” Gaye said. “He and I got into a bit of a tiff because he used my name and Marvin’s name in the play. He didn’t let me know bbeforehand. So I was ticked and ended up not going. But Jackie and I talked about ‘The Jackie Wilson Story,’ and I heard nothing but great reviews from friends in Chicago.”

Taylor said, “The time is always right for Marvin Gaye. His music wasn’t about a time period. It was about the same issues we are facing today.”

Jan Gaye met Marvin through an ex-boyfriend of her mother’s at Mowest (Motown West) Studios in Los Angeles. Gaye is also the daughter of the late hipster jazz cat and guitarist Slim Gaillard, who combined a keen ear with goofy jive language like “vout” and “oreennee.”

“My Dad worked security for Marvin at the studio,” she said. “He would travel on the road with us. Slim used to try to get him to do some of his music and Marvin would placate him. They might record something and it would magically dissapear. [But] They got along well. There’s a book being written about Slim. The Jack Kerouac film ‘On the Road’ that is coming out in August is using two of Slim’s songs [and] Coati Mundi is playing Slim in the movie. The sad thing is that Slim came into my life after I met Marvin. But he was very proud to say Marvin Gaye was his son-in-law.” (Marvin Gaye’s first wife was Berry Gordy’s sister, Anna, whom he married in 1964 when he was 24 and she was 42. She filed for divorce in 1975.)

“The Marvin Gaye Story” features 15 songs (Taylor said she worked with Jan Gaye and others to obtain the rights.), including two originals penned by Taylor. It has been reported Jan Gaye was the inspiration for the timelessly sultry “Let’s Get It On” which is included in the play. The song was written by Gaye and Ed Townsend.

“I don’t know if I was the inspiration,” she said. “The lyrical content and production had nothing to do with me. I met Marvin while he was making the album (in 1973). When they started on the record they weren’t getting anything out of Marvin. Once he and I met he had this renewed sense of creativity and the sexuality came out like a roaring river.”

Gaye said she will be in attendance on the play’s opening night.

“Marvin mentions Chicago in a number of songs he sang, and I love Chicago,” Gaye said. “From what I’ve heard the play is very good. There was a play that went all over Europe and I knew nothing about it until it was done. A lot of times people won’t license Marvin’s music through the proper channels. There is no [Marvin Gaye] estate. Marvin’s three children and three grandsons are the heirs. That’s his family. Not the brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles. The estate was dissolved years ago.”

purplethunder3121 said:

kellistarr120 said:

No, I didn't get the name of it. She did say that she saw it in 2012. I didn't get to ask too many questions because it was so cold and she scurried away. I hadn't heard of any other Marvin Gaye play, but I'm not all knowing. Supposedly, "My Brother Marvin" was into production 6 years ago, for a short time, but needed more fine tuning, this was told to the audience at the beginning of the play.

It could possibly be this play, which includes Marvin songs, and was approved by Jan Gaye. I highlighted the relevant part of the article.

Black Ensemble Theater spotlights Marvin Gaye’s music, complex life

BY DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter/dhoekstra@suntimes.com May 17, 2012 7:41PM

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Rashawn Thompson stars as the title character in "The Marvin Gaye Story" at Black Ensemble Theater.

‘THE MARVIN
GAYE STORY’

‘Don’t Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend’

◆ May 20-July 29

◆ Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark

◆ Tickets, $55-$65

◆ (773) 769-4451;
ticketmaster.com

Updated: May 29, 2012 4:27PM

What is more enduring about the way Marvin Gaye died is the way he lived.

Gaye was the most socially conscious songwriter and peformer out of the Motown stable. His songs, such as “What’s Going On” and “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” may be more powerful today than when Gaye recorded them in 1970.

Gaye’s father Marvin Gaye Sr. fatally shot the soul singer in April, 1984 after an argument. Gaye was 44-years-old.

The soulful singer is the subject of the Black Ensemble Theater’s newest musical production, “The Marvin Gaye Story (Don’t Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend),” which makes its world premiere May 20 at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4550 N. Clark. The show was written, produced and directed by theater founder, Jackie Taylor.

The production has the blessing of Jan Gaye, who was married to Marvin from 1977 through 1981.

“There was another (Black Ensemble) play that was supposed to take place that was a little less complementary to Marvin and his memory,” Gaye said in a candid interview from her Rhode Island home. “Jackie [Taylor] changed the perception of the story. It could have been a musical revue, it could have been a love story. Jackie has a great spirit. What drove her was to tell a story that’s not sensationalizing his murder, which is what so many want to do. People immediately want to go into the death. Of course it has to be addressed because it is a historical fact, but the way Jackie handled it by putting it at the beginning to get it out of the way is incredible.”

Gaye is no stranger to the work of the Black Ensemble Theater. She was even factored into “I Am Who I Am (The Story of Teddy Pendergrass),” which premiered at the Black Ensemble in March, 2008. Marvin Gaye considered Pendergrass a rival, right down to the way Pendergrass grew a similar beard. Jan Gaye even dated Pendergrass for a brief period.

“Teddy invited me to see his play open,” Gaye said. “He and I got into a bit of a tiff because he used my name and Marvin’s name in the play. He didn’t let me know bbeforehand. So I was ticked and ended up not going. But Jackie and I talked about ‘The Jackie Wilson Story,’ and I heard nothing but great reviews from friends in Chicago.”

Taylor said, “The time is always right for Marvin Gaye. His music wasn’t about a time period. It was about the same issues we are facing today.”

Jan Gaye met Marvin through an ex-boyfriend of her mother’s at Mowest (Motown West) Studios in Los Angeles. Gaye is also the daughter of the late hipster jazz cat and guitarist Slim Gaillard, who combined a keen ear with goofy jive language like “vout” and “oreennee.”

“My Dad worked security for Marvin at the studio,” she said. “He would travel on the road with us. Slim used to try to get him to do some of his music and Marvin would placate him. They might record something and it would magically dissapear. [But] They got along well. There’s a book being written about Slim. The Jack Kerouac film ‘On the Road’ that is coming out in August is using two of Slim’s songs [and] Coati Mundi is playing Slim in the movie. The sad thing is that Slim came into my life after I met Marvin. But he was very proud to say Marvin Gaye was his son-in-law.” (Marvin Gaye’s first wife was Berry Gordy’s sister, Anna, whom he married in 1964 when he was 24 and she was 42. She filed for divorce in 1975.)

“The Marvin Gaye Story” features 15 songs (Taylor said she worked with Jan Gaye and others to obtain the rights.), including two originals penned by Taylor. It has been reported Jan Gaye was the inspiration for the timelessly sultry “Let’s Get It On” which is included in the play. The song was written by Gaye and Ed Townsend.

“I don’t know if I was the inspiration,” she said. “The lyrical content and production had nothing to do with me. I met Marvin while he was making the album (in 1973). When they started on the record they weren’t getting anything out of Marvin. Once he and I met he had this renewed sense of creativity and the sexuality came out like a roaring river.”

Gaye said she will be in attendance on the play’s opening night.

“Marvin mentions Chicago in a number of songs he sang, and I love Chicago,” Gaye said. “From what I’ve heard the play is very good. There was a play that went all over Europe and I knew nothing about it until it was done. A lot of times people won’t license Marvin’s music through the proper channels. There is no [Marvin Gaye] estate. Marvin’s three children and three grandsons are the heirs. That’s his family. Not the brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles. The estate was dissolved years ago.”

Janis' play was able to get Marvin's music. Zeola's wasn't able to get it. That sure is telling...

Here is a clip from the play mentioned in the article ^^^ I posted, featuring "Ain't No Mountain High Enough. " I think I'd like to see this one...

--www.blackensembletheater.org

"From "The Marvin Gaye Story - Don't Talk About My Father, Because God is My Friend."

Written and directed by Jackie Taylor, the limited engagement will continue through August 19th. The production revisits Marvin Gaye's life and career, which spans three decades. The late Marvin Gaye won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance in 1983 for "Sexual Healing." His other hit songs included "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "What's Going On" and "Inner City Blues" as well as "All I Need To Get By," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If This World Were Mine," which featured Tammi Terrel."

purplethunder3121 said:

Here is a clip from the play mentioned in the article ^^^ I posted, featuring "Ain't No Mountain High Enough. " I think I'd like to see this one...

--www.blackensembletheater.org

"From "The Marvin Gaye Story - Don't Talk About My Father, Because God is My Friend."

Written and directed by Jackie Taylor, the limited engagement will continue through August 19th. The production revisits Marvin Gaye's life and career, which spans three decades. The late Marvin Gaye won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance in 1983 for "Sexual Healing." His other hit songs included "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "What's Going On" and "Inner City Blues" as well as "All I Need To Get By," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If This World Were Mine," which featured Tammi Terrel."

Yeah I saw that clip. I thought the actors did a great job as MG and TT here.

[Edited 2/18/13 18:44pm]

Timmy84 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Here is a clip from the play mentioned in the article ^^^ I posted, featuring "Ain't No Mountain High Enough. " I think I'd like to see this one...

--www.blackensembletheater.org

"From "The Marvin Gaye Story - Don't Talk About My Father, Because God is My Friend."

Written and directed by Jackie Taylor, the limited engagement will continue through August 19th. The production revisits Marvin Gaye's life and career, which spans three decades. The late Marvin Gaye won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance in 1983 for "Sexual Healing." His other hit songs included "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "What's Going On" and "Inner City Blues" as well as "All I Need To Get By," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If This World Were Mine," which featured Tammi Terrel."

Yeah I saw that clip. I thought the actors did a great job as MG and TT here.

[Edited 2/18/13 18:44pm]

Too bad the clip says it was a limited run. Too bad--I'd like to see these singers perform Marvin's songs. I wonder why it was a limited run...

purplethunder3121 said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah I saw that clip. I thought the actors did a great job as MG and TT here.

[Edited 2/18/13 18:44pm]

Too bad the clip says it was a limited run. Too bad--I'd like to see these singers perform Marvin's songs. I wonder why it was a limited run...

I don't know. Maybe financial reasons...

Timmy84 said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Too bad the clip says it was a limited run. Too bad--I'd like to see these singers perform Marvin's songs. I wonder why it was a limited run...

I don't know. Maybe financial reasons...

Probably. I'd much rather see a live show like this featuring the music of Marvin than some lame biopic...