Divided soul marvin gaye

The first, to Anna Gordy, sister of Berry Gordy, founder of the Motown musical empire, ended in a spectacular, much publicized divorce. An effeminate man, he liked to dress up in women's clothes. What emerges is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul. Ritz had been collaborating with Gaye on his story for several years before the singer's tragic death, and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets.

Although he cultivated his image as a lover, he often resented, even hated women, whether they were his wives and numerous lovers or the fans who clamored for the sweat-soaked handkerchiefs he flung from concert stages. . I give Ritz a lot of credit for this work. Gaye made his first recordings in the late 1950s for Chess and Okeh, rhythm and blues labels owned by whites.

Racism, the exploitation of black artists (white domination of show business comes under Ritz's fire, but he doesn't let Motown off the hook), the central role of the church in black culture, the politics of sex--all are deftly woven into the soulful threnody of Marvin Gaye's life. A minor dispute between Marvin Sr. and Alberta erupted into the fatal confrontation between father and son.

Gaye stamped his intense personality on the material written for him by the house songwriters at Motown. (Gaye chronicled the tempestuous relationship on his 1978 album, Here, My Dear.) He married Janis Hunter because she seemed to embody his fantasy image of woman as irresistible temptress and implacable foe. He sought in his life, and tried to express in music, an eroticism so enrapturing that it transcended lust and approached godliness.

. Its dogma was strict and demanding, heavy on self-sacrifice and sexual repression.

By David Ritz. With very rare exception, the quotes work and fit seamlessly into the story.

And that story was fantastic. $16.95.