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By: Jacky Jasper of HollywoodStreetKing.com Edited By: Michele Fralick

It wasn’t until his early teens when Marvin Gaye III realized his father was a superstar. “Girls were easy to get,” jokes the eldest son of the R&B legend he was named after. But, what else would one expect for the son of the ‘Sexual Healing’ one?

His music ruled the airwaves in the 60’s, with hits “How Sweet It Is” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine;” led the charts in the 70’s, with “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On;” and paved the way for Gaye to grab a Grammy in the 80’s, with “Sexual Healing.” Now, decades after his death, not only do predecessors – like Sheila E – owe their discovery to him, top artists remain paying homage to Motown’s leading ‘love man.’

 

“I’m on some Marvin Gaye shit.” ~Drake, “Paris Morton Music”

 

“Music will be right there…Is that true Marvin?”

 ~Erick Sermon, “Just Like Music”

 

The sensuality of his music cannot be denied. But, the son of Marvin and Anna Gordy Gaye remembers his melody-making father quite differently than his fans do. To Marvin III, the legendary singer was, simply put, “a great dad.”

Marvin III insists his childhood chapter was “pretty normal.” That could be, if you consider – a child growing up under the watchful eyes of Motown hit-makers; a Beverly Hills High pupil enduring puberty amongst some of today’s now-stars themselves, like Slash and Lenny Kravitz; or a pre-teen calling Diana Ross ‘aunty’ and Berry Gordy ‘uncle’ – as being “normal.” “Motown was always around,” remembers Marvin III. “Everybody lived within two blocks of each other, when we lived in Detroit. They’d all get together and write songs.”

Music was what set his motorcycle-loving dad in a different light than the rest, and Marvin III witnessed the magic being made – before we heard it. To be sure, we’re talking about a time long before Pro Tools came about. It was the 48-tracks to slide era. “He used six different microphones at different recording levels to pick up different ranges,” remembers Marvin III. “When my dad would bend down hitting a note, there was a microphone there to pick up the characteristics of the note.”

Marvin Gaye once said, “I wouldn’t ask any other person to adapt to my lifestyle.” Marvin III admits fortune and fame can sometimes come at a cost, having been forced to separate from his dad when the singer fled to Europe over tax problems. That wasn’t long before a 17-year-old Marvin III bid his final farewell to his father in 1984. The tragedy is an incident Marvin III still doesn’t care to speak about. Perhaps that’s why he’s taken to the recording studio, seeming to channel his late father with his 2013 single “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. Now, as a father himself, despite his days on dialysis while waiting for a matching kidney donor, Marvin III is demonstrating the Gaye-gift of both music and balancing that music with his realities, humbling saying “I work around it.”