Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gaye transformed popular music with a single album. When Motown released What's Going On in 1971 — over Berry Gordy's objections — it shattered the boundary between pop and protest, proving that commercially successful music could also be spiritually deep, politically engaged, and artistically uncompromising. The album addressed war, poverty, ecology, and systemic injustice with a sound so lush and beautiful that it made consciousness feel like a gift rather than a burden.

Born in Washington, D.C., in 1939, Gaye grew up singing in his father's church and endured severe physical abuse that haunted him throughout his life. He joined Motown in 1961 and spent a decade crafting hits — "How Sweet It Is," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with Tammi Terrell — that defined the label's sound. But What's Going On revealed a deeper artist beneath the hitmaker.

Gaye continued to push boundaries with Let's Get It On and I Want You, exploring Black sexuality with unprecedented tenderness, and the raw, confessional Here, My Dear. His 1982 comeback "Sexual Healing" proved his genius was undimmed. He was killed by his father on April 1, 1984 — one day before his 45th birthday — a tragedy that echoed the pain that had always lived beneath the beauty of his voice.