What legendary singer, dubbed the Prince of Motown, had his life cut a little short when he was gunned down by his father in 1984 following an argument?
"Death of Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye was an American musician who gained worldwide fame for his work with Motown Records. He was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., on April 1, 1984, at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, California. Gaye was shot twice following an altercation with his father after he intervened in an argument between his parents. The wounds were fatal and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center. Gaye's death inspired several musical tributes over the years including recollections of the incidents leading to his death."
"Rockwell (musician) Kennedy William Gordy (born March 15, 1964), better known by his stage name Rockwell, is an American former musician and singer-songwriter who was signed to the Motown label. Kennedy William Gordy aka Rockwell is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy and Margaret Norton. His father named him Kennedy William after John F. Kennedy and William ""Smokey"" Robinson. To avoid the appearance of nepotism, he secured his record deal without his father's knowledge. Motown actually came up with the name Rockwell and the young Gordy agreed to the change because he believed he ""rocked well."" In"
"different act. Edwin Starr, who had become a Motown artist in 1968 after his former label, Ric-Tic, was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr., became ""War's"" new vocalist. Considered among Motown's ""second-string"" acts, Starr had only one major hit, 1968's number-six hit ""Twenty-Five Miles"", to his name by this time. He heard about the conflict surrounding the debate of whether or not to release ""War"", and volunteered to re-record it. Whitfield re-created the song to match Starr's James Brown-influenced soul shout: the single version of ""War"" was dramatic and intense, depicting the general anger and distaste the anti-war movement"
"Foote Street NE in Deanwood, Washington, D.C., was renamed Marvin Gaye Way. Since Gaye's death, fans of the singer have stood around Gaye's Walk of Fame star to pay tribute and sing songs of Gaye's in his honor during the week of April 1 through April 5 of each year. Several other fans have gathered around Gaye's final house in vigils. Death of Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye was an American musician who gained worldwide fame for his work with Motown Records. He was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., on April 1, 1984, at their house in the"
"the albums ""What's Going On"" and ""Let's Get It On"" and became one of the first artists in Motown (joint with Stevie Wonder) to break away from the reins of a production company. His later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, he released the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit ""Sexual Healing"" and its parent album ""Midnight Love"". On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father, Marvin Gay Sr., fatally shot him at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since"
"""Mahogany"" (1975). Other Motown films would include ""Scott Joplin"" (1977), ""Thank God It's Friday"" (1978), ""The Wiz"" (1978) and ""The Last Dragon"" (1985). Ewart Abner, who had been associated with Motown since the 1960s, became its president in 1973. By the 1970s, the Motown ""hit factory"" had become a target of a backlash from some fans of rock music. Record producer Pete Waterman recalls of this period: ""I was a DJ for years and I worked for Motown – the press at the time, papers like NME, used to call it Toytown. When I DJ'd on the Poly circuit, the"
"his U.S. tour promoting his ""Midnight Love"" album. Their interviews ended abruptly after Gaye was shot and killed by his father on April 1, 1984. Devastated over Marvin's death, Ritz began writing the book and took quotes that Marvin had recited to him over his life from his troubled childhood being brought up in the Pentecostal faith by his father and suffering physical abuse from the same man, to his breakthrough years with Motown and his depression over the death of Tammi Terrell and his tumultuous relationships with Berry Gordy and his two wives Anna Gordy and Janis Hunter. The"
"or were allowed to attend the same show as long as each race stayed on either side of a police-guarded rope that divided the performance hall. Motown artists are credited with being among those who broke down these barriers so later audiences would no longer be separated by color. It was from a live Motortown Revue performance that Little Stevie Wonder got his first big hit, the 1963 #1 hit ""Fingertips (Pt. 2)"". Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr. noted in his biography, ""To Be Loved"", that the Revue was used to showcase Stevie Wonder in the days before he had"
"American singer Stevie Wonder for the song ""He Is A Cobra"", but it was a big ""disappointment"" for Cordy. ""Peeping Tom"" Rockwell appeared on ""Soul Train"" on February 2, 1985 (Season 14, Episode 17). Rockwell (musician) Kennedy William Gordy (born March 15, 1964), better known by his stage name Rockwell, is an American former musician and singer-songwriter who was signed to the Motown label. Kennedy William Gordy aka Rockwell is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy and Margaret Norton. His father named him Kennedy William after John F. Kennedy and William ""Smokey"" Robinson. To avoid the appearance"
"it. He lived it."" Born as Robert Norman Gould in Chicago, Ron Miller was the only son of Sue and Harry Gould; Harry died when Miller and his sisters were still very young, and, after his mother remarried Joe Miller, Ron Miller adopted his stepfather's surname . Ron Miller served in the U.S. Marines and then sold washing machines before he was discovered by Motown founder Berry Gordy while playing in a bar. After his discovery by Gordy and Motown executive Mickey Stevenson in Chicago in the early 1960's, Miller was invited to write songs for Gordy's new company, Motown."
"in Los Angeles used ""Pops, We Love You"" as the theme song of their promotional campaign for Father's Day. Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father) ""Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father)"" is a 1978 single recorded and released by Motown stars Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder, as a tribute to the late Berry ""Pops"" Gordy, Sr., father of Motown founder Berry Gordy, who had died that year after a long battle with cancer. For the duration of Motown Records' tenure in its native Detroit, Berry Gordy's father, Berry Gordy, Sr., otherwise known"
"Richard Street Richard Allen Street (October 5, 1942 – February 27, 2013) was an American soul and R&B singer, most notable as a member of Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1971 to 1993. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Street was the first member of the Temptations to actually be a native of the city which served as Motown's namesake and hometown; all of the previous members were born and at least partially raised in the southern United States. Street was the lead singer of an early Temptations predecessor, ""Otis Williams & the Distants"", and takes the spotlight on"
"Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye (born Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including ""Ain't That Peculiar"", ""How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)"" and ""I Heard It Through the Grapevine"", and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles ""Prince of Motown"" and ""Prince of Soul"". During the 1970s, he recorded"
"in 1980 to (so far) 2006. He is credited for vocals on the sleeve of each of the releases in question. Later that year he recorded the album ""Umkhonto We Sizwe"" with producer Roy Cousins in Kingston. Before the album was finished he was shot at his home in Kingston, Jamaica, during a robbery, allegedly relating to a dispute over money, and died later in hospital. He is referred to by The Clash in their single ""Clash City Rockers"" and also by The Mountain Goats in the song ""Sept. 15th 1983"", a reference to the date of his death. Prince"
"Prodigy (rapper) Albert Johnson (November 2, 1974 – June 20, 2017), better known by his stage name Prodigy, was an American rapper and entrepreneur who, with Havoc, was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep. Prodigy was born on November 2, 1974, in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. He had one elder brother, Greg Johnson. He came from a musical family. His grandfather Budd Johnson was a saxophonist, and his grand-uncle, Keg Johnson, was a trombonist. Both of them are remembered for their contributions to the bebop era of jazz. His mother, Fatima Frances (Collins) Johnson,"
"and Ballard adding their vocals the following day on June 13. It would be Ballard's final session as a Supreme. By mid-1967, H–D–H, like Ballard, grew increasingly frustrated with their position at Motown. Lyricist Eddie Holland convinced his brother Brian Holland and their partner Lamont Dozier to stage a work slowdown, and for much of 1967 the trio turned out virtually no product. After one last Supremes single, ""Forever Came Today,"" in early 1968, H–D–H left Motown, prompting a series of lawsuits between the label and the songwriters that lasted over a decade. By July 1967, Motown CEO Berry Gordy"
"most notably during the Supremes ""Stop! In the Name of Love"" montage where several different clips of the Supremes singing the word ""Stop!"" were edited together. The majority of the clips replaced appear to be from a taping of the British show ""Ready, Steady, Go!: The Sounds of Motown"", that featured, along with the Supremes, The Temptations, The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, and Stevie Wonder. Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is an award-winning 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, to commemorate Motown's 25th year (Motown was founded in January"
"Show Theme ""Real Stories of the Highway Patrol"" Kerry Gordy, Leader and Founder of Teen Idol Group ""Apollo"" Kerry Gordy and Benny Medina, Teen Idol Group ""Apollo"", National Television Debut on the Dinah Shore Show in 1978 (Video) Kerry Ashby on NBC's Diff'rent Strokes Kerry Gordy Kerry Ashby Gordy (born June 25, 1959) is a music industry executive and a member of the Gordy family of Motown fame. He is the son of Motown records founder Berry Gordy, the half-brother of singer and rapper Redfoo and Rhonda Ross, daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross. Gordy was born in Detroit, Michigan"
"Otis Williams Otis Williams (born Otis Miles Jr.; October 30, 1941) is an American baritone singer. Nicknamed ""Big Daddy"", he is occasionally also a songwriter and a record producer. Williams is best known as the founder and last surviving original member of the Motown vocal group The Temptations, a group in which he continues to perform; he also owns the rights to the Temptations name. Williams was born Otis Miles, Jr. in Texarkana, Texas to Otis Miles and Hazel Louise Williams, an unmarried couple who separated shortly after their son's birth. While he was still a toddler, his mother married"
"Kerry Gordy Kerry Ashby Gordy (born June 25, 1959) is a music industry executive and a member of the Gordy family of Motown fame. He is the son of Motown records founder Berry Gordy, the half-brother of singer and rapper Redfoo and Rhonda Ross, daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross. Gordy was born in Detroit, Michigan the same year that his father, Berry Gordy, Jr., founded Motown Records. Gordy was brought home from the hospital to live in the historic home that housed the Hitsville Motown Recording Studios on West Grand Blvd. which was renamed Berry Gordy Jr. Blvd. Gordy’s"
"felt the move to do a duet album with Ross would increase his popularity and confirmed that he was indeed what the media had labeled him around this time: ""the prince of Motown"". Gaye then agreed, with Ross joining him in sessions. Engineer Russ Terrana will later recall that the start of sessions met difficulty as Gaye, who had the habit of coming to recording studios late, came unusually early but was inside the studio smoking reefer. Terrana said when Ross, still pregnant with her first child, daughter Rhonda, walked in, she immediately walked out, upset that Gaye was smoking"
"song. Nitty Gritty was the first to record the song and was an instant success. He enjoyed further successful singles produced by Jammy, and his debut album, ""Turbo Charged"" was released in 1986, as was the split album with King Kong, ""Musical Confrontation"". He moved to live in London before relocating to New York City, where he continued to record but less frequently. Further albums followed with ""General Penitentiary"" (1987), ""Nitty Gritty"" (1988), and ""Jah in the Family"" (1989). On 24 June 1991, he was shot dead in front of Super Power Record Shop in Brooklyn, New York at the"
"motion pictures. The group as a whole performed a song for the 1982 film ""Grease 2"", and Levi Stubbs provided the vocals for the man-eating plant Audrey II in the 1986 musical film, ""Little Shop of Horrors""; and the voice of the evil Mother Brain on the Nintendo-based NBC Saturday morning cartoon """" from 1989 to 1991. From the late 1980s, the Four Tops focused on touring and live performances. They recorded only one album, returning again to Motown for 1995's ""Christmas Here with You"". On June 20, 1997, 59-year-old Lawrence Payton died as a result of liver cancer, after"
"for the first time. Daughter Rhonda Ross-Kendrick performed as her mother's opening act. On November 19, 2017, Ross received the American Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross performed several of her hits, ending with ""Ain't No Mountain High Enough"", during which she brought all of her grandchildren onstage. Her eldest grandson, eight-year-old Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick, son of Rhonda Ross-Kendrick and husband, Rodney, performed an impromptu dance behind Ross, which gained attention. Ross was then joined onstage by all of her children, their spouses, first ex-husband Robert Ellis, Smokey Robinson (who brought Ross to Motown) and Motown founder, Berry Gordy. In"
"of his appeal, it was not released until 2008 (as ""Nineteen Sixty Six""). John died in 1968 at Washington State Penitentiary. Despite counterclaims (""Rolling Stone"" reported that the death occurred after John had checked into the prison hospital with pneumonia), the cause of death stated on his death certificate was a heart attack. His interment was in Detroit Memorial Park East, in Warren, Michigan. John was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He was the brother of the singer Mable John, who recorded for Motown and Stax and was member of The Raelettes, the"
"in Las Vegas and spreading throughout the states. By 1975, most of the Jacksons opted out of recording any more music for Motown, desiring creative control and royalties after learning that they were earning only 2.8% of royalties from Motown. Joe Jackson began negotiating to have his boys sign a lucrative contract with another company, settling for Epic Records which had offered a royalty rate of 20% per record; he signed with the company in June 1975. Absent from the deal was Jermaine Jackson who decided to stay in Motown, followed by his marriage to Hazel Berry, and Randy Jackson"
"around the world. The circumstances and timing of his death were compared to those of Elvis Presley and John Lennon. Fans gathered outside the UCLA Medical Center, Neverland Ranch, his Holmby Hills home, the Hayvenhurst Jackson family home in Encino, the Apollo Theater in New York, and at Hitsville U.S.A., the old Motown headquarters in Detroit where Jackson's career began, now the Motown Museum. Streets around the hospital were blocked off, and across America people left offices and factories to watch the breaking news on television. A small crowd, including the city's mayor, gathered outside his childhood home in Gary,"
"his brothers and sister, Bobby DeBarge struggled with personal problems that ended his career. In 1988, he and Chico were convicted of drug trafficking charges in Michigan. After serving six years, DeBarge discovered he had AIDS and tried recording an album - ""It's Not Over"", his only solo project, was released in 1996 following DeBarge's death from AIDS in 1995 at the age of 39. In 1986, Motown released Bunny's only solo project, ""In Love"", which flopped due to Motown's failure to promote despite the best efforts of her first and only single, ""Save The Best For Me"". Most known"
"started several short businesses before joining his brother's Motown label in 1960, where he was a co-writer of several songs released by Motown artists. By his wife Rosemary (who died in 1980), he had six sons and two daughters. He died in his sleep at the age of 85. Another important member of Motown's growing success was Gwendolyn Gordy (November 26, 1927 – November 8, 1999). Gwen partnered with her brother Berry and then-boyfriend Billy Davis to co-pen several hits for Jackie Wilson in the mid-1950s. In 1959, Gwen, Billy and sister Anna formed Anna Records in Detroit. Anna would"
"following the credits. Lawrence Payton's son Roquel (real name Lawrence Payton, Jr.) replaced Benson as the new bass (Roquel could be seen in the pledge break interviews of ""Motown: The Early Years""). Theo Peoples also left the Tops to form his own group and was replaced by Harold 'Spike' Bonhart as lead singer. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2004, ""Rolling Stone"" ranked them #79 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Four Tops were inducted"
"Patrice Holloway Patrice Yvonne Holloway (March 23, 1951 – October 3, 2006) was an African-American soul and pop singer. Patrice Yvonne Holloway was born on March 23, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of three children born to Wade Holloway, Sr. (August 13, 1920–June 24, 2001) and his wife, the former Johnnie Mae Fossett. Patrice is the younger sister of Motown artist Brenda Holloway. Holloway also had a contract with Motown, recording songs such as ""The Touch of Venus"" and ""For the Love of Mike"", none of which were released. She recorded a few minor singles for the Capitol"
"the Motown contract by management, while Murphy was retained for a short period, and left on her own to pursue other offers. Meat Loaf went on to a successful solo career. He sang ""What You See Is What You Get"" live on his ""Live Around the World"" album in 1996. Murphy, known for her longtime association with Bob Seger, joined Eric Clapton's band, for Clapton's ""Behind the Sun Tour"" in 1985, prior to joining the L.A. based band, Little Feat, as a lead singer in 1993. The album has never been released on CD. ""(I'd Love to Be) As Heavy"
"Horne when he suffered a heart attack and died on April 13, 2000. The group's original lead singer, ""Sweet James"" Epps (b. March 30, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) also died of a heart attack on September 11, 2000. His death effectively spelled the end of The Fantastic Four. The group's only Motown album, ""Best of The Fantastic Four"", was released on CD by Motown in the early 1990s. It was a compilation of the group's Ric-Tic hit singles, prior to Motown's takeover of that label, and now is a highly sought-after collectors' item. In November 2013, Motown Records and Universal"