Could Marvin have been saved?

Marvin Gaye was a massively complicated man who seemed to have a special talent for complicating his life in many ways

Suppose the angels had intervened and he wasn’t killed on April 1st 1984

Would it [[or something) have happened a week later?

A month?

A year?

Was Marvin’s tragic demise inevitable?

In Divided Soul he was supposed to go on a retreat with Dick Gregory [[don’t remember the year) to clean up and get things together and he bailed literally last second

What if he had gone?

What if he had stayed in Europe?

Everything I’ve read said that Marvin only came back because of his mother’s illness but I think he would’ve been drawn back to America sooner or later and probably sooner

Ritz wrote that Divided Soul was the perfect description of Marvin Gaye

And he was most definitely a divided soul, but was he also a doomed one?

I always felt had he stayed in Belgium, especially Ostend [[because Brussels can be as bad as London), he would still be alive. Marvin's stubbornness kept him from going to DG's house.

One fantasy I had was a timeline where if Tammi Terrell had lived, she and Marvin would have fallen out in the early 70s. As Marvin wanted to pursue more socially conscious material. The two of them are estranged for 13 years. However, the producers of Motown 25 convince them to reunite. After his performance of “What’s Going On”, Marvin is joined by Tammi for a performance of “You’re All I Need To Get By”. The two receive a thunderous applause from the audience.

Seeing the joy they brought to millions of viewers, they finally make up. Eventually they reunite with Ashford & Simpson, who agree to write and produce their long awaited fourth album of duets. Sessions for which would have begun in New York City on April 1st, 1984.

It’s fun to dream!

No one knows the answer to this....he was just one of the many young, gifted, talented struck by lightning luck/able to achieve massive success and be loved by the public figures that walked thru Berry's door in their own God given, golden, cosmic chosen moment. Not many who enter it make it in the music business on the scale many of our Motown legends did....Seems too many did not handle that fortunate occurrence well

We will never know for sure the answers to these questions about Marvin. I feel that he suffered from both drug addiction & depression. A tragic end was inevitable since he would not seek help for either of these problems. Rest In Power Marvin Gaye.

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Originally Posted by Optimal Saint

Marvin Gaye was a massively complicated man who seemed to have a special talent for complicating his life in many ways

Suppose the angels had intervened and he wasn’t killed on April 1st 1984

Would it [[or something) have happened a week later?

A month?

A year?

Was Marvin’s tragic demise inevitable?

In Divided Soul he was supposed to go on a retreat with Dick Gregory [[don’t remember the year) to clean up and get things together and he bailed literally last second

What if he had gone?

What if he had stayed in Europe?

Everything I’ve read said that Marvin only came back because of his mother’s illness but I think he would’ve been drawn back to America sooner or later and probably sooner

Ritz wrote that Divided Soul was the perfect description of Marvin Gaye

And he was most definitely a divided soul, but was he also a doomed one?

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I doubt it. He was in a dark place with drugs and depression. And back in those days fathers did not play around. You put your hands on your father you should expect to get blown away;unfortunately. My grandfather was very soft spoken and kind but my father talked about how he pulled the pistol out on my uncle. No one got shot, but that’s how fathers got down back then. Sad.

Coke is an evil and nasty drug....does a lot of long term damage to the nervous system area of the brain. I have friends that have been clean 10+ years and they still act like tuning forks... very hyper, constant need for ongoing stimulation even years after stopping.

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Originally Posted by gman

No one knows the answer to this....he was just one of the many young, gifted, talented struck by lightning luck/able to achieve massive success and be loved by the public figures that walked thru Berry's door in their own God given, golden, cosmic chosen moment. Not many who enter it make it in the music business on the scale many of our Motown legends did....Seems too many did not handle that fortunate occurrence well

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Marvin also entered his solo career in the beginning of two musical revolutions at once: the emergence of soul and the Motown Sound, for which he became a pioneer at both at such a tender age. He became larger than life so quickly that he didn't know how to deal with it. It's no surprise that it seemed his life was destined for an early demise...

From a more technical perspective I don't recall what condition he was in from the gunshot[[s) when EMT arrived; if they had been able to save his life it could have been a wake-up call for Marvin and I'm sure his fellow artists would have rallied to assist him. We can only wish ...

Well they did wait TWENTY minutes approximately... definitely tells you what can happens. He did have a faint pulse when they checked on him.

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Originally Posted by midnightman

Well they did wait TWENTY minutes approximately... definitely tells you what can happens. He did have a faint pulse when they checked on him.

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And that was because the father was still in the house with the gun

Who know what would have happened if the EMTs had gotten to him right away

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Originally Posted by jboy88

One fantasy I had was a timeline where if Tammi Terrell had lived, she and Marvin would have fallen out in the early 70s. As Marvin wanted to pursue more socially conscious material. The two of them are estranged for 13 years. However, the producers of Motown 25 convince them to reunite. After his performance of “What’s Going On”, Marvin is joined by Tammi for a performance of “You’re All I Need To Get By”. The two receive a thunderous applause from the audience.

Seeing the joy they brought to millions of viewers, they finally make up. Eventually they reunite with Ashford & Simpson, who agree to write and produce their long awaited fourth album of duets. Sessions for which would have begun in New York City on April 1st, 1984.

It’s fun to dream!

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Nice dream

By all accounts Tammi’s death sent him into a tailspin

Would he have even done What’s Going On if Tammi had recovered?

It is my understanding that Marvin Gaye knew that his father would shoot him if he ever hit him. Marvin even gave his father the gun he used some time before the incident.

Marvin gave his dad the gun during Christmas.

No,marvin was too far gone by that time,even his dear mother said that he had become a monster throwing guns out of windows,marvin wouldn't let himself be rescued as he knew the end was near..listen closely to the lyrics of-madness,you think that he was singing about love-no he was saying goodbye!!

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Originally Posted by arr&bee

No,marvin was too far gone by that time,even his dear mother said that he had become a monster throwing guns out of windows,marvin wouldn't let himself be rescued as he knew the end was near..listen closely to the lyrics of-madness,you think that he was singing about love-no he was saying goodbye!!

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He was getting high almost daily doing coke. I hate to say it, but he would not have lasted very long left to his own devices. Coke destroys the heart, not to mention portions of the brain.

I watched a documentary on Marvin just the other day. You could tell by the end he was spirally downwards and fast. A sad, tragic end. I'd like to think it could have been different but I really don’t know.

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Originally Posted by Optimal Saint

By all accounts Tammi’s death sent him into a tailspin

Would he have even done What’s Going On if Tammi had recovered?

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I think we still would have “What’s Going On”, which was actually the brainchild of Obie Benson of the Four Tops. Marvin just added the finishing touches. Marvin had been disenchanted with the typical Motown formula since the mid 60s.

But Tammi’s death did send Marvin further into his dark places. From which he never came out.

^ Don't you mean Al Cleveland? He wrote a good chunk of the lyrics. Of course Benson inspired the song. Marvin added musical composition and changed lyrics, definitely not just "finishing touches" but I get it. As Renaldo said later, they gave Marvin the suit and he tailored the hell out of it. It was a team effort with all three of them.

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Originally Posted by jboy88

One fantasy I had was a timeline where if Tammi Terrell had lived, she and Marvin would have fallen out in the early 70s. As Marvin wanted to pursue more socially conscious material. The two of them are estranged for 13 years. However, the producers of Motown 25 convince them to reunite. After his performance of “What’s Going On”, Marvin is joined by Tammi for a performance of “You’re All I Need To Get By”. The two receive a thunderous applause from the audience.

Seeing the joy they brought to millions of viewers, they finally make up. Eventually they reunite with Ashford & Simpson, who agree to write and produce their long awaited fourth album of duets. Sessions for which would have begun in New York City on April 1st, 1984.

It’s fun to dream!

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From sources read, I believe how the story went, Tammi's death caused Marvin's depression / change, as he disappeared from recording new material 1970, then came back, 1971, "What's Going On".

Yes, his brother, Frankie's war stories also contributed to such, but had Tammi lived, I would not believe Marvin's 1970s would be that radical.

My belief on Marvin, had he lived past 1984, possibly his hits could have continued up to end of the eighties. He was just getting started again with "Midnight Love", probably would have dominated onwards the "Quiet Storm / Hush Sound" era, but changing, louder sounds of the nineties, I would not be sure.

I think Marvin should have stayed in Belgium. He should have returned there after touring. He seemed happy, healthy and content there.

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Originally Posted by marv2

I think Marvin should have stayed in Belgium. He should have returned there after touring. He seemed happy, healthy and content there.

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According to the book Divided Soul, Marvin had to go out on tour to promote the Midnight Love LP. And it was on this tour that Marvin went back to using the cocaine [[which went into overdrive when he moved back in with his family in 1983). Yes, he was able to put aside the drug while he was in Belgium but he really needed long-term care to stay off coke [[and treatment for depression) if he were to avoid his tragic death.