Motown Celebrates Marvin Gaye

Today would have been Marvin Gaye's 70th birthday. Tragically, it was 25 years ago yesterday that Gaye was killed at the hands of his father on the day before his 45th birthday.

Gaye's influence on music, even in the intervening quarter century, is undeniable. I Heard It Through the Grapevine was Motown's biggest selling single of the 60's and considered a classic. His 1971 album What's Going On regularly lands in the lists of the top ten albums ever made and Rolling Stone recently placed him at number six on the list of the greatest singers.

Motown Records, which is celebrating it's own 50th anniversary, is saluting Gaye's birthday with the release of the rarities collection Now & Then. The 14-track collection is only available digitally and runs from his days with Harvey and the Moonglows (Mama Loocie, Twelve Months of the Year) to a 2009 funk remix of I Want You. In between are a recently found 1966 recording of a song called Soulie, the deep vault track It's Your Party and tracks from before his hitmaking days (Witchcraft, Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide).

Also coming on April 14 is the vinyl reissue of the album United by Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The album includes the hits If I Could Build My World Around You, Your Precious Love and Ain't No Mountain High Enough.