''In Our Lifetime?'' is the sixteenth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
musician
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
, released January 15, 1981, on Motown label
Tamla Records
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...
. Recording sessions for the album took place at
Marvin's Room in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Seawest Recording Studio in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
, and at Odyssey Studios in
London, England
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
, throughout 1979 and 1980 (and abruptly remixed in 1981 by
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
). The album cover was designed by Neil Breeden. Gaye's final album for Motown before leaving for
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
, the album was the follow-up to the commercial failure of ''
Here, My Dear
''Here, My Dear'' is the fifteenth studio album by music artist Marvin Gaye, released as a double album on December 15, 1978, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. allmusic - Here, My Dear overview/ref> Recording sessions for the album took ...
'', a double album which chronicled the singer's divorce from
Anna Gordy
Anna Ruby Gaye (née Gordy; January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014) was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records ...
. Entirely written, produced, arranged, and mixed by Gaye, ''In Our Lifetime?'' was a departure for Gaye from the
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
stylings of his previous two studio efforts and was seen as one of the best albums of the singer's late-Motown period.
Conception
In 1979, Marvin Gaye found himself at a professional and personal low ebb. Two years without a hit since "
Got to Give It Up
"Got to Give It Up" is a song by American music artist Marvin Gaye. Written by the singer and produced by Art Stewart as a response to a request from Gaye's record label that he perform disco music, it was released in March 1977.
Upon its releas ...
", he had released the commercially unsuccessful ''
Here, My Dear
''Here, My Dear'' is the fifteenth studio album by music artist Marvin Gaye, released as a double album on December 15, 1978, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. allmusic - Here, My Dear overview/ref> Recording sessions for the album took ...
'', which then alienated critics and fans alike for the musician's take on his personal life including his troubling marriage to
Anna Gordy
Anna Ruby Gaye (née Gordy; January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014) was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records ...
, which had ended in divorce a couple years before. Following that divorce, Gaye married his longtime girlfriend Janis in October 1977. Janis Gaye later filed for
legal separation
Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...
citing
mental abuse
Psychological abuse, often called emotional abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to a behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic ...
throughout their marriage. Janis had been the inspiration behind Gaye's 1976 album, ''
I Want You''. That year, Gaye decided to reestablish his pop audience, first releasing a slightly autobiographical
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
song he titled "
Ego Tripping Out", in which he lyrically explained his larger-than-life ego and masked it with personal doubt ("turn the fear into energy/'cause the
toot and the smoke won't fulfill the need"). Gaye debuted the song while appearing on
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...
's ''
Dinah & Friends'', with the performance later being featured on the
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
, ''Marvin Gaye - The Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981''.
The song was supposed to be the leading track off Gaye's next album, a disco-styled album he titled ''Love Man'', with tracks he had recorded at his
recording studio complex. However, the album was put on hold as Gaye, now facing a $4.5 million debt with the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
, went out on a half-hearted world tour to alleviate his debts. Gaye's heart, however, wasn't in the tour, and midway through after a mildly receptive show in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and performances in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, he abandoned the tour, which led to musicians in his band as well as concert promoters suing Gaye for thousands of dollars on reneging on the contract. For weeks, Gaye secluded himself in a bread van on the beach in
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
while still struggling from his now-crippling
cocaine addiction
Cocaine dependence is a neurological disorder that is characterized by withdrawal symptoms upon cessation from cocaine use. It also often coincides with cocaine addiction which is a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of coc ...
. However, desperate for a fix, he called his mother
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
and asked her to give away earrings he had bought her in exchange for money to buy cocaine. He had also gone so far to ask friends such as
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...
and
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
for money, but neither complied. Around this time, Gaye's lawyer advised him to file for
voluntary bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
, later resulting in the shutdown of his recording studio, which further depressed Gaye.
An ill-fated reunion with Janis around this time led Gaye, high on cocaine, to point a knife to Janis's heart, causing another separation. Around this time, Gaye tried finishing his ''Love Man'' album but instead of presenting the album with upbeat lyrics, some of the songs dealt with his own life. In the song, "Dance 'N Be Happy", for example, while the chorus repeated "let's dance and be happy", the lyrics, which Marvin sung off the top of his head in
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
, revealed his anguish at the fallout of his marriage to Janis, even accusing her of making him "uptight". After hearing a mix in Honolulu, a disillusioned Gaye shelved the album, fearing his music career was over. One day, severely depressed, Gaye ingested a full ounce of cocaine, in his first
suicide attempt
A suicide attempt is an attempt to die by suicide that results in survival. It may be referred to as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, though these terms are discouraged by mental health professionals for implying that a suicide res ...
since the late 1960s, thinking he would die. He later told
David Ritz
David Ritz (born December 2, 1943 in New York City) is an American author. He has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. He has coauthor ...
, "I'd given up. The problems were too big for me. I just wanted to be left alone and blow my brains on high-octane toot. It would be a slow but relatively pleasant death, certainly less messy than a gun." During this time, British concert promoter Jeffrey Krueger got contact with Gaye through
drug dealer
A drug is any chemical substance
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...
s. Krueger, with help from Gaye's friend Jewel Price, convinced Gaye to sober up and start a European tour, Gaye's first since 1976. The tour, which took place in 1980, featured performances in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands and England. The tour ended on a bad note after Gaye failed to show up on time for a command performance for
Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...
, leaving Krueger to sue him for breach of contract; eventually, Gaye and Krueger settled their dispute without having to go to trial.
Gaye, now scared of a possible arrest warrant for avoiding the IRS, decided to settle in London where he partook on the city's nightlife and suffered a relapse. By now, Gaye had learned of
freebasing while living in London and would spend weeks getting high. Gaye also began to reevaluate the ''Love Man'' album stating "I had to do something for money, but I also had an obligation - to the truth. Motown wasn't giving me a cent 'cause they were yelling how they'd spent a fortune on the ''Love Man'' cover and here I was holed up in Hawaii telling them the love man was dead. He was. The love man was me and I needed to stop that shit." Gaye rethought the album's concept and said he "saw how silly I'd been. Who needed another record moanin' and bitchin' 'bout some woman? Why did I have to regain my throne as the sex king? Who cared about competing with
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
and
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
? Look what was happening with the world. I had a message to spread. I had my theme."
Recording
The first recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin Gaye Studios in Hollywood and then at Honolulu's Seawest Recording Studios. Upon arriving in London in 1980 where he settled, Gaye recorded his new concept for the album at London's Odyssey and
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...
's
AIR Studios
Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...
. Songs that Gaye had recorded while in Los Angeles and Hawaii changed from their original approach. The original version of "Love Party" was titled "Dance 'N Be Happy" and mainly focused on his fallout of his marriage to Janis Gaye, only to be rewritten as a pseudo dance song with
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
-influenced lyrics. The
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
song, "Just Because You're So Pretty" transformed into "Love Me Now or Love Me Later", which focused on the concept of "good and evil" souls that Gaye felt existed inside human beings, mainly himself. The funk song, "I Offer You Nothing But Love", was transformed into "In Our Lifetime", which included chants from one of Gaye's musicians ("come let's all get funky if you dig the right/come let's all get funky if you dig the wrong"), with the lyrics talking about a possible Armageddon approaching. The mild disco sound of "Lover's Plea" again was altered for more gospel influences in the song "Praise", even praising
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
for the inspired riff for the song ("Stevie, we really dig you/hope you don't mind this riff from you"). "Life is For Learning" didn't change from the original song much except for the song's original title with the singer focusing on how he approached his music ("the artist pays the price/so you won't have to pay/if we would listen to what he has to say"). "Funk Me" was altered from the more sexually charged version from ''Love Man'' (its original title chanted "funk me" three times) and "Heavy Love Affair", his one song in which he discusses his fallout with Janis, was originally "Life's a Game of Give and Take", ironically doing the reverse of his other songs in which the original song discussed personal issues with his own life and flipping them around to focus on his fallout with Janis. "Far Cry" was the only newer song from the sessions in London to be featured along with the instrumental "Nuclear Juice". Gaye also revived and reworked "Ego Tripping Out" twice as a possible entry into the album, before ultimately omitting the song from the final album tracklist.
By late December, Gaye had finished the rough draft of the album and later revised the album in a
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
format adding in synthesizer sounds to segue each song into the next, a style he had originally done with albums such as ''
What's Going On'', ''
Let's Get It On
''Let's Get It On'' is the thirteenth studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on August 28, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP.
Recording sessions for the album took pla ...
'' and ''
I Want You''. However, around this time, one of Marvin's touring and recording musicians, bassist Frank Blair, decided to take the contents of the album's master tapes to Motown's Hollywood offices, which was done unbeknownst to Gaye, who was remixing and editing the album in Odyssey Studios in London. Motown, still angered over Gaye's backing away from the ''Love Man'' project, revised the album for several weeks.
Release
When ''In Our Lifetime'' was finally issued in recording stores on January 15, 1981, Marvin was angry over its rush release. Gaye later said, "How could they embarrass me like that? I was humiliated. They also added guitar licks and bass lines.(The former actually happened with
Heavy Love Affair
"Heavy Love Affair" is a funk song recorded by American soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' ...
.) How dare they second guess my artistic decisions? Can you imagine saying to an artist, say
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
, 'Okay Pablo, you've been fooling with this picture long enough. We'll take this unfinished canvas and add a leg here, an arm there. You might be the artist, but you're behind schedule, so we'll finish this painting for you. If you don't like the results, Pablo, baby, that's tough!' I was heartbroken. I was deeply hurt. Motown went behind my back. That's something I'll never forgive or forget." Upon hearing it, he said the label had re-edited the album without his rightful permission in which Motown admitted to trying to make the album commercially viable. However, sales for the album were low, despite its critical success, producing a sole R&B hit with "
Praise
Praise as a form of social interaction expresses recognition, reassurance or admiration.
Praise is expressed verbally as well as by body language (facial expression and gestures).
Verbal praise consists of a positive evaluations of another's a ...
" and peaking at number thirty-two on the ''Billboard Top 200'' album charts, but hitting number six on the Billboard R&B album charts. After its release, Marvin asked to be let go from his contract.
It was finally granted after
CBS Records CBS Records may refer to:
* CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company
* CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990
* CBS Records (2006), founde ...
' urban division president Larkin Arnold bought Marvin out of his Motown contract, thus ending the singer's 21-year relationship with the company in 1982 (Gaye then eventually recorded his final album to be released during his lifetime, ''
Midnight Love
''Midnight Love'' is the seventeenth studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distributio ...
'', in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
).
Over the years, the album was forgotten until it was re-released by Motown on
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
in 1994 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Marvin's death, including the song "
Ego Tripping Out" as part of the track listing.
On June 19, 2007, twenty-six years after the album's release,
Hip-O Records
Hip-O Records is a record label that specializes in reissues and compilations. It is part of Universal Music Group. Established in 1996, the label has distributed releases from 'out of style' genres such as disco and early hip-hop music as wel ...
re-released the album as an expanded edition, which included not only the album as originally released but also alternate takes from London's Air and Odyssey Studio sessions, the original 1979 single of "Ego Tripping Out", as well as an alternate cut from the ''In Our Lifetime'' sessions.
The second disc released what was from the ''Love Man'' sessions with instrumental productions that were included in ''Lifetime'' under different lyrics and different titles. The reissue restored the question mark at the end of the title and was limited to 5,000 copies.
Track listing
All tracks were written, arranged, composed and produced by Marvin Gaye.
Original 1981 release
Side A
#"
Praise
Praise as a form of social interaction expresses recognition, reassurance or admiration.
Praise is expressed verbally as well as by body language (facial expression and gestures).
Verbal praise consists of a positive evaluations of another's a ...
" – 4:51
#"
Life Is for Learning" – 3:39
#"Love Party" – 4:58
#"Funk Me" – 5:34
Side B
#"
Far Cry
''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, ''Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequent ...
" – 4:28
#"Love Me Now or Love Me Later" – 4:59
#"
Heavy Love Affair
"Heavy Love Affair" is a funk song recorded by American soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' ...
" – 3:45
#"In Our Lifetime" – 6:57
*NOTE: The 1994 re-release adds "
Ego Tripping Out" as track one.
Expanded edition
Disc one (bonus tracks)
#"Nuclear Juice" (Air Studios Mix Outtakes) – 5:46
#"Ego Tripping Out" (Air Studios Mix Outtakes) – 4:55
#"Far Cry" (Air Studios Mix Outtakes) – 6:21
#"Ego Tripping Out" (Love Man: The Single) – 5:13
#"Ego Tripping Out – Instrumental" (Love Man: The Single) – 3:43
Disc two
#"Praise" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 5:09
#"Life Is For Learning" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 3:53
#"Heavy Love Affair" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 4:40
#"Love Me Now or Love Me Later" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 5:43
#"Ego Tripping Out" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 4:37
#"Funk Me" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 5:13
#"In Our Lifetime" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 5:51
#"Love Party" (Odyssey Studios Mix) – 5:18
#"Life's a Game of Give and Take" (The Love Man Sessions) – 4:57
#"Life Is Now in Session" (The Love Man Sessions) – 4:04
#"I Offer You Nothing But Love" (The Love Man Sessions) – 6:03
#"Just Because You're So Pretty" (The Love Man Sessions) – 5:06
#"Dance 'N' Be Happy" (The Love Man Sessions) – 6:49
#"Funk Me, Funk Me, Funk Me" (The Love Man Sessions) – 5:49
#"A Lover's Plea" (The Love Man Sessions) – 6:10
Personnel
*
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
– vocals, keyboards, drums
*Robert Ahwry – guitar
*
Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...
– guitar
*
Frank Bates – bass, background vocals
*
Frank Blair – bass, drums
*Candace Bond – Executive Producer
*Jon Walls – Recording & Mix Engineer
*
Ray Brown – trumpet
*William Bryant – drums, keyboards
*Elmira Collins – vibraphone, background vocals
*Raymond Crossley – keyboards
*Fernando Harkness – saxophone
*Joe James – percussion
*Gary Jones – percussion, conga
*Lee Kentle – drums, background vocals
*Nigel Martinez – drums
*Kenny Mason – trumpet
*Joe Mayo – percussion
*Sidney Muldrew – French horn
*Curtis Anthony Nolen – guitar
*
Raphael Ravenscroft
Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone on Gerry Rafferty's song " Baker Street".
Early life
While his place of birth is disputed, the E ...
– alto saxophone
*Dr. George Shaw – trumpet
*Nolan Andrew Smith – trumpet
*
David Ritz
David Ritz (born December 2, 1943 in New York City) is an American author. He has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. He has coauthor ...
– liner notes
*Preston "Bugsy" Wilcox – drums
*
Ron Slenzak
Ronald J. Slenzak (born January 29, 1948) is an American photographer, best known for photographing record album covers. Some of the album covers that he has photographed include ''Spitfire'' (Jefferson Starship), ''Huey Lewis and the News'' (the ...
– photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Singles
References
Sources
*
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
1981 albums
Marvin Gaye albums
Albums produced by Marvin Gaye
Tamla Records albums