''The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye'' is the debut studio album by Marvin Gaye, released in 1961, and the second long-playing album (TM-221) released by Motown. The first was '' Hi... We're the Miracles'' (TM-220). It is most notable as the album that caused the first known struggle of Gaye's turbulent tenure with the label.

Background

Between his release from the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

in 1957 and signing with Motown Records's Tamla label in 1961, Marvin Gaye was struggling to find his identity in the music business. A long admirer of different forms of music from early

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

, blues,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and doo-wop, Gaye sought to mix the styles of

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

, Billy Eckstine, Little Willie John and

Jesse Belvin Jesse Lorenzo Belvin (December 15, 1932 – February 6, 1960) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter popular in the 1950s. Belvin co-wrote the 1954 Penguins' doo-wop classic " Earth Angel", which sold more than 10 million copies, while h ...

, first getting involved in groups such as the Marquees, which he joined following his honorable discharge from a tenure in the Air Forces, which soon replaced the original members of

Harvey Fuqua Harvey Fuqua (July 27, 1929 – July 6, 2010) was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive. Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s. He is notable as one of th ...

's group

The Moonglows The Moonglows were an American R&B group in the 1950s. Their song " Sincerely" went to number 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 20 on the ''Billboard'' Juke Box chart. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. ...

under the moniker, ''Harvey and the New Moonglows'', with Reese Palmer doing most of the leads though Gaye did take some lead vocal parts, including speaking in the intro and ending of the single, "The Twelve Months of the Year", and sung all lead in the song, "Mama Loochie". Both songs were released on the

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

label in 1959 and during this period the group sung background for notable Chess acts including

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

on the song " Almost Grown", and Etta James' "Chained to My Rocking Chair". After living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for two years and following a tour in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Fuqua decided to split up the group and take Gaye with him to help get him work in the musically-developing city. Fuqua then signed Gaye to a contract with his Harvey and Tri-Phi Records and also assigned him to work with his then-girlfriend Gwen Gordy's

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

label. Gaye would do drumming work for acts on Tri-Phi and Harvey including, most notably, The Spinners, on their debut hit, "

That's What Girls Are Made For "That's What Girls Are Made For" is the debuting single for the American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citi ...

". In December 1960, Gaye introduced himself to Motown CEO

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record l ...

at Motown's annual Christmas party by playing piano and singing " Mr. Sandman". Gordy was impressed with Gaye and later began working out a negotiation deal with Fuqua to sign the young singer to Gordy's Motown empire. Fuqua agreed to sell 50% of his interest in Gaye to Gordy, which led to Gordy presenting Gaye with a lucrative deal, which he signed with the following month. Gaye was then assigned to Motown's Tamla label, for which he'd record with for the next 20 years. In the meantime, Gaye met and fell in love with one of Gordy's sisters,

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 ...

and the couple would begin dating during the spring of 1961, marrying within a year.

Recording and release

Shortly after Gaye signed to Tamla, the label and the young singer soon clashed with musical direction. While the label was recording R&B music for teenagers, Marvin, who admired Nat King Cole and

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, wanted to record more "adult" music, including

and

pop standards Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

. Gaye had noted that Cole and Charles had found bigger success recording more adult music and after seeing that Charles had had success recording jazz music, rather than just R&B, he felt he could do similar. Gaye, who later admitted that growing up, he was told not to dance, also wanted to "sit on a stool and croon" rather than "shake my ass onstage" saying that his voice was what people paid attention to and not his dancing. After much push, Gaye finally was allowed to record an album of jazz standards with a compromise that he'd record a couple of songs with an R&B feel. Recording his vocals in a relaxed tone, Gaye also played drums and piano on the album while Berry Gordy oversaw much of the album's production. Anna Gordy was another collaborator, co-writing the R&B song "Never Let You Go (Sha-Lu-Bop)" for her boyfriend. The album was recorded over two weeks and was released on June 8, 1961. Before the release of his first single, the Berry Gordy-composed ballad " Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide", Gaye added an extra 'e' to his last name, to look "more professional". The album was not given much attention upon its release. "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" failed to become a major hit, though it was a regional hit in the Midwest and on the West Coast. The label released two more singles from the album, which featured Gaye still singing in a smooth tenor. His style soon changed to include

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 a ...

infections, which helped to bring him success after he released his first hit, "

Stubborn Kind of Fellow "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" is a 1962 song recorded by Marvin Gaye for the Tamla label. Co-written by Gaye and produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" became Gaye's first hit single, reaching the top 10 of the R&B chart ...

", in 1962. Motown Records, at the time of this album's release, was still a fledgling operation, with only

The Miracles The Miracles (also known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential group ...

The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

, and

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

as successful acts. Gaye's jazz ambitions continued after the album's release and throughout the 1960s. He recorded three more albums featuring jazz covers, none of which resonated well with audiences used to the singer's grittier R&B work during the sixties.

Track listing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye 1961 debut albums Marvin Gaye albums Tamla Records albums Albums produced by Berry Gordy Albums recorded at Hitsville U.S.A.