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FREE DIVIDED SOUL: THE LIFE OF MARVIN GAYE PDF David Ritz | 416 pages | 07 May 2003 | The Perseus Books Group | 9780306811913 | English | Cambridge, MA, United States Divided Soul - Wikipedia By David Ritz. Since his premature demise, interest in his art has blossomed. He changed our musical world. As time goes by, the long list grows longer. Marvin Gaye grows more intriguing, I believe, not only because of the paradox of his professional triumphs and private agonies, but because of the sturdy nature of his art. He wrote what he believed; he sang what he felt; he said what he meant. His candor—artistically and otherwise—is irresistible. His words—his view of his life and music—are the backbone of this book, the reason I trust this volume will always have value. When he agreed to years of interviews, Marvin knew what he was doing; he realized someone needed to record his own words; he knew that Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye telling his story—dazzlingly complex and often bizarre—required his participation. Marvin left no will. His estate was encumbered by millions of dollars of debt to the IRS. Gay, Senior continues to live in a retirement home in Southern California. When interviewed, he revealed absolutely no memory of having shot his son. His mind refuses to accept the incontrovertible fact. Marvin III—his son with first wife Anna—has been recording music of his own. My name now appears as a registered co-composer of the song. On September 28,after an initial rejection offset by a massive letter-writing campaign, Gaye received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During the ceremonies, Berry Gordy appeared alongside Lou Rawls, two men with whom Marvin had especially difficult relationships. The tributes keep coming. And so do the reissues of his recordings. See the updated discography. Emerging from a generation rooted in conformity, Marvin was a rebel, a headstrong poet, anti-authoritarian, deeply romantic, and undoubtedly ahead of his time. By turning his own confusion into splendid song, Gaye—and the chronicle of his intense life—continues to be compelling. At Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye time, I was in the middle of a novel based upon a childhood fantasy— The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn —but put the project aside. Working with Marvin was an even greater fantasy. We became fast friends. Separated from Janis, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye second wife, Gaye was staying with his parents on Gramercy Place. I was living only two miles away, in the same Crenshaw-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, close to his private recording studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. These were the two locales where we did most of our talking. His bedroom at home—the same room where five years later he would meet his tragic end—and the apartment he kept atop the recording studio were the places he felt most secluded and comfortable. We also spent time on his estate in Hidden Hills in the San Fernando Valley where he had lived with Janis and their two children. For a while, I went on tour with him, traveling in his customized Greyhound bus. Two years of pulling information out of Ray Charles proved to be the right sort of training for dealing with Marvin. There were great similarities between the two men. Both were brilliant, moody, and self-absorbed. But there were also differences: Charles was a disciplined businessman, a dependable partner who jealously guarded his time. Gaye hated business—we never discussed terms or contracts for the book—and had no more regard for keeping appointments than for meeting deadlines. When we did speak, though, the conversation could go on for days. Often we spoke before concerts. Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye merry and melancholy, Marvin had an urgent need to talk—and to be understood. Our discussions were almost always probing, sometimes turning to debate or prayer. Marvin Gaye was not a man given to superficiality, especially when discussing himself. Although Ray Charles and I finally became friends, I could never help but see him as an authoritative uncle or father. Because Marvin and I Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye closer in age, and because he was a remarkably candid man, our relationship was far more relaxed and included warm feelings of brotherly love. Self-analysis did not come easily to Ray; with Marvin it was second nature. He was a reflective artist who wrote and sang about personal feelings. He saw the events of his life as an extraordinary work of art which he evaluated with remarkable objectivity, much as he might evaluate one of his recordings. Through Marvin, I met and interviewed his family and became friends with his brother Frankie, his sister Jeanne and his mother, in whose bedroom I attended occasional prayer meetings on Saturday afternoons. Gaye was reluctant to have me meet his father, though finally, through my own insistence, I managed to do so. Gay, whom I knew to be just down the hall in the bedroom where he stayed by himself. Marvin challenged. I will if you will. You go first. I met the challenge by calling my father in Dallas. I succeeded in conducting a series of interviews with Mr. Gay, a slight man with delicate fingers and inscrutable eyes who, at five feet eight and pounds, looked petite next to his athletic six-foot-tall son. I did not, however, succeed in completing my literary project with Marvin. Toward the end ofhe was going through another series of crazy crises. He was displeased with a new album I had watched him record. More seriously, his second marriage had collapsed and he was being cornered by an angry army of creditors and hounded by the IRS for millions of dollars in back taxes. He was fleeing, and invited me to go overseas with him. Together for two weeks, we renewed our friendship and our project. I have to get this new record out. But someday soon. Our literary relationship deepened when, during this same trip, I named and wrote lyrics for the song that would become Sexual Healing. After seeing my work, Marvin urged me to become a full-time songwriter, just as he had always urged me to become a Christian. He also tried to cure my stutter. Unfortunately, our musical collaboration spelled the end of our friendship. Once the tune was a hit and Marvin found himself back in America, we fought over credit and money. There was obvious tension between us. In spite of the mounting distrust, Marvin said goodbye in the same manner he had said hello when we had met four years earlier. He asked that we silently meditate for a few Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye. Afterward, we embraced as he whispered, God bless you. We never spoke again. According to Dave, Marvin read the article and remembered the good feelings between us. Even before I met Marvin Gaye I had been convinced that I was chosen—by fate or God or the power of my own passion—to write about his life and music. What I thought would be a joint effort has now become a solitary work. As a creative character, both mythic and real, Marvin has haunted and thrilled my imagination since Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye was a Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye. Marvin Gaye hated hypocrisy. In spite of a vicious streak of self-destructiveness which, I believe, led to his own demise, he was a man—an enormously complicated man—who revelled in candor. He pleased himself and those who were curious about him with outrageous disclosures. He loved to surprise and shock. Above all, he strove to tell the truth about the conflicts between his body and his soul. Pentz was the name of the German doctor who delivered him. In the early twenties, the family eventually moved to Charles Avenue in west Lexington, Kentucky. Marvin Jr. Mamie Gay was said to be the first female member of the Pentecostal sect. Johnson, a black man, from New Bern, North Carolina. If you want to understand my religion and the spirit I received as a child, Marvin Jr. If you want to understand our church, Bishop Rawlings told me, come to our services. Our building is somewhat larger these days, but we worship God as we always have—and always will. First you notice the women, dressed dramatically in white. Such is the dress code from Passover to Harvest Festival. This is a Christian church where only Old Testament holidays are honored. Christmas and Easter are holidays that some might even view as pagan, and we feel obligated to ignore them. The dogma is strict, the male hierarchy is evident—the elders and deacons refer to one another by title—but the Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye of the women in white is touching. Their heads are covered with white pillbox hats, lace flowing from the back, the crowns adorned with pale blue Stars of David. Their young daughters wear black velvet skullcaps with Stars of David embroidered in white. Not long ago, says Estella Mayberry, Marvin Jr. Read Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye Online by David Ritz | Books Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem.

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