Overview

In this intimate biography of the Prince of Soul, David Ritz provides a candid look at a star and a friend. Ritz had been collaborating with Marvin Gaye on his story for several years before the singer's tragic death and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets. What emerges here is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul. Here is Marvin's story, from his early years in the slums of Washington, DC, to his rise to the top of the Motown industry, his fall from grace, his comeback, and finally his sudden, shocking end at the hands of his own father. But it is also the story of his glorious music and the music of black America over the past fifty years, an epic tale whose cast of characters includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordie, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and countless other icons from the world of soul music. This is the definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive musician.

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9781433202766

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Reviews

Dion Graham channels Marvin Gaye in his riveting performance of Ritz's 1985 biography of the singer. -- Library Journal You won't find a more fascinating rock bio. -- Village Voice One of the most widely acclaimed pop music biographies finally gets the audio treatment. As coauthor of one of Gaye's biggest hits, 'Sexual Healing, ' David Ritz actually knew Marvin Gaye, and their relationship gives this narrative a degree of intimacy rare in biographies...At the root of it was the artist's complex relationship with his father, a contradiction that Dion Graham narrates expertly, mimicking the dialects of Marvin and his father. Graham is at ease with the colloquialisms that abound in this rough-and-tumble story of the rhythm-and-blues business and the performer who was at the center of it all until his father tragically took his life. -- AudioFile A biography as dramatic as any to come out of the pop field...told with sympathy and unflinching candor. -- San Francisco Chronicle [David Ritz] tells Marvin Gaye's sorrowful story with remarkable insight and sensitivity...Divided Soul is often startlingly candid, but it manages to avoid lurid sensationalism, no mean feat given the particulars of the story: sex, drugs, child abuse, show business scandal. -- Nation

Dion Graham channels Marvin Gaye in his riveting performance of Ritz's 1985 biography of the singer. -- Library Journal One of the most widely acclaimed pop music biographies finally gets the audio treatment. As coauthor of one of Gaye's biggest hits, 'Sexual Healing, ' David Ritz actually knew Marvin Gaye, and their relationship gives this narrative a degree of intimacy rare in biographies...At the root of it was the artist's complex relationship with his father, a contradiction that Dion Graham narrates expertly, mimicking the dialects of Marvin and his father. Graham is at ease with the colloquialisms that abound in this rough-and-tumble story of the rhythm-and-blues business and the performer who was at the center of it all until his father tragically took his life. -- AudioFile You won't find a more fascinating rock bio. -- Village Voice [David Ritz] tells Marvin Gaye's sorrowful story with remarkable insight and sensitivity...Divided Soul is often startlingly candid, but it manages to avoid lurid sensationalism, no mean feat given the particulars of the story: sex, drugs, child abuse, show business scandal. -- Nation A biography as dramatic as any to come out of the pop field...told with sympathy and unflinching candor. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Author Information

David Ritz is the author and coauthor of many acclaimed autobiographies of entertainers, including Ray Charles, Etta James, Scott Weiland, Grandmaster Flash, and more. Five of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, and he has won the Gleason Award for Best Music Book of the Year four times. Dion Graham, from HBO's The Wire, also narrates The First 48 on A&E. Winner of more than a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, he has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. His performances have been praised as thoughtful and compelling, vivid and full of life.

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