Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye

by David Ritz

Book 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 working on Gaye's 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. Drawing from these interviews, Gaye's life is recounted in his own words and the words of those who knew him best: his family, friends, and colleagues. What...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306804433
• ISBN13: 9780306804434
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

DIVIDED SOUL: The Life of Marvin Gaye

This was indeed a FASCINATING and TRAGIC drama. It produces emotions of love and hate for Mr. Gaye in the reader. I had no intention of reading the ENTIRE book...but I just couldn't help myself! I wish MORE had been said about HOW IN THE WORLD did his crazy father "get off," because it became obvious to me that it was a cold-blooded and premeditated murder. I wish the photos had been better and that there had been MORE of them....esp. did I want to see a photo of Jewel Price and Eugenie. It's a shame Marvin's mother was too weak to protect herself and her precious son throughout his life from such a vicious, mean, sick father...I couldn't believe how the whole family put up with him. I also feel regret that the family didn't intervene and didn't band together more to bring SOMEBODY to help Marvin in those last several months he spent at home and to keep those bad, destructive elements and people from "hanging out" at their own property. It's such a shame and a loss for the world that Marvin never sought professional therapy to resolve his many and varied issues. I believe that these sensitive entertainers should have "Conflict Resolution" as a part of their contracts. It's terrible to lose such a talent and for him not to have ever been truly happy with the wonderful life he COULD have enjoyed. All in all though, this book was DEFINITELY "da bomb." I'll never forget it or the man behind the story--esp. since I was a big fan, front-row center admiring his handsome face and body during his performance at his Black Expo Concert in Chicago in the 70's and have felt a real "closeness" to him ever since.

Marvin's naked Soul revealed

David Ritz did a wonderful job with seperating the man from the myth. Growing up, I listened to Marvin's music with my father, and there was always a spirit in the music, that to this day, I still can't explain. Just his voice had a presence, which could either frighten or enlighten you. He was truly one of the best.I got a hold of this book about four years ago, and have read it a few times. There are some parts of the story that are hilarious (like him wanting to beat up Lou Rawls for "stealing" the grammy from him), and some parts are just tragic (his candid talk about his cocaine use, suicide attempts, and death), but overall, it makes you wonder how someone with such an incredible artistic mind could be so self doubting, and self destructive. It makes you wonder: had he not been killed, would he have done something to himself to end his own life? His honesty in regards to his envy and admiriation of other artists was something you won't find in too many biographies, considering the auhtor will try to glamorize it's subject; not the case here. No matter how many charm classes the Motown artists were required to take or how poised Berry Gordy wanted them to be, in this book Marvin bares all, and voids pride.Although I was only 7 when he was killed, I remember not knowing all too well what a loss the world had suffered- that was until I got older. All I knew then was that man who had the voice that could scare me, or make me feel safe was dead, and I cried. Being a young adult, it is easy to identify with the man's music, considering the world we live in now, is the world he was telling us was to come. Like his music, Marvin is timeless, and his story is one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded. Beautifully written, and painfully honest, this is a must have for music lovers in general.

A very good job, a very sad story

It's obvious from the start of this book that David Ritz had a great deal of appreciation and love for Marvin Gaye. It's also very apparent by the last chapter that his appreciation and love hasn't prevented Ritz from seeing Gaye's life from all sides. He explores his subject's strengths and failings with a deft hand; details that could have been tawdry and sensationalistic in a lesser writer becomes revelatory when Ritz deals with them. Everybody discussed in this book emerges with three dimensions. Marvin Gay, Sr., who was his son's killer, certainly did a monsterous, horrible thing, but Ritz goes to great lengths to try and understand both father and son and their hateful relationship, in order to make some sense out of the day Marvin, Jr. died. Similarly, Berry and Anna Gordy, Marvin's former boss and former wife, are neither roundly vilified or let off the hook; Ritz takes pains, for instance, to show that however much Berry Gordy may have stifled Marvin's growth as an artist (he hated WHAT'S GOING ON, rightly considered by many as the finest album Marvin Gaye ever recorded), he also gave Marvin his freedom on a number of other projects and always respected his talent. And Ritz doesn't whitewash his subject, either; it becomes clear that Marvin Gaye could be very warm and very hostile, equally surefooted and wreckless in his career. By the end of his life, Gaye had succumbed to the madness of his own demons and maybe, just maybe, there was no other way things could've turned out. If you've ever been buoyed by the jubilation of "How Sweet It Is" or moved by the passion of "What's Going On," you'd do well to read this excellent biography.

Don't pass this one up

I read this book when it was first released. To this day, I still recognize it as one of the best biographies I've ever read. I'm such a fan of this book that I passed my original copy around for months to make sure not one of my friends or family missed this. David Ritz cut to the chase and made me put aside all my preconceived ideas about Marvin's life and death. At once Marvin Gaye's life and untimely death became real, painful and surprisingly personal to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates an unflinchingly honest, richly detailed and flawless account of a life, especially one as complicated as Marvin's.