Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye

While the Publishers Weekly review recommended that fans simply listen to the man's records, David Ritz does a credible job of telling us what was going on in Marvin's life, and his tortured soul, that led to his death at his father's hands. While another writer might offer a more objective perspective on the singer's life, as Ritz seemed to get very close to Marvin Gaye, at least in his own mind, the author not only leads us through the Motown legend's drug-addled, but professionaly accomplished life, but he tells us a bit about the society in which he was raised, the musical world he aspired to conquer and the extreme dysfunction that a family can exert on its own. This is not easy reading, nor very comfortable, because the man trafficed in heavy sexual content in his songs and performances, and descended into a hellish drug addiction that inhibited his artistic ability and created a pervasive paranoia that led to a self-fulfilling prophecy: that he would die at the hands of killer wielding a hand-gun. Ritz does a fine job of revealing just how self-loathing the singer was, how conflicted over his sexuality he was - not that wasn't strongly heterosexual, but that he had a perverse madonna/whore complex towards women that built his lovers up on a pedestal and then smashed them down, often literally - and how little he really enjoyed his celebrity as a sexy soul singer. The corps of enablers all suckling from the trough didn't help the singer make any effort to conquer his demons but the many instances of physical abuse to his second wife, to female fans who came to his home seeking intimacy, and others makes one wonder why no one ever called the police, who could have had him tried on assault and battery, which might have led him to the kind of addiction therapy for his sexual healing that he so desperately needed but scrupulously avoided. In 1971 he asked for "mercy, mercy, me," but he never did find the salve for his divided soul. It's a terrible shame that his life was the epitome of the tortured artist, whose ravaged mind and life yielded such pearls of musical beauty. It's a price no one should have to pay.

I know Gaye's music, but knew nothing of the artist himself. 'Divided Soul' is full of stories, details... and it's a pretty-interesting read. However... it's also filled with the writer's thoughts; filled with opinions, theories, analysis; and for me, there's as much of the writer in this book as there is of Gaye. It's not what I came here for.Am finishing it today, and no regrets. But, in my opinion, a biographer should not overwhelm the subject, as Ritz does here, and a book half the size, without all the 'observations', would be a better read. The analysis, especially, is unnecessary.Just my thoughts, of course.

Vivid portrayal of his whole life...his standing up to Barry Gordy and insisting on creating anti-war and pro black cultural songs reflecting the real lives of his friends and family....songs like "what's going on and so many more. The sordid violence of his "christian" father who enjoyed wearing women's clothes is studied in depth and may have contributed to his changing his name from gay to gaye so people wouldn't think he was gay. His insecurities and his strengths are explored sensitively.The good ...the...bad...the ugly...the complex marvin gay ...the times..the competing stars..his sexual complexity..His addictions ..the music of the time and one of the best albums in history are described by the author in intimate detail. He knew marvin well and interviewed him for hours over years until his father killed him.A moving exceptionally well written book. Deeply moving.

I didn't know that the song "Troubled Man" so accurately described Marvin Gaye. A musical genius, Marvin battled his demons his whole disturbed life. His own worst enemy. It's unfortunate when his self torture was what drove his greatest works. You never know what those you admire go through and this book gives you a look into the psyche of a legend. There's many things I didn't know about Marvin, and there's some things that part of me wishes I didn't know after reading this book. You have a romanticized view of people that you admire and when you realize that their human side doesn't match the fantasy sometimes you feel disappointed. Overall though I feel sadness more than disappointment. I'm sure he had some good times but you'll read this and wish he would help himself 1st and get out of his own way second. I still love and admire Marvin's music and have a greater appreciation for it knowing the pain it took to create it.

This book is a wonderful take on Marvin's life and insight inside who he was as a person! Ritz is a great author for writing such a historic piece! Book does need an update. Multiple errors throughout the book. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

After reading Janis Gaye’s “After the Dance” book and this one about Marvin’s life, at the end of the day, you make the final conclusion that Marvin Gaye and most definitely his father along with several members of his family, his mother, wife Janis, brother, sister all suffered from some form of mental illness. Of course during this time, mental illness wasn’t a diagnosis but a label. The drug use and the egotistical attitude didn’t help either. Marvin lived on the edge and beyond his means and at times inflicted pain on the very ones that loved him the most. David Ritz did the best he could with the material he had to write this book; it’s much appreciated on the life of one of the greatest R&B soul artist to exist. Ritz gave some details about Marvin’s demise and murder at the hands of his father that others didn’t speak about. Great job, David Ritz.

Marvin Gaye was a disaster zone. Riddled with insecurities, he agonised over a perceived inner femininity and lack of sexual potency, and haunted by his family name of Gay he added an "e" early in his career in an attempt to deflect fate.He saw himself as a deity, born to bring art to adoring audiences, yet he was terrified of performing live, his fear warping into resentment, contempt and hatred for the women who were lusting for him. He was a notorious no-show, thinking nothing of cancelling performances at the last minute, often instructing his driver to keep driving as they approached a venue.Contempt for the Motown machine led to a disastrous separation, and erratic production of new music let down everyone who attempted subsequently to progress his career. He needed money, desperately, and the only way to get it was to go out on the road. It was an inevitable downward spiral.Much of the blame for his dysfunctional career, his grandiose behaviour and his two disastrous marriages can be laid upon his copious lifetime use of marijuana and cocaine, but the root of it can perhaps be found in his family background. His father, Marvin Gay Sr, was a religious fanatic. An effeminate man who sometimes wore women's clothing and a wig, he would stay for months in his own bedroom, subsisting on vodka. He terrorised his family and frequently stripped his children naked to lash them with a belt. He appears to have shown no love at all to his son.Marvin Gaye was all the time running from his traumatic family background, yet seemed incessantly drawn back home, looking for the unconditional love that only his mother had given him, but which led to his final, fatal encounter with his father.Author David Ritz has based his account on hours of interviews with Gaye himself in the 1970s and the beginning of the 80s, and with many who knew and worked with him. Ritz is a fan, and attempts hagiography, but the monstrous behaviour of his subject cannot be disguised.

I carried this book with me for two weeks before plucking up the courage to get reading. The sombre, painful picture of Marvin on the cover, looking at the North Sea from Ostend and the inevitable sad ending making me hesitate - with and without good reason.Ritz's book proved excellent fast paced reading and dug deep in the torment and paranoia Marvin felt from his first brush of success to his untimely death at the trigger finger of his lifetime nemesis, his father.The book was gripping - as any good and great that Marvin achieved soon morphed into bad and poor in his own mind and into his acts of masochism that followed.Although, being of course a huge Marvin fan, the book was rarely a pleasureable read it projected a truth and reality that was believable of a musician who's genius in undisputable.Four stars - great!

This is a gift for my son's birthday which has not yet been given so I cannot comment on the content. However, I am very disappointed in the quality of the actual book. The photos, including the one on the front cover all appear to be photocopied, they are are terrible quality. Also, the print and binding are of extremely poor quality. I would not have purchased had I seen the book first. It looks cheap and inferior.

Even Marvin's former wife Janis Hunt rates this book. I say this because so many of the great Marvin Gaye's relatives hate it and I can see why. It's brutally honest about Gaye's conflicted sexuality; misogyny and delves into his childhood for answers to what made Marvin Gaye so complex. I always loved Marvin Gaye and his music (I grew up to What's Going On and as a teenager it was always on our record player ..yep in those days we had record players with needles discs and all) but this book made me love and respect him even more and immediately order Here My Dear from Amazon. Which is amazing.....I can't believe I'd never heard of this album before. I also hunted down interviews and performances by Marvin on YouTube which had so much more resonance for me now I know the background to his story. I recommend a very moving short interview of Marvin with his father Gay senior, apparently recorded for a Japanese audience. Marvin Jr's desperate need for approval from his father underscores one of the major issues driving his insecurities and in the light of the eventual denouement (his dad brutally kills him) it's so moving and sad. Marvin Gaye's vocal chords must have been amazing as all the crack cocaine and other drugs he took did not really affect his voice, even towards the very end, just his overall performance where he became a sad sexual parody removing almost all his clothes etc. This book is revealing about Marvin Gaye, brilliant on his childhood and unusual almost cultist, religious background, his first and second wives (Anna Gordy and Janis Hunter) and Motown generally. Very knowledgeable about the music Marvin made and his influences. The only sour/fake note author David Ritz sounds is when he goes on and on about his deep friendship with Marvin. It doesn't matter whether he and Marvin were close or not. It's not a book by a friend anyway. A friend couldn't have been that coldly honest about Marvin Gaye. The extensive research is deep and good enough (despite not interviewing Marvin's ex wives) to deliver an honest, shocking, scary, moving, intimate and rounded portrait of one of the greatest singers and song writers of all time.

Bonkers life, incredible story of one of the greatest musical artists