An occasion which foretold of tragedy in soul music historical past occurred on October 14, 1967. It occurred when Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had been on tour in America celebrating the success of their now-classic recording of Ashford & Simpson’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
In July, the track spent two weeks at No.19 on the Billboard Sizzling 100, whereas it was changing into a far greater hit on the R&B chart. It had three weeks at No.3 there, held off the highest by, amongst others, Marvin and Tammi’s Motown labelmate Stevie Marvel, with “I Was Made To Love Her.” Gaye was climbing that chart on the identical time along with his subsequent solo hit, “Your Changing Love.”
A tragic prognosis
Gaye and Terrell’s present at Hampden-Sydney Faculty in Virginia confirmed all was removed from effectively with Tammi’s well being. She fell on stage and collapsed into his arms, and was rushed to a close-by hospital with what was first identified as exhaustion. When medical doctors carried out additional exams on the Philadelphia-born singer, they discovered that, at simply 22, she had a malignant tumour on the proper aspect of her mind.
Marvin continued on the street, with Maxine Brown filling in at a residency the next week on the famed Apollo Theatre in New York. Earlier than the tip of the yr, Gaye and Terrell had been within the pop and soul charts once more, with “Your Precious Love,” which had been recorded again in March. Early in 1968, their magical partnership produced one other main hit, taped on the identical time, “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You.”
The pair did carry out collectively once more, and went on to report additional large hits for Motown in 1968 together with “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need To Get By.” However Terrell by no means regained full well being. She underwent a seemingly countless sequence of operations, and died in March 1970, some six weeks earlier than she would have turned 25.
Gaye, in some ways, by no means recovered, withdrawing from stay efficiency and adopting the introspection that knowledgeable his good, career-changing 1971 album What’s Going On. His reminiscences of probably the most impressed partnerships in all of soul music would by no means depart him.
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