Divided Soul

The Life of Marvin Gaye

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Divided Soul

By: David Ritz

Narrated by: Dion Graham

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About this listen

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 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, D.C. 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. It is also the story of his glorious music and the music of Black America over the past 50 years, an epic tale whose cast of characters includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordie, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder.

Cultural & Regional

Entertainment & Celebrities

Music

Sociology

Celebrity

Biography

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Critic reviews

"[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." ( The Nation)

Most relevant

I have always loved Marvin Gaye’s music, it was my youth, after listening to his story I feel a little different about the person. For all his talent, looks and obvious brain he wasn’t a good person. As is usual for people with so much talent those around him indulged him, helping him to be delusional. His mother I think held the key to his happiness and unhappiness.