The singer spent 18 months in Belgium in the early 1980s. Photo: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
With a silken voice and a social conscience to match, Marvin Gaye remains one of pop music's greatest icons, his music as in demand today as it was when he was shot by his own father forty years ago .
Fans of the soul legend may be decades away. an unexpected encore awaits you.
Thirty cassettes of previously unheard recordings of Gaye's new tracks were discovered in the Belgian fishing port of Ostend, where the singer spent 18 months in the early 1980s.
The family of Gay's friend and landlord at the time came across the tapes, along with racks of his clothes and stage costumes, including the unmistakable red suit he wore on tour.
They are hoping to make a deal with the family Gay, which will allow you to publish the recordings for the first time.
Photos of the singer from Ostend are displayed in port bars. Photo: Mark Piasecki/Getty Images
The lawyer representing Charles Dumolin's family says some of the tracks are as good as anything made during his lifetime, rivaling even classics like How I Heard This through the grapevine: what's going on? and sexual healing.
Alex Trappeniers, Dumolin's lawyer, said: «There was one song that, after listening to it for ten seconds, I found that the music had been in my head all day, the words had been in my head all day, like a moment of planetary alignment.
“Some of them are complete and some are as good as Sexual Healing because they were created at the same time.”
Mr Trappeniers said BBC: “Here we can open a time capsule and share Marvin's music with the world. This is very clear. He is very present.”
Time in Belgium
Gay moved to Belgium after a period of high life in London, where he developed a severe addiction to cocaine.
After meeting a Belgian concert promoter in a nightclub, he took his business card and a week later they agreed to move to the coastal city Ostend.
Here, living in the house of Dumolin, who was also a musician, he reinvented himself. After he recovered by running and cycling, he returned to the studio to record «Sexual Healing», which became one of his greatest hits.
When he returned to the US, Gaye left the material to Dumolin, who died in 2019.
A statue of Gay was erected in Ostend to commemorate his time there. Photo: Mark Piaseki/Getty Images < p>In addition to recordings, Gaye's treasure trove of memorabilia includes printed concert orders, angry letters to his record company, lyrics to new songs and notebooks filled with his musings.
“They belong [to the Dumolin Family] because they are stayed in Belgium 42 years ago,” Mr. Trappeniers said. “Marvin gave it to them and said, 'Do whatever you want with it,' and it never came back. This is important.»
Negotiations with the Gay Estate
But before the records are released in any form, permission must be obtained from the Gay Estate.
Although under Belgian law the Dumolin family has the right to keep the tapes and other items Gaye left behind, the ownership necessary to publish the songs remains with the singer's children, Marvin III, Nona and Frankie, as well as the administrators of his estate.
Mr. Trappeniers hopes to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. It is understood that lawyers for Marvin Gaye's two children have been informed of the existence of the Belgian collection, but negotiations over its future have not yet begun.
«I think we both benefit, Marvin's family and the collection in the hands of [Dumolin's heirs] «, — he said. «If we put our heads together and find the right people in the world, Mark Ronson or Bruno Mars… I'm not here to make suggestions, but to say, 'OK, let's listen to this and make the next album.' «
In one of pop music's most tragic codas, Gaye was shot twice by his father as he tried to intervene in an argument between his parents.
He was pronounced dead. arriving at California Hospital Medical Center on April 1, 1984, the day before his 45th birthday.
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