Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Hailing from Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania respectively, soul stars Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had each achieved noteworthy success as soloists before their paths converged. With Gaye having stormed the US charts with a string of hits and Terrell, a former signee of James Brown’s, having landed a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit of her own in “I Cried”, Motown Records suggested that they join forces for a collaborative album. Following hot on the heels of Gaye’s LPs with Mary Wells and Kim Weston, the pair’s first duet “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” arrived in 1967, peaking at #19 in the US and reintroducing Terrell to the wider public. Their follow-up, “Your Precious Love”, proved even more popular, reaching #5 on the Hot 100. A week later, they released a debut joint album, United, which peaked at #69 in the US. In October of the same year, however, a then 22-year-old Terrell collapsed onstage amidst a duet with Gaye, and was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumour. After undergoing surgery, she returned to the studio, finalising a second album with Gaye entitled You’re All I Need. The LP landed in 1968, spawning a hit in “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, which peaked at #8 in the US and also reached the UK top 40. With Terrell’s cancer worsening and additional surgeries required, Motown rushed out her debut solo album, Irresistible, in 1969, which consisted entirely of material recorded prior to her illness. A third and final album with Gaye, Easy, landed in 1969 and produced a UK top ten hit in “The Onion Song”, although Gaye repeatedly denounced the label for releasing it. He alleged that the majority of the female vocals on the album had in fact been recorded by stand-in singer Valerie Simpson, a claim which both Simpson and the label repeatedly denied. Both Terrell and Gaye sadly faced untimely deaths: Terrell’s cancer claimed her life in 1970 when she was just 24, and Gaye was later murdered by his own father in 1984 at the age of 44.

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