Harvey Fuqua obituary | Music | The Guardian Harvey Fuqua obituary Singer, record producer and key figure in the music business Harvey Fuqua, centre, with the Moonglows, including Marvin Gaye, second left, in 1959. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Sunday 11 July 2010 13.23 EDT First published on Sunday 11 July 2010 13.23 EDT Share on Messenger Close Harvey Fuqua, who sang the doo-wop anthem Ten Commandments of Love with the Moonglows, introduced Marvin Gaye to Berry Gordy Jr and produced the classic disco recordings of Sylvester, was one of the key figures who oiled the wheels of black popular music during the burst of creative energy that swept the world in the 1950s and 60s. A singer, record producer and industry executive, he spanned several eras and was active until shortly before his death at the age of 80. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua, a member of the Ink Spots, the internationally popular vocal quartet.

In 1951, aged 22, Harvey and three friends – Prentiss Barnes, Bobby Lester and Alexander Graves – formed their own group, the Crazy Sounds. The following year they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, the headquarters of Alan Freed, the radio disc jockey whose show, Moondog's Rock and Roll Matinee, was already speaking to the nation's youth. Freed, an entrepreneurial type, rechristened them the Moonglows, released their first single on his own Champagne label, and retained an interest in their progress. A move to Chicago brought them several releases on the Chance label, including a version of Doris Day's Secret Love, before they signed for the Chess label, run by the Polish immigrants Leonard and Phil Chess (originally Lejzor and Fiszel Czyz), who were becoming famous for their patronage of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and many other key figures in 1950s rhythm and blues.

The Moonglows' first release on the label, a swooning doo-wop ballad called Sincerely, written by Fuqua and co-credited to Freed, and with Lester taking the lead vocal, reached No 1 on the US R&B hit parade in 1954, but the greater success of a cover version by the McGuire Sisters prevented them from rising above No 20 in the pop charts (the original version was later used by Martin Scorsese in his film Goodfellas). In 1957 they appeared in Freed's exploitation film, Rock Rock Rock, alongside Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, before recording Ten Commandments of Love, in which Fuqua's lugubriously romantic lead vocal was dramatically counterpointed by the spoken words of the group's guitarist, Billy Johnson. Billed as by Harvey and the Moonglows, the song remains a doo-wop standard.

The following year, after a series of disagreements, the other members left the group and Fuqua recruited a new set of Moonglows, importing the members of a Washington DC group called the Marquees, who had been discovered by Bo Diddley and included a young drummer and singer named Marvin Gaye. Fuqua himself stepped aside from the group but continued to record for Chess as a solo artist and in duets with Lester, his former Moonglows colleague, and Etta James. In 1959 he appeared in another Freed film, Go Johnny Go, singing another of his compositions, the finger-popping Don't Be Afraid to Love Me, to the evident enthusiasm of his young white audience. A tall, handsome and charismatic man, Fuqua lacked the distinctive voice to make him a front-line solo artist; instead he turned to backroom activities in the music business. A move to Detroit in 1959 put him in touch with the Gordy clan, initially through Gwen Gordy, a songwriter whose brother Berry was in the process of starting a record company.

Fuqua married Gwen in 1961 and began an association with Berry, who was on the brink of forming the Tamla and Motown labels with a group of ambitious young local singers, songwriters and musicians. While Berry was getting his project off the ground, Fuqua and Gwen started their own labels, Harvey and Tri-Phi, on which they issued records by Harvey's discoveries, including the Spinners (known in the UK as the Detroit Spinners), Shorty Long, Junior Walker and Ann Bogan (later a member of the Marvelettes). In 1963 the labels and their artists were absorbed into Berry's growing empire, and Fuqua became the head of the company's Artists and Repertoire office, responsible for signing new artists, to whom he became a mentor, and for overseeing the production process. As well as Gaye, he brought the singer Tammi Terrell to the company, producing their duets Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Your Precious Love and If This World Were Mine in collaboration with his protege Johnny Bristol.

He was a key figure at Hitsville USA, as Motown's headquarters became known, during the period in which the slogan "The Sound of Young America" carried the ring of absolute truth. When Gordy decided to move the operation to Los Angeles in 1971, leaving many of his employees behind, Fuqua made a production deal with RCA Records. The deal resulted in several hit singles and six albums with New Birth, a group initially featuring Bogan. Later in the decade he produced a series of records featuring the gospel-trained gay singer Sylvester, including I (Who Have Nothing), You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Dance (Disco Heat), in which a talented young arranger, Patrick Cowley, added a new level of emotional drama to disco music and created the blueprint for a style known as Hi-NRG, a key influence on such later artists as Bronski Beat and the Pet Shop Boys. When Gaye left Motown in 1982, after falling out with Gordy, he enlisted Fuqua to help him put the finishing touches to his first recordings for Columbia Records. The resulting album, Midnight Love, and a single, Sexual Healing, restored Gaye's popularity and earned two Grammy awards.

In April 1984, however, Gaye was shot dead by his father during an argument between his parents. In later years Fuqua lived in North Carolina and worked from time to time as the road manager for Smokey Robinson, another friend from the early days at Motown. The Moonglows occasionally reunited to perform at doo-wop revival shows, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Fuqua also became a trustee of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, set up to provide some of the music's pioneering figures with the financial rewards originally denied them by the larcenous business practices of the music industry. His death came in a Detroit hospital after a heart attack. Gwen, from whom he was divorced in the 1960s, died in 1999; he is survived by his second wife, Dr Carolyne Fuqua, the founder of the Circles of Light ministries and a teacher of Egyptian mysticism, and several children.

• Harvey Fuqua, singer, record producer and music industry executive, born 27 July 1929; died 6 July 2010 In The 80s - People Who Died in The Eighties, 1984 People Who Died in The Eighties, 1984 January -- Johnny Weissmuller, US swimmer (Olympics-5 gold-1924, 28), dies at 79 January 09 Wolfgang Staudte, German director (Ciske de Rat), dies at 77 January 10 Suvanna Phuma, premier of Laos, dies at 82 January 11 Fritz Geissler, composer, dies at 62 January 11 Jack La Rue, TV narrator (Lights Out), dies at 81 January 14 Mary Zeldenrust-Noordanus, Dutch sexuologist (NVSH), dies at 55 January 14 Paul Ben Haim, composer, dies at 86 January 14 Ray Kroc, founder of MacDonalds/owner San Diego Padres, dies at 81 January 18 Malcolm H Kerr, 9th pres of American U of

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 Sam Peckinpah, director, dies of cardiac arrest at 59 December 29 Marvin Gaye News - The New York Times Songwriters Hall of Fame to Honor Marvin Gaye, Elvis Costello and Tom Petty By JOE COSCARELLI Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic will also be inducted at a ceremony in New York on June 9 March 2, 2016, Wednesday Nailing the National Anthem: Who’s Done It Best?

By FRED BIERMAN Many people still laud Whitney Houston’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Super Bowl in 1991. Do you have a favorite rendition? January 12, 2016, Tuesday Robin Thicke on ‘Blurred Lines’ and Learning From His Mistakes By JODY ROSEN The R&B star talks for the first time about trying to salvage his career after a $7.4 million verdict against him in a copyright lawsuit. July 5, 2015, Sunday Both Sides in ‘Blurred Lines’ Copyright Suit Signal a Continuing Battle By BEN SISARIO Lawyers for both the Marvin Gaye family and the musicians found to have infringed on Gaye’s 1977 copyright filed documents in federal court on Monday. March 19, 2015, Thursday ‘Blurred Lines’ Lawyer Rocks Music Industry Again By BEN SISARIO Richard S. Busch has made a legal specialty of winning cases that have had wide-ranging repercussions for the music industry.

March 16, 2015, Monday The Blurred Lines Between Homage and Plagiarism By BEN RATLIFF Ben Sisario, Jon Caramanica and Ben Ratliff discuss the “Blurred Lines” copyright trial, from the amazing Robin Thicke deposition to Pharrell Williams’s “bluegrass defense.” March 13, 2015, Friday What’s Wrong With the ‘Blurred Lines’ Copyright Ruling By JON CARAMANICA In basing its verdict on sheet music, a critic argues, a jury in Los Angeles ignored how songs are actually created today. March 12, 2015, Thursday ‘Blurred Lines’ Infringed on Marvin Gaye Copyright, Jury Rules By BEN SISARIO and NOAH SMITH The jury found that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, who share a songwriting credit on the song, had committed copyright infringement, and it awarded more than $7.3 million to Mr. Gaye’s family.

March 11, 2015, Wednesday Pharrell Williams Acknowledges Similarity to Gaye Song in ‘Blurred Lines’ Case By BEN SISARIO and NOAH SMITH In testimony in a copyright-infringement case, Mr. Williams, producer of the Robin Thicke hit, denied any intention of copying “Got to Give It Up.” March 5, 2015, Thursday Industry Issues Intrude in ‘Blurred Lines’ Case By BEN SISARIO While a copyright infringement case focuses on the sheet music version of a Robin Thicke hit, the trial raises questions about the music industry and one artist’s debt to another.

March 2, 2015, Monday Nick Ashford: Singer, songwriter and producer who penned a succession of Motown hits with his wife, Valerie Simpson | The Independent Nick Ashford: Singer, songwriter and producer who penned a succession of Motown hits with his wife, Valerie Simpson Wednesday 24 August 2011 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Odes to the undying power of love: Ashford performing with Valerie Simpson in 2006 GETTY IMAGES In the late 1960s, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell were Motown's sweet songbirds, duetting on the romantic ballads "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Your Precious Love", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By".

These odes to the undying, eternal power of love were tailor-made by Nick Ashford and his writing partner and later wife, Valerie Simpson, and mirrored their enduring and happy relationship, the flip side to the tragic fate that would befall Terrell, who died of a brain tumour in March 1970, and Gaye, who was shot dead by his father in April 1984. During their seven-year tenure as songwriters and producers for Motown, between 1966 and 1973, Ashford and Simpson also penned and produced hits for Diana Ross, most notably "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", the former Supreme's debut solo hit, and a new arrangement of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" that topped both the R&B and pop charts in the US in 1970. The pair also worked with acts such as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, The Marvelettes and The Velvelettes.

After they married in 1974, the couple's run of success continued with The Dynamic Superiors, The Brothers Johnson and Teddy Pendergrass as well as Quincy Jones, whose first British hit, the irresistible "Stuff Like That" they co-wrote and sang on in 1978. Their phenomenal catalogue also includes the perennial favourites "California Soul", recorded by The 5th Dimension, Gaye & Terrell and Marlena Shaw, "I'm Every Woman" – Chaka Khan's 1978 signature song, subsequently revived by Whitney Houston in 1992 – and "Solid", the upbeat 1984 Transatlantic hit they eventually scored in their own right, two decades after making their recording debut as Valerie & Nick. Born Nickolas Ashford in Fairfield, South Carolina, in 1942, he grew up in Michigan. One of three brothers who all had careers in music, he first sang in the choir at Willow Run Baptist Church, where his yearning falsetto and ability to ad-lib drew plaudits. Gospel music remained a constant inspiration throughout his life. "So much soul comes out of the Baptist church, it's so embedded in you," he said.

After dropping out of Eastern Michigan University he moved to New York, where he hoped his lithe physique would enable him to become a dancer. He failed to realise this ambition and slept on park benches after running out of money. One day in 1963, he ventured into the White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem, where he met Simpson, a piano player, singer and music student four years his junior. They began collaborating and became staff writers for the publishing company attached to the Scepter and Wand labels. Over the next two years, as well as cutting three singles, including the moderately successful "I'll Find You", as Valerie & Nick, they placed songs with Betty Everett, Doris Troy, Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, The Shirelles, Mitty Collier and Tina Britt. However, their big break came in late 1965, when a chance remark at the end of a fruitless session turned into their first R&B chart-topper. "We couldn't come up with anything," Ashford recalled in The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm'n'Blues Hits. "I said: 'Let's go get stoned'. I meant, just go have a drink.

I started ad-libbing the title and Val picked it up and we just kind of made it up. Ed [Silvers, their publisher] said: 'Y'all joking, but if you finish this, I bet I can get a record with Ray Charles'." Indeed, the following year, the genius of soul charted with "Let's Go Get Stoned" and again with "I Don't Need No Doctor", another Ashford and Simpson composition that became a mainstay of the repertoire of Humble Pie, the British rock band led by Steve Marriott. The Motown songwriting and producing triumvirate of Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier duly recruited Ashford and Simpson on Berry Gordy's behalf. "Nick's lyrics with Valerie's melodies and arrangements added a new, sophisticated and dramatic element to our overall sound," Gordy, the label's founder, wrote in To Be Loved, his autobiography. "When their first production on Marvin and Tammi was brought into the Friday meeting, there was no debate. 'Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing' was voted a smash and it was.

When their next record 'You're All I Need to Get By', was played, it sounded so great to me I didn't bother to take a vote. No one complained. It is still one of my all-time favourites." Given leeway to remain based in New York, Ashford and Simpson mostly wrote at home and would travel to Detroit and stay for a week or two in order to polish their elegant productions. "I remember when we started, I wasn't thinking of Marvin and Tammi, I was just thinking of the songs," said Ashford of the demos he brought to the sessions. "I would always sing Marvin's part very straight, with no frills, so I wouldn't be embarrassed when he sang." Ashford and Simpson became extremely adept at tailoring material to the singers. "They worked well together, they made things easy," remembered Ashford, who added backing vocals with Simpson, while her piano playing provided "the foundation that kind of cued the feeling," as he put it.

In 1968, Ashford, who had sung backing vocals on the Dee Dee Warwick 1966 recording of the Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff composition "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", helped Frank Wilson produce a shivers-down-the-spine remake by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations which reached the Top 3 in Britain. In 1970, Ashford and Simpson wrote and produced Diana Ross's eponymous solo debut, featuring "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and an extended, sweeping version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", a mammoth session with the rhythm track cut in Detroit and the strings arranged by Paul Riser and dubbed in New York. "At that time, lengthy records were starting to come out: six, seven minutes. We didn't have any songs like that, but we wanted Diana to feel she was into new things. We thought to stretch 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'," Ashford explained. However, Gordy wasn't sure about the result, especially the lengthy chorus that took up the last third of the track.

"You're gonna have to take the back and put it up in the front," he told the writers, who refused to tamper with the recording. The deadlock was broken when disc-jockeys began playing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" from the album, forcing Gordy to sanction its release as a single. Ashford and Simpson also produced Surrender, the 1971 album by Ross, and collaborated with her again on The Boss album in 1979. By that time, frustrated with the lack of promotion Motown afforded the two albums Simpson made for the label, and the shelving of an Ashford & Simpson duo project, they had broken away and signed with Warners as writers/producers and recording artists in 1973. They made nine albums for the label, most notably Stay Free, a mainstay of the dance charts in 1979.

They renewed their association with Quincy Jones to help him complete "Stuff Like That" and the soundtrack to The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, and worked with Rufus & Chaka Khan, most famously contributing the sublime "I'm Every Woman", the anthem that won Khan the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female Grammy Award in 1979. Despite scoring 22 entries on the R&B charts in the US, Ashford & Simpson hadn't managed a crossover hit of their own on Warners. They finally achieved this with "Solid" after they moved to Capitol in the Eighties. "The song came about from the streets," Ashford recalled. "At that time, I was walking around New York and the brothers had an expression, 'Yo, solid', you know. I came home and said to Val: 'That kind of applies to us'." Mixed by Ron St. Germain and François Kevorkian, who suggested the a capella introduction, "Solid" became an international smash. The prolific duo continued recording and performing live until recently. In the mid-Nineties, they opened the Sugar Bar in Manhattan, where friends like Patti Labelle and Stevie Wonder would drop in on open-mike nights.

The all-pervasive influence of their work continues to this day, as demonstrated by the sample of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which forms the basis of the Amy Winehouse track "Tears Dry on Their Own", while rappers and producers like 50 Cent and 9th Wonder have found rich pickings amongst Ashford and Simpson's back catalogue. Paying tribute to Ashford, who died of complications from throat cancer, Gordy said: "He, together with his wife, Valerie Simpson, wrote and produced some of the most unique and memorable songs in the Motown catalogue. But more importantly to me, Nick Ashford was an all-around beautiful human being. I know we will be celebrating his life forever." Pierre Perrone Nickolas Ashford, singer, songwriter, producer: born Fairfield, South Carolina 4 May 1942; married 1974 Valerie Simpson (two daughters); died New York City 22 August 2011. More about: 1000+ images about Marvin Gaye on Pinterest | Stage name, You and i and Father Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye (b.

April 2, 1939) See More 5 Famous Deaths At the Hands of Loved Ones - Biography.com Crime & Scandal 5 Famous Deaths At the Hands of Loved Ones Thirty-one years ago today, Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father. Gaye is one of many tragic stories in Hollywood, in which the perpetrator was someone close to the victim. Avatar: Social count: 971 Thirty-one years ago today, Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father. Gaye is one of many tragic stories in Hollywood, in which the perpetrator was someone close to the victim. 971 0 The saying goes, 'There's no greater loss for a parent than the death of a child,' but can you imagine when that death ends up being at the hands of the actual parent? It's a hard pill to swallow. This, however, is what happened to Motown superstar Marvin Gaye, Jr. when he stared down the barrel of a gun held by his own father on April 1, 1984. As today marks the 31st anniversary of Gaye's tragic death, we take a look at some famous murders that occurred at the hands of a loved one.

R&B/Soul Singer Marvin Gaye: April 1, 1984 The fatal shooting of Motown's "Prince of Soul," Marvin Gaye, Jr. , goes down in the record books as one of the most famous and tragic deaths in music history. Born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (he later added the "e" in his surname) in 1939 in Washington, D.C., the R&B/soul singer had 18 Top 10 hit singles and is best known for such classics as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Going On," "Let's Get It On," and his 1982 comeback song, the chart-topping "Sexual Healing," which earned him two Grammy Awards. Plagued by drug abuse, the artist moved in with his parents, preacher Marvin Gay, Sr., and Alberta Gay in the West Adams area of Los Angeles. A day before his 45th birthday on April 1, 1984 at approximately 11:38 a.m. PST, a fight broke out between father and son over the senior Marvin's treatment of his mother during an argument over insurance papers.

The fight allegedly turned physical when, as Alberta said in a 1985 Ebony article, that her son pushed and kicked his father. As the story goes, Gay Sr. allegedly retaliated with a gunshot from a .38 pistol to his son's chest followed by a second gunshot reportedly fired at point-blank range. Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten: August 14, 1980 Dorothy Stratten (Photo: Fotos International/ Getty Images ) At the height of her short-lived career, Playboy model/actress Dorothy Stratten suffered a tragic ending at the hands of her estranged husband, Paul Snider, founder of male stripping act, The Chippendales. Born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten on February 28, 1960 in Vancouver, the blonde beauty came to fame after being named Playmate in the 1979 issue of Playboy, and appearing in such movies as Skatetown, USA and Americathon the same year. She was named Playmate of the Year in 1980. The rising star married Snider in 1979, but the pair was estranged at the time of her murder.

On August 14, 1980, the two met on at the couple's former home to discuss a divorce. Instead of splitting amicably, Snider shot her to death with a shotgun and then committed suicide with the same gun. Reportedly, police believe that Snider raped and abused her corpse before pulling the trigger on himself. Both bodies were naked when police arrived. Since her death, Stratten became the subject of two movies, a song, and several books, including Jamie Lee Curtis 's portrayal of her in Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, and singer Bryan Adams's song "The Best Was Yet to Come." She was only 20 years old when she was killed. Actress Dominique Dunne: November 4, 1982 Just four months after appearing in the 1982 blockbuster supernatural thriller, Poltergeist, 22-year-old actress Dominique Dunne was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, sous-chef John Thomas Sweeney, at her West Hollywood home. The attack put her in a coma for five days until she was declared brain dead and taken off life support.

Dunne was the daughter of heiress Ellen Griffin and Dominick Dunne , a film producer, writer, investigative journalist, and television host, and the niece of novelists Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. Her first break as an actress came when she was cast in the 1979 movie, Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. She soon appeared in the hit '80s television shows, Lou Grant, Hart to Hart, and Fame, before landing her first feature film role in the Steven Spielberg-produced supernatural thriller Poltergeist. The trouble with her boyfriend Sweeney began shortly after the two moved in together, just weeks after meeting. A few months prior to her murder, two altercations occurred, one being his first attempt on her life by strangling. In 1983, Sweeney was acquitted of the second-degree murder charge, but was still found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and also convicted of a misdemeanor assault for a previous attack. He was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison, but only served three years and seven months.

Actor Phil Hartman: May 28, 1998 Cocaine use and alcohol reportedly contributed to Brynn Hartman's decision to shoot her husband, actor Phil Hartman , at point-blank range with his own Smith & Wesson .38 as he slept in the bed they shared in their Encino, Calif. home. She shot him twice in the head and once on his side. Hartman, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, NewsRadio, and for voicing several characters on The Simpsons, had reportedly threatened to divorce his wife of 11 years, during an argument over her drug use. Along with her drug problems, which resulted in two stints in rehab, Brynn also suffered from depression. She was taking the antidepressant drug, Zoloft, at the time of the shooting. Shortly after admitting to a friend that she killed her husband in the early morning hours of May 28, 1998, Brynn climbed into the couple's bed where Phil's dead body still lay and sitting up against the headboard she put the gun in her mouth and fired her own fatal shot.

When police arrived, they found Brynn's dead body slumped over that of her husband, orphaning the couple's two children. In 1999, Hartman's estate filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Pfizer, the manufacturer of the antidepressant drug that Brynn was taking, as well as her psychiatrist. Pfizer settled. Bonnie Lee Bakley: May 4, 2001 Though out of the public eye for some time, Robert Blake — star of Truman Capote 's 1967 film In Cold Blood, and the 1970's show Baretta — became a household name again after he was charged with murdering his wife of one year, Bonnie Lee Bakley. The high profile trial intrigue centered on Bakley's background and the couple's strange history. She was widely known as a con artist and for allegedly swindling men for money and had been arrested for writing $200,000 in bad checks, along with having more than 30 fake identifications.

She served jail time before meeting Blake in 1999 and becoming his wife after a paternity test proved he was the father of her daughter, Rose, which she initially named Christian Shannon Brando after claiming Marlon Brando 's son, Christian, was the father. On May 4, 2001, the couple had dinner at a restaurant, and upon leaving the restaurant, Blake claimed to have realized that he left his revolver in the restaurant and returned to retrieve it. When he came back to the car, he found his wife dead with a gunshot wound to her head. Blake was charged with one count of murder with special circumstances, two counts of solicitation of murder, and one count of murder conspiracy. He was acquitted in 2005, but found liable for the wrongful death of his wife in the civil case filed by Bakley's children and ordered to pay $30 million in restitution.

Tags Anna Gordy Gaye obituary | Music | The Guardian Anna Gordy Gaye obituary Songwriter and wife of Marvin Gaye who inspired a masterpiece Gordy Gaye, who was the sister of Motown's founder, Berry Gordy, had her own label, with Money (That's What I Want) her biggest hit. Photograph: Donaldson/Getty Thursday 6 February 2014 14.15 EST First published on Thursday 6 February 2014 14.15 EST Share on Messenger Close When Anna Gordy divorced Marvin Gaye in 1975, the settlement was unusual: she would receive the proceeds from his next album – $305,000 from the advance and $295,000 in future royalties – in lieu of maintenance and child support. Gaye claimed to be broke, but since he was enjoying a period of success with such hits as What's Going On and Let's Get It On, Gordy, who has died aged 92, could have looked forward to substantial compensation for the end of their turbulent 12-year marriage.

What she could not have expected was that her ex-husband would turn the album into a post-mortem examination of their relationship. Gaye had begun the project with the aim of rushing through it to meet his obligation while paying scant attention to quality. As he became more involved in the music, however, he created a rambling but ultimately compelling catalogue of his own feelings towards a woman 17 years his senior, ranging from the tenderly reminiscent to the bitterly dismissive. Stretching over two 12-inch long-playing discs, the album was unambiguously titled Here, My Dear. The critics didn't like it much, and neither did Anna: she briefly considered another lawsuit, this time for invasion of privacy, mentioning a sum of $5m. She would have been equally unhappy about its relative commercial failure, but time has shown it to be the last of Gaye's masterpieces for Motown, the company founded by Anna's younger brother Berry. It was not the only imprint she left on the soul music of the 1960s and 70s.

The words of some of Gaye's early hits, notably Pride and Joy, were inspired by the beautiful and sophisticated woman he had met when he was still a session drummer. She became his occasional songwriting partner, collaborating on two songs – Flyin' High and God is Love – for the classic album What's Going On, and on The Bells and Baby I'm For Real, two of the finest soul ballads of the early 1970s, both recorded by the Originals, a Motown vocal group, under Gaye's supervision. The third of the eight children born to Berry "Pops" Gordy II and his wife Bertha, Anna was not a year old when the family moved from Oconee, Georgia, her birthplace, to Detroit, a city on whose worldwide reputation the ambitious and entrepreneurial family would have much influence. At 18, after graduating from high school, she moved to California, soon joined by Berry Jr, one of her younger brothers, who was then pursuing a career as a boxer. Both eventually returned to Detroit, where Berry Jr would found the Motown group of labels, with Gaye among its first artists.

Anna, however, had also made an early move into the music business, first as a local distributor for New York's Gone and Chicago's Chess labels and then, in 1958, as the co-founder with her sister Gwen of the Anna label, whose biggest hit was the much-covered Money (That's What I Want) by Barrett Strong. Gaye had been hired as the label's house drummer, and when it folded he signed a new contract with Berry Jr as a singer. Marvin and Anna – "the glamour girl of the family", in Berry Jr's words – were married in 1963, the year Pride and Joy topped the R&B charts; he was 24, she 41. Three years later they adopted a son who had been born to Anna's teenaged niece, although the public was told that the boy, Marvin III, had been naturally conceived by the Gayes. In 1972 they moved to a house in Hollywood, where Marvin built a studio. But the marriage, although founded on a mutual infatuation that never quite burnt itself out, was scarred by both parties' infidelities and by violent outbursts, sometimes in public.

In 1973 Marvin left Anna for the 16-year-old Janis Hunter, who became his second wife and the mother of two more children. They were amicably reconciled in the years immediately before Gaye was shot dead by his father in 1984. She helped the three children to scatter his ashes in the Pacific, and in 1987 she and Marvin III accepted his posthumous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here, My Dear, with its mixture of remembered joy and present anguish, will remain as an extraordinary memorial. She is survived by Marvin III and two grandsons, Marvin IV and Dylan Gaye. • Anna Ruby Gordy Gaye, songwriter, born 28 January 1922; died 31 January 2014

Question: Which US singer/record producer was shot dead by his father in 1984?
Answer: Marvin Gaye