Worldwide, “Sexual Healing” sold more than four million copies. It became Marvin Gaye’s biggest single. It reached No. 1 in Canada and New Zealand and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
*Midnight Love*, the album it appeared on—Gaye’s first for Columbia Records after a contentious departure from Motown—was released in November 1982 and certified platinum before the end of the year. It would eventually go triple platinum.
By February 1983, Marvin Gaye was standing at the podium at the Grammy Awards to collect Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Instrumental Performance, both for “Sexual Healing.” He also won an American Music Award. *Billboard* ranked “Sexual Healing” as the top R&B song of 1983.
He was back.
He was also, for the first time in a very long time, clean enough—Belgian-calm enough—to enjoy the comeback.
That calm would not survive his return to the United States.
—
PART NINE: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM AND THE FALL
February 13, 1983. The Forum in Inglewood, California.
The NBA All-Star Game.
Before the opening tip-off, a single man walked to a microphone at center court. He was wearing a sequined jacket and a knit cap. He had received permission to sing the national anthem to an accompaniment track, so that Gordon Banks could play the studio version of the arrangement from the stands while Gaye sang live over it.
What he did with “The Star-Spangled Banner” that evening has become one of the most discussed anthem performances in sports history.