His use of overdubbing—layering multiple vocal tracks on top of each other—became increasingly sophisticated through the 1970s and 1980s. On *What’s Going On*, he harmonized with himself in ways that created the sense of a community of voices emerging from one man. On “Sexual Healing,” the vocal layers built a kind of intimacy that was simultaneously private and enormous in scale.
He understood the studio as an instrument. He understood that the recording—not the live performance—was the primary form of his art. This understanding deepened through his career, particularly after he gained creative control in the wake of *What’s Going On*, and it produced an increasingly sophisticated body of work.
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WHAT REMAINS
On Gramercy Place in Los Angeles, the house where Marvin Gaye died still stands. It is a private residence. It is not a museum or a landmark, not officially. The neighborhood has changed in the decades since 1984; West Adams has seen significant demographic and economic shifts.
But the house is still there.
And the music—all of it, from “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” in 1962 to “Sexual Healing” in 1982, from “What’s Going On” to “Mercy Mercy Me” to “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”—is everywhere. It is on streaming platforms that did not exist when Gaye was alive. It is in films and television programs and advertisements and graduation ceremonies. It is played at weddings and funerals and on car radios on ordinary Tuesday afternoons.
In 2003, the Gaye estate released a deluxe reissue of *What’s Going On* to mark its fortieth anniversary. In 2019, the shelved *You’re the Man* album was finally released. In subsequent years, additional archival material has been released, maintaining Gaye’s presence in the contemporary music marketplace.