Gaye followed up with another number 1 R&B hit, "Too Busy Thinking 'Bout My Baby", but his career was derailed by the insidious illness and eventual death of Terrell in March 1970.

Devastated by the loss of his close friend and partner, Gaye spent most of 1970 in seclusion. The following year, he emerged with a set of recordings that Motown at first refused to release, but which eventually formed his most successful solo album. On "What's Going On", a number 1 hit in 1971, and its two chart-topping follow-ups, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues", Gaye combined his spiritual beliefs with his increasing concern about poverty, discrimination and political corruption in American society.

Gaye new musical style influenced a new generation of black performers. Built on a heavily percussive base, Gaye's arrangements mingled jazz and classical influences into his soul roots, creating a fluid instrumental backdrop for his sensual, almost despairing vocals. The three singles were all contained on What's Going On, a conceptual masterpiece on which every track contributed to the spiritual yearning suggested by its title. After making a sly comment on the 1972 US presidential election campaign with the single "You're The Man", Gaye composed the soundtrack to the "blaxploitation" thriller movie called Trouble Man. His primarily instrumental score highlighted his interest in jazz, while the title song provided him with another hit single.

Gaye's next project saw him shifting his attention from the spiritual to the sexual with Let's Get It On, which included a quote from T.S. Eliot on the sleeve and devoted itself to the art of talking a woman into bed. Its explicit sexuality marked a sea-change in Gaye's career; as he began to use cocaine more and more regularly, he became obsessed with his personal life, and rarely let the outside world figure in his work. Paradoxically, he continued to let Motown market him in a traditional fashion by agreeing to collaborate with Diana Ross on a sensuous album of duets in 1973 - although the two singers allegedly did not actually meet during the recording of the project.

The break-up of his marriage to Anna Gordy in 1975 delayed work on his next album. I Want You was merely a pleasant reworking of the Let's Get It On set (*Which included - "What's Going On", a number 1 hit in 1971, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues) albeit cast in slightly more contemporary mode. The title track was another number 1 hit on the soul charts, however, as was his 1977 disco extravaganza, "Got To Give It Up". Drug problems and tax demands interrupted his career, and in 1978 he fled the US mainland to Hawaii in a vain attempt to salvage his second marriage. Gaye devoted the next year to the Here, My Dear double album, which provided a bitter commentary on his relationship with his first wife. Its title was ironic: he had been ordered to give all royalties from the project to Anna as part of their divorce settlement.

With this catharsis behind him, Gaye began work on an album to be called Lover Man, but he cancelled its release after the lukewarm sales of its initial single, the sharply self-mocking "Ego Tripping Out", which he had presented as a duet between the warring sides of his nature. In 1980, under increasing pressure from the Internal Revenue Service, Gaye moved to Europe where he began work on an ambitious concept album, In My Lifetime.

In 1981, Gaye accused Motown Records of remixing and editing the album without his consent, of removing a vital question mark from the title, and of parodying his original cover artwork. The relationship between artist and record company had been shattered, and Gaye left Motown for Columbia Records in 1982.

The subsequent album, Midnight Love, offered no equal surprises, but the success of the single seemed to herald a new era in Gaye's music. He returned to the USA, where he took up residence at his parents" home. The intensity of his cocaine addiction made it impossible for him to work on another album, and he fell into a prolonged bout of depression. He repeatedly announced his wish to commit suicide in the early weeks of 1984, and his abrupt shifts of mood brought him into heated conflict with his father, rekindling animosity that had festered since Gaye's adolescence. On 1 April 1984, another violent disagreement provoked Marvin Gay Snr, to shoot his son dead, a tawdry end to the life of one of soul music's greatest singers. Gaye's remarkable vocal range and fluency remains a touchstone for all subsequent soul vocalists, and his lover man stance has been frequently copied as well as parodied. The City of Washington D.C, Usa can proudly put forward their man as one of the most important figures in Soul music.

The City of Detroit, via its former record label called Motown, saw the city gain International exposure on a massive scale. Its, immense influence in helping Soul music to become the most potent influences within black contemporary music is now legendary. Motown Records was born in the month of June, 1960. After a couple of years reinventing, and honing the Motown sound. The label managed to achieve its first Million dollar hit with the group called the Miracles with the track called "Shop Around", and with the group called Mavelettes with the track called "Please, please Mr. Postman."

After this, the floodgates truly well opened, where it seemed everything that they truly wanted to actually happened. The label also managed to create along the way its own superstars as well. For instance names such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Four Tops, The Velvettes, The Jackson 5 and The Temptations.

By the mid 1960's, already established artists of their own right such as the Isley Brothers and Glady's Night and the Pips were being attracted to the label as well.

The label has gone down in history as one of the most successful labels in the music business. Its influence alone towards Soul music is immense, and one that should not ever be overlooked. However, many of the artists of the label of Motown were being to want more control of the material that they were producing as years went by. This would allow them (*In their eyes) to become more accomplished and less one dimensional to there public.

Marvin Gaye's "Lets get it on" and Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" represented a watershed, as these 2 artists managed to break free from the artistic restrictions on their musicianship.

The Motown label, with its sights set on bigger and supposedly better things, decided that the time was right to move on from Detriot. This led to the labels move to the West coast of America in the 1980's. Soul music wise, many have noted that the heart of the city had been ripped out when this happened,and the City hasn't been the same since. Poppycock, many of the youngsters state. We have since gone on to create a brand new musical form since then. Its called "Techno music".

The City of Philadelphia's claim to re-defining and helping Soul Music to evolve to level that all of us take for granted today owes a lot to the prolific songwriting work of "Gamble and Huff" (Kevin Gamble and Leon Huff).

The Philadelphia International label just seem to take over in the 1970's where the Motown Record label dominance's during the 1960's was so strong. Names such as O Jays's, Harold Melvin and the Blues Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, Archie Drell and the Bells, Billy Paul, The Three Degrees, The Jones Girls, People's Choice and other Philadelphia acts are legendary, not just in this city, but the worldwide. Other artists of the label were to see their careers revived by the label such as Lou Rawls and the solo Jerry Butler.

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