Divided Soul

The Life Of Marvin Gaye

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By David Ritz

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$21.99

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$28.99 CAD

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  1. Trade Paperback $21.99 $28.99 CAD
  2. ebook $12.99 $16.99 CAD

“A biography as dramatic as any to come out of the pop field . . . told with sympathy and unflinching candor.”–San Francisco Chronicle

In this intimate biography of the Prince of Soul, David Ritz provides a candid look at a star and a friend. Ritz had been collaborating with Gaye on his story for several years before the singer’s tragic death, and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets. Drawing from these interviews, Gaye’s life is recounted in his own words and the words of those who knew him best: his family, friends, and colleagues. What emerges is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul.

Here is Marvin’s story from his early years in the slums of Washington, D.C., to is rise to the top of the Motown industry, his fall from grace, his comeback, and finally his sudden, shocking end at the hands of his own father. But it is also the story of his glorious music, and the music of black America over the past fifty years, from gospel to doo-wop to soul to funk. The result is an epic tale whose cast of characters includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder, among others.

The definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive man, Divided Soul takes us deep into the life and music of one of America’s most passionate–and most troubled–composers and singers.

On Sale
May 8, 2003
Page Count
416 pages
Publisher
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13
9780306811913

David Ritz

About the Author

David Ritz is the only four-time winner of the Gleason Music Book Award and won the 2013 ASCAP Timothy White award for outstanding musical biography for his book with Buddy Guy. With Marvin Gaye, he also cowrote the song “Sexual Healing”. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife.

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