Editing Marvin Gaye (section)

===''What's Going On'' and subsequent success===
{{Main|What's Going On (album)|Let's Get It On}}
On June 1, 1970, Gaye returned to [[Hitsville U.S.A.]], where he recorded his new composition "[[What's Going On (song)|What's Going On]]", inspired by an idea from [[Renaldo "Obie" Benson]] of the [[Four Tops]] after he witnessed an act of [[police brutality]] at an [[anti-war]] rally in Berkeley.{{sfn|Lynskey|2011|pp=155}} Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy refused its release due to his feelings of the song being "too political" for radio and feared Gaye would lose his crossover audience.{{sfn|Bowman|2006|p=16}} Gaye responded by deciding against releasing any other new material before the label released it.{{sfn|Bowman|2006|p=16}} Released in 1971, it reached No. 1 on the R&B charts within a month, staying there for five weeks. It also reached the top spot on [[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'s pop chart for a week and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and the [[Record World]] chart, selling over two million copies.{{sfn|Vincent|1996|p=129}}{{sfn|Whitburn|2004|p=250}}

After giving an ultimatum to record a full album to win creative control from Motown, Gaye spent ten days recording the ''[[What's Going On (album)|What's Going On]]'' album that March.{{sfn|Lynskey|2011|p=157}} Motown issued the album that May after Gaye remixed the album in Hollywood.{{sfn|Bowman|2006|p=16}} The album became Gaye's first million-selling album launching two more top ten singles, "[[Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)]]" and "[[Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)|Inner City Blues]]". One of Motown's first autonomous works, its theme and segue flow brought the [[concept album]] format to rhythm and blues and soul music. An [[AllMusic]] writer later cited it as "the most important and passionate record to come out of [[soul music]], delivered by one of its finest voices".<ref name="review_1">John Bush. ''What's Going On'' remains one of the few examples in modern music of critical acclaim and immediate commercial success occurring simultaneously. ''What's Going On'' was the first in a series of Motown albums in which albums overtook singles in commercial importance as well as cultural significance.[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r8079/review|pure_url=yes}} review of ''What's Going On''], by Marvin Gaye, allmusic.com (accessed June 10, 2005)</ref> For the album, Gaye received two [[14th Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]] nominations at the 1972 ceremony and several [[NAACP Image Award]]s.{{sfn|Jet|1973|p=60}} The album also topped ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s year-end list as its album of the year. ''Billboard'' magazine named Gaye "Trendsetter of the Year" following the album's success.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

[[File:Marvin Gaye (1973).png|thumb|Gaye in 1973|alt=|190x190px]]

In 1971, Gaye signed a new deal with Motown worth $1&nbsp;million (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1000000|1971}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{inflation-fn|US}}), making it the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist at the time.{{sfn|MacKenzie|2009|p=156}} Gaye first responded to the new contract with the soundtrack and subsequent [[Sheet music|score]], ''[[Trouble Man (album)|Trouble Man]]'', released in late 1972. Before the release of ''Trouble Man,'' Marvin released a single called "[[You're the Man]]". The [[You're the Man (album)|album of the same name]] was a follow-up to ''What's Going On,'' but Motown refused to promote the single, according to Gaye. According to some biographies,{{which|date=June 2023}} Gordy, who was considered a moderate, feared Gaye's left-leaning political views would alienate Motown's moderately liberal audiences. As a result, Gaye shelved the project and substituted it for ''Trouble Man''. In 2019, [[Universal Music Group]] released the album on what would've been Gaye's 80th birthday.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/02/marvin-gaye-youre-the-man-official-release/|title=Marvin Gaye's lost 1972 album You're the Man to receive official release|date=February 7, 2019|access-date=February 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212214103/https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/02/marvin-gaye-youre-the-man-official-release/|archive-date=February 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In between the releases of ''What's Going On'' and ''Trouble Man'', Gaye and his family relocated to Los Angeles, making Marvin one of the final Motown artists to move there despite early protests urging him to stay in Detroit.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In August 1973, Gaye released the ''[[Let's Get It On]]'' album. Its [[Let's Get It On (song)|title track]] became Gaye's second No. 1 single on the Hot 100. The album was later hailed as "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy".<ref name="review_2">Jason Ankeny, [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r8081|pure_url=yes}} review of ''Let's Get It On''], by Marvin Gaye, allmusic.com (accessed June 10, 2005).</ref> Other singles from the album included "[[Come Get to This]]", which recalled Gaye's early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive "[[You Sure Love to Ball]]" reached modest success on the R&B charts, while also managing to make the pop top 50, its success halted by radio refusing to play the sexually explicit song.{{sfn|Edmonds|2001b|pp=8–9}}

In the 1970s, Gaye's sister-in-law turned her attention to [[Frankie Beverly]], the founder of [[Maze (band)|Maze]]. Marvin took them on his tours, featured them as the opening acts of his concerts, and persuaded Beverly to change the band's name from Raw Soul to Maze.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Marvin's final duet project, ''[[Diana & Marvin]]'', with [[Diana Ross]], garnered international success despite contrasting artistic styles. Much of the material was crafted especially for the duo by Ashford and Simpson.<ref>"Ross, Diana/Marvin Gaye – Diana & Marvin." ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', 4th ed. Ed. Colin Larkin. ''Oxford Music Online''. [[Oxford University Press]]. Web. January 28, 2017.</ref> Responding to demand from fans and Motown, Gaye started his first [[concert tour]] in four years at the [[Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum]] on January 4, 1974.{{sfn|Edmonds|2001b|p=14}} The performance received critical acclaim and resulted in the release of the live album, ''[[Marvin Gaye Live!]]'' and its single, a live version of "[[Distant Lover]]", an album track from ''Let's Get It On''.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

The tour helped to enhance Gaye's reputation as a live performer.{{sfn|Edmonds|2001b|p=14}} For a time, he was earning $100,000 a night (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1974}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) for performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.superseventies.com/1973_5singles.html |title=Let's Get It On – Marvin Gaye |work=SuperSeventies.com |access-date=September 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911171256/http://www.superseventies.com/1973_5singles.html |archive-date=September 11, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gaye toured throughout 1974 and 1975. A renewed contract with Motown allowed Gaye to build his own [[Marvin's Room (recording studio)|custom-made recording studio]].{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In October 1975, Gaye gave a performance at a [[UNESCO]] benefit concert at New York's [[Radio City Music Hall]] to support UNESCO's African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to [[Ghana]] [[Shirley Temple Black]] and [[Kurt Waldheim]].{{sfn|Jet|1975|p=19}}{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=208}} Gaye's next studio album, ''[[I Want You (Marvin Gaye album)|I Want You]]'', followed in March 1976 with the title track [[I Want You (Marvin Gaye song)|"I Want You"]] reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts. The album would go on to sell over one million copies. That spring, Gaye embarked on his first European tour in a decade, starting off in Belgium. In early 1977, Gaye released the live album, ''[[Live at the London Palladium]]'', which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of its studio song, "[[Got to Give It Up]]", which charted at No. 1. In September 1977, Gaye opened Radio City Music Hall's New York Pop Arts Festival.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 18, 1977|title=Marvin Gaye's Deliberate Start Builds to a Climactic Bacchanal|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/18/archives/marvin-gayes-deliberate-start-builds-to-a-climactic-bacchanal.html|access-date=October 16, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>