Not sure why, but it's painful to watch Marvin Gaye in his later years, as in the "Marvin Gaye Live in Montreux 1980" special Detroit Public Television/Channel 56 is airing right now, after the Marvin Gaye "American Masters" documentary.
He appears to be forcing himself to be the dazzling sex symbol onstage, when in fact he'd rather be in the studio.
He looked so much more at ease in the "American Masters" film wearing a knitted, ethnic cap and parka, playing around on the piano at the time he was collaborating in Detroit with the Funk Brothers on "What's Going On."
If you go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Detroit, you can see Marvin Gaye's address book, opened up to the "J"s, I believe, in a