Marvin gaye house detroit

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In the wake of the city’s violent rebellion and at the height of the Vietnam War, all of that was about to change.

In the summer of 1968, Detroit Lions defensive back Lem Barney took a break from training camp one day to drive down Woodward Avenue in search of his favorite singer. My father ended up spending the last three years of his life here with us.”

Creech’s parents divorced in the late 1960s, but when her father became ill a few years ago, he came to live with them once again.

“My parents were living under the same roof for the first time in 47 years,” she says.

“I said, ‘Hey, Marvin, I just wanted to introduce myself. It was in this house where Marvin worked on his song “What's Going On?” that he co-wrote with Obie Benson and Al Cleveland.

Fast-forward to 1984, April Fool's Day, a day before Marvin's 45th birthday.

Wonder moved to Detroit at about 3 years old, and by age 12 had a national hit record with "Fingertips, Part 2".

The information on Florence Ballard's home is that it's in the Russell-Woods neighborhood, which the FB account describes as home to Detroit's Black-Elite.

One of the things that the photos don't do justice to, is how big some of these home are.

The deed required a building to cost at least $5,000 west of Livernois. As he stood in front of the very same fire pit pictured on the back of What’s Going On, a light rain began to fall, just as it did the day of the photo shoot for Gaye’s historic album.

Looking skyward, Barney smiled and said, “You know Marvin pushed the button.”

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Soon Anna moved into the handsome brick ranch on West Outer Drive with her young artist husband, launching what would become the greatest creative period in his tumultuous career.

His name was Marvin Gaye.

Gaye, then on the brink of superstardom with “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” had grown weary of the stale formula Motown prescribed for him and was tired of being known as the label’s sex symbol.

Stacker analyzed Billboard data to determine just that, looking at the best-selling album from every year going all the way back to 1956. After following a few false leads, the NFL’s 1967 Defensive Rookie of the Year found himself on the doorstep of Marvin Gaye.

“It was just my second year in the league,” says Barney, a native of Gulfport, Mississippi.

marvin gaye house detroit

Within months, Barney and his Lions teammate Mel Farr would join forces with Bobby Rogers of the Miracles to play a key role in the making of Gaye’s seminal 1971 album, What’s Going On, providing background vocals on the title track.

Cisley Creech, a Detroit schoolteacher who lives in Gaye’s old house today, remembers it well.

“That was the song in the day!” she says.

The making of “What’s Going On”

In the spring of 1970, as Marvin Gaye was struggling to emerge from a deep depression after the death of Tammi Terrell, he was holed up in the house on Outer Drive tinkering with a new song written by Al Cleveland and the Four Tops’ Obie Benson.

Benson had just returned to Detroit from California, where he’d witnessed a brutal police crackdown on peaceful war protesters.

Sales data is included only from 1992 onward when Nielsen's SoundScan began gathering computerized figures.

Going in chronological order from 1956 to 2020, we present the best-selling album from the year you graduated high school.

Gallery Credit: Jacob Osborn

When Motown founder Berry Gordy bought a 10-bedroom mansion in Detroit’s tony Boston-Edison district in 1967, he decided he’d give his old house in the city’s Bagley neighborhood to his sister Anna.

“It was really wonderful having my father back in the fold again before he passed. “And the rest is history.”

Back to the studio

To mark the 45th anniversary of the release of What’s Going On, Barney recently embarked on a historic tour of Detroit, returning to Motown’s original headquarters on West Grand Boulevard, where he and Farr cut their vocals all those years ago.

“I still get goose bumps walking in here,” Barney said.

Conspicuously absent in Studio A was his old friend and teammate Farr, who died last August at the age of 70.

He became a session drummer and wound up performing at Motown Records owner Berry Gordy's house. But he took it seriously and began to train in earnest with Barney and Farr.

When Lions coach Joe Schmidt finally gave him a tryout, Gaye held his own. “I was like, ‘Come on, man!’”

But Gaye wasn’t joking.

“So we jump in the car and head on down to Motown,” Barney says.

Gaye’s younger brother, Frankie, had just gotten back from Vietnam and helped open his brother’s eyes to the horrors of war.

One night, Gaye invited Barney, Farr, and Rogers over to the house to hang out in the so-called “black room” (named for its black velvet wall paneling). Gone, too, are Marvin Gaye, Bobby Rogers, bassist James Jamerson, Eddie “Bongo” Brown, and arranger David Van DePitte, who were all essential in the making of the album.

“They’re with us in spirit,” Barney said.

Sam Jolly, Barney, Terry Harrison and Creech in Marvin Gaye’s infamous “black room”

Back in black

Barney’s nostalgic Detroit odyssey ended last weekend back where it all began: at 3067 W.

Outer Drive.

Current homeowner Cisley Creech, who grew up nearby, remembers when Barney and Gaye used to go jogging through the neighborhood in the early 1970s.

“Back then, Lem Barney was a household name,” she says. Along with looking at pictures, it's about seeing interesting stories and comments about the homes and the area.

For example, Marvin Gaye's home on Outer Drive, was gifted to him by Berry Gordy, Jr.

when Gaye married Gordy's sister, Anna. So I just walk up on the porch and ring the bell.”

Much to his surprise, Gaye answered the door.

“I couldn’t believe it!” Barney says. I had a lot of friends in this neighborhood, and one of my girlfriends … would see them running down Outer Drive all the time.”

Standing in the house’s epicenter, Barney fondly recalled Gaye’s infamous “black room.”

“We did a lot of singing in this room,” Barney told Creech and her family, reflecting on the genesis of the song that would change the face of American music.

But Gaye wasn’t satisfied with the success of What’s Going On and soon began to consider a change in careers.

“He used to come to all our games [at Tiger Stadium],” Barney says.