Marvin gaye album artwork

Let’s Become It On is the thirteenth studio album by Marvin Gaye, released on August 28, 1973. The cover features Bobo Bold in red letters. Gaye’s liner notes on the gatefold and the credits on the back are set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic. The photography is by Jim Britt.

From Wikipedia:

Serving as Gaye’s first venture into the funk genre, Let’s Get It On also incorporates smooth soul and doo-wop styles alongside sexually suggestive lyrics, leading to one writer’s description of it as “one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded”. Gaye infused ideas of spiritual healing in songs about sex and romance, in part as a way of coping with childhood abuses from his father Marvin Gay Sr., which had stunted his sexuality.

Following the breakthrough success of his socially attuned album What’s Going On (1971), Let’s Get It On helped establish Gaye as a sex icon and broadened his mainstream appeal. It produced three singles—the title footpath, “Come Get to This”, and “You Sure Love to Ball” – that achieved Billboard chart success. Let&r

Back in the afternoon, cover art helped to sell albums. Motown focused first on the song, but learned the importance of fine design. Here are a few examples, plus some behind-the-scenes stories. Read, relish and vote for your favorite.

• During 1970, Marvin Gaye temporarily stopped making novel music. Needing “product” to sell, Motown issued the Super Hits compilation, with a “Superman” cover. Marvin was angered by the cartoon, and sought to have the artwork changed. It never was.

• The cover of The Supremes A’Go-Go was shot by Frank Dandridge, who had previously photographed such events as Rev. Martin Luther King’s 1963 protest on Washington, DC, and the ’64 Harlem riots. He also photographed Frank Sinatra, Robert Kennedy, Sammy Davis Jr. and Muhammad Ali, among many others.

• On release in 1967, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ Make It Happen included “The Tears Of A Clown” as an album route. When picked as a U.K. available in 1970, it shot to No. 1 – a feat repeated when the track was later issued in the U.S. So Motown gave the three-year-old LP a new title: The Tears Of A Clown.

• “Diana Ross presents…” the Jackson 5 on the cover of their debut Motown album i

  It has officially been 50 years since the release of Marvin Gaye's iconic "What's Going On" album.

  The legendary singer-songwriter was born in 1939, in Washington, D.C. He started out singing in church and later became a member of popular doo-wop team The Moonglows.

  After the genre began fizzling out in the 50s, the group's founding member Harvey Fuqua took then 20-year-old Gaye to Detroit where he met Berry Gordy Jr., the founder of Motown records. At the label, he earned the title of Prince of Motown for his soulful sound and duetted with the likes of Diana Ross.

  Gaye was shot dead in 1984, the day before his 45th birthday, by his father Marvin Gaye Sr. after an altercation.

  It was Gaye's eleventh studio album, "What's Going On", that went on to define him for decades after his death.

  The album was released on May 21 1971, exactly 50 years ago today. It is still deemed as relevant as ever by many because of its strong social conscience. The register focused heavily on themes including racism, drug abuse, poverty and police brutality. It also showcased the perspective of a veteran returning to the U.S after the Vietnam war.

  The record marked a departure for the Prince of M
  
  

  'Sugar Shack,' iconic painting featured on Marvin Gaye album cover, sells for $15.3 million

  A painting that served as the cover for one of legendary mind singer Marvin Gaye's albums has sold at auction for almost $15.3 million.

  Ernie Barnes' joyous depiction of a frenetic scene in a dance hall, titled "The Sugar Shack," sold to Bill Perkins, a hedge fund manager and entrepreneur, after 10 minutes of bidding by more than 22 bidders, confirmed Christie's auction house.

  According to Christie's, the final sale price for "The Sugar Shack" was 27 times higher than the most expensive Barnes work to sell before it. It also blew past its estimated sale price of $150,000 to $200,000.

  Barnes, who died in 2009, was born in North Carolina in 1938 and often drew upon his retain experiences growing up in the American South during the Jim Crow era in his depictions of social moments and images of quotidian Black life.

  In a 2002 interview, in which the Oakland Tribune described Barnes as the "Picasso of the Jet art world," the musician said he got the idea for "The Sugar Shack" from reflecting on his childhood and "not being able