The greatest Motown singer, according to science
Motown was a talent factory – almost literally. Located in Motor City, Detroit, many of the artists on the Hitsville roster arose from the region’s industry, mimicking the propulsiveness of the piston that they heard throughout the day in the rhythms of the music that they played throughout the night. And like any good functioning factory, Motown had a development department.
Maxine Powell was the label’s secret weapon. She ran what was effectively Berry Gordy’s very own finishing school. In a fabled corner of the Michigan state, she took the promising young artists that they had scouted and polished them up into stars. Their vocals were honed, their swagger was fertilised, and their prowess was pruned.
Few graduates proved more successful on this front than Marvin Gaye. The mighty musician could hit notes that threatened to take Sputnik out of orbit without shedding a bead of sweat or breaking his stride. He was the consummate performer with the pipes to back it up, and now science proves his shimmering greatness. For a label that had almost 200 charting hits, standing out from the crop is quite a feat.
Aside from his songwriting skills, not only did Gaye have a beautiful, soulful timbre, note-perfect control, and performative edge, but data from a study by Concert Hotels also proves he had one of the greatest vocal ranges of all time, let alone amid Motown’s ranks. In recorded history, only Axl Rose, Mariah Carey, Prince, Steven Tyler and James Brown have displayed a wider octave spread on tape.
Among his labelmates, Gaye was known as the perfect three-octave vocalist. His rich lower croon was a textbook baritone. His soaring falsetto could smash a C6 without straining. And he could harmonise with a strong tenor like nobody’s business. But above all, the true tenet of his greatness is that all of this came from his chest voice. Even when he was drifting from his typical range, he was never singing in a false voice. Just like the songs he was singing, he was always velvety.
How many hits did Marvin Gaye have?
The late musical maestro snatched three number ones in the US over the years. His first arrived with ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ in 1968. He then followed that up as he got kinkier than a ‘Meet Local Russian Women in Your Local Area’ advert with ‘Let’s Get It On’ 1973. Then, seven years before he was murdered by his own father, he hit the top spot once more with ‘Got to Give It Up (Part 1)’ amid the punk uprising of 1977.
However, his greatest feat was perhaps more critical than commercial. According to data, his poignant 1971 statement, ‘What’s Going On’, was the most acclaimed song of the entire decade. The track might not have shown off the virtuosic skill that he was capable of, but it did reveal an even greater strength: he was always happy to use his talents to serve a higher purpose. He doesn’t shriek or scream, the song doesn’t warrant that – he just delivers a soulful statement with a profound message, proving bliss doesn’t have to be ignorant.
Amid an arsenal of magnificent musicians, it was this ability paired with the boldness to actually stick his head above the label’s guarded parapet that made him not only their finest singer but one of the most important artists, period.
