A riveting cautionary tale about the ecstasy and dangers of loving
Marvin Gaye, a performer passionately pursued by all--and a searing
memoir of drugs, sex, and old school R&B from the wife of legendary soul
icon Marvin Gaye.
After her seventeenth birthday in 1973, Janis Hunter met Marvin
Gaye--the soulful prince of Motown with the seductive liquid voice whose
chart-topping, socially conscious album What's Going On made him a
superstar two years earlier. Despite a seventeen-year-age difference and
Marvin's marriage to the sister of Berry Gordy, Motown's founder, the
enchanted teenager and the emotionally volatile singer began a scorching
relationship.
One moment Jan was a high school student; the next she was accompanying
Marvin to parties, navigating the intriguing world of 1970s-'80s
celebrity; hanging with Don Cornelius on the set of Soul Train, and
helping to discover new talent like Frankie Beverly. But the burdens of
fame, the chaos of dysfunctional families, and the irresistible
temptations of drugs complicated their love.
Primarily silent since Marvin's tragic death in 1984, Jan at last opens
up, sharing the moving, fervently charged story of one of music
history's most fabled marriages. Unsparing in its honesty and insight,
illustrated with sixteen pages of black-and-white photos, After the
Dance reveals what it's like to be in love with a creative genius who
transformed popular culture and whose artistry continues to be
celebrated today.
