Marvin gaye anthem
Being the head coach of the Lakers, and coaching the All-Star Game at the Great Western Forum that evening … it just made it a special, almost spiritual-type moment for me.
— Pat Riley
Marvin Gaye could not have looked more quintessentially Marvin Gaye if he’d tried. It was Feb. 13, 1983: the afternoon of the 33rd annual NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Everyone was packed in, a stone’s pitch from Hollywood. Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Maurice Cheeks, Larry Feathered, Isiah Thomas, Reggie Theus, Moses Malone, Pat Riley, Bill Laimbeer, Andrew Toney, Alex English, Robert Parish, Jamaal Wilkes and more. Even then the synergy of basketball icons and a musical icon made all the sense in the world. And now as the NBA All-Star Game returns to Los Angeles this weekend, the fourth period since the game’s 1951 inception that it’s been held in the L.A. area, the synergy is a given.
Thirty-five years ago, of course, things were different. Nowadays, fans have a gigantic say with regard to who starts in the game. The top two vote-getters draft their own teams. And music is a quintessential part of the NBA All-Star Weekend experience
The Most Mournful Rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” Ever Performed
Marvin Gaye’s 1983 act of the national anthem transforms the song into a soulful elegy, a bittersweet reflection on freedom and its possibilities.
By: Kimberly Juanita Brown
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In what is arguably one of the greatest renditions of the national anthem performed before a live audience, Whitney Houston emerges on-screen and offers the Super Bowl crowd in Tampa, Florida, her distinctive voice for just under three minutes. The year is 1991, and the Merged States is 10 days into the Persian Gulf War. Race, sonic registers, and nationalism converge in this show. It is unlike almost any other rendition then or since. And it has a referent.
Houston said the only version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” she ever liked was Marvin Gaye’s 1983 performance at the NBA All-Star Game at the Forum in Los Angeles, California.
Dark blue suit and sunglasses — reflective — Gaye is accompanied by a drum pound and keyboard. The previous day’s rehearsal has many NBA executive types concerned. What does he think he is doing? “The mys
That one time Marvin Gaye sexed up the national anthem
I am an enthusiast, fan, and unyielding devotee to the entirety of Marvin Gaye’s work.
While some may choose the work of Billie Holiday, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix (probably my second), John Lennon, Tupac, or Janis Joplin as their musical paragon, none of those artists subverted the platform to the extent Marvin did.
And he was forever at odds with his Motown label boss Berry Gordy, the visionary auto dealer-turned-record mogul who constantly made a fuss about Gaye’s penchant for missing deadlines for delivering new albums. Motown was dash like a machine, and Gordy didn’t like people messing with the timing. But that didn’t penetrate Gaye’s orbit. He remained on message with his boilerplate response: “Berry, I’m always on time.”
The record sales figures in the early to mid-’70s backed up that position.
Gaye performed the national anthem before the 1983 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles at The Forum (pre-Staples Center) to an electronic drum track, with minimal synths that emitted so much detached bedroom sex appeal that Marvin received shouts and cheers, mostly from women
Marvin Gaye Spices Up “The Star-Spangled Banner” At NBA All-Star Game, On This Day In 1983 [Watch]
America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, has given tune fans many reasons to laugh, cry, cheer, or even kneel over the years, but no one turned the performance of the patriotic tune into one hell of a sexy time quite like Marvin Gaye did during the 1983 NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Inglewood, CA.
On February 13th, 1983, the NBA’s leading gathered at the Los Angeles arena for the 33rd All-Star Game between Eastern and Western Conferences. Unbeknownst to those in attendance that night, all would eventually leave the game as winners after experiencing Gaye’s sensualized rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Accompanied by only a drum-machine (high-tech equipment in 1983) Gaye turned all of The Forum into a baby-making palace of soul with his pre-game performance that still has yet to be topped.
Related: MonoNeon Funks Up The National Anthem At Grizzlies Vs. Warriors NBA Game, Analysts React [Videos]
In front of a packed residence of world-class athletes, celebrities, and fans, Gaye walked up to the mic at