After the Dance, Jan Gaye
After the Dance, Jan Gaye
3 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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After the Dance
My Life with Marvin Gaye

Author: Jan Gaye, David Ritz

Narrator: Robin Eller

Unabridged: 9 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 05/19/2015

Synopsis

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.

About Jan Gaye

Jan Gaye is the second wife of the legendary recording artist Marvin Gaye and the mother of his children, Nona and Frankie Gaye. Born in Los Angeles, she currently resides in Rhode Island.

About David Ritz

David Ritz is the author of the acclaimed novels The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn and Blue Notes Under a Green Felt Hat. He is the only four-time winner of the Gleason Book of the Year Award. He's also cowritten the memoirs of many celebrities.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nandi on May 21, 2015

One of the best bios I've ever read. I have read Rick James' bio and he spoke well about Jan. I have read Marvin's bio and their take, but I haven't really heard her voice much until now. While it's refreshing,as well as candid and honest. Sadly, and to me, I found it sad that she ended it in 1984 w......more

Goodreads review by Lynx on February 13, 2018

Life had never been easy for Jan but growing up listening to Marvin Gaye‘s sweet soulful voice on the record player came with daydreams of a promising future. So when the opportunity came to meet the man of her dreams there was no way Jan wasn’t going to seize the opportunity. She didn’t care that M......more

Goodreads review by Taylor on June 10, 2023

This is the story of a misguided girl caught up in the world of sex, drugs, and Marvin Gaye… While I won’t make any excuses for Marvin because he was an adult throughout their whole ordeal, I will make a few for Janis. At 17, she was a misguided girl with a warped sense of reality. Her father was pre......more

Goodreads review by Stanjay on March 11, 2022

I listened the audiobook and I’m mad at whoever hired the narrator. She sounded like Siri reading this entire book. While I liked to learn a little bit more about Marvin’s career, this book grated my nerves. First of all, I feel like I need to call CPS right now because of the foolishness Marvin was......more

Goodreads review by Pat Brune on October 06, 2015

This book intrigued me when I noticed it at the library. I've long been a fan of Marvin Gaye's songs and oh, that voice. I was hoping this memoir would give me more insight into the reasons why Marvin's own father killed him - and it did. I understand it much more clearly now. But a part of me wishe......more

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