Jan Gaye Opens Up About Life With Marvin Gaye in Memoir: After the Dance: My Life With Marvin Gaye

107.5 WBLS your number one source for RnB here i told you earlier that i'm gonna be joined tonight by a very very special lady and she has arrived miss Janice gay of course the UH the ex-wife of Marvin Gaye the Prince of Soul a man who we all have grown to love and appreciate over the years she has just released and I I just found out just a little while ago today is the actual debut of this new tell-all book called after the dance my life with Marvin Gaye it is a pleasure and honor to welcome Janis gay to the quiet storm thank you for coming by tonight thank you for having me Lenny I know this is a big big day for you probably a day of great anticipation yes in many ways um first course I want to know is and I'm sure you've been asked this time and time again what made you want to come forth now to kind of give us a better in-depth real perspective on your life with Marvin Gaye as his wife well it's been a long time coming and I've started and stopped writing books over the years about my life and I just got tired of having my story told my relationship with my then husband and father of my children told by other people and I wanted to tell it myself from the way it was for me not what it was for someone that may have never met him yeah um that was may have had a different relate kind of a relationship with him he was my husband yeah so everyone else pretty much told your story or tried to make an attempt at telling your story in the third person right never lived in your house never travel now never had your journey you know waking up and go to sleep you know as a husband or wife to Marvin so I mean I don't know how a person could do that but obviously the the big of the star people kind of assume in and fabricate allows things well I think people can assume they can talk to different people that may have known Marvin there have been some times where I've given interviews and what I've tried to keep it to a minimum because I had always thought I would do a book I just never really knew when that moment of realization would come let's come today it's definitely come today favorite song of yours and I'm sure you had a lot of favorite songs and Marvin Gaye growing up what fascinated me I think in one of the early chapters you said you were attracted to Marvin Gaye when you saw him on TV and you were under 10 years old you were under 10 now that doesn't strike me as peculiar because you know as a kid growing up I was attracted to few starlets along but my question is from the attraction what really at that age what really captivated you about him was it his was it of songs was it his style what was it it was his songs but it was his style it was his look and being 10 years old and being attracted to an idol I don't think it's really that unusual but when you say attracted it like suggests that I was sexually attracted to him at 10 that was not the case I was just graduated yeah that's a good good word for it much like the young girls that screen for the Beatles right and since I screamed for them as well but I was those she came to Marvel there was just something not stris special there let's warp speed ahead you got this infatuation about Marvin Gaye puppy love how did you meet him well my mother dated Edie Townsend who co-wrote let's get it on well and had dated heed for years and Edie happened be recording let's get it on and some other vocal tracks at the mo West studios in West Hollywood and Edie was big on he was kind of a like to brag when he had something really really good in his pocket so he called my mother and he said you know I'm working with Marvin Gaye and she said yeah sure she didn't believe him at first and I didn't believe him and he had this need to let us know for sure that he was so he was gonna take me to the studio well Marvin this is like a dream come true for you it was I it was a dream come true it was literally how many years was that like well Woody's with you I was 17 well I was at that time I was 16 well and by the time I met Marvin I had just turned 17 puppy love to the 15th power at 16 years older well to the yeah 17th power and upon meeting this iconic figure that you have been infatuated about now he's standing in front of you you meet him you go into the studio are you mesmerized even more absolutely in awe bhavan was uh from what I gather from a couple of things that you wrote a book Marvin was always nervous at times right before a performance he had terrible stage fright and that's that was documented long before we ever met and you were very encouraging and and really like a reinforcement and I told my best to reassure him that he was great that people still loved him because he thought that he had lost his off his audience really when he took his break after Tammy's death right and cuz I was devastating for him I'm sure was absolutely you did love her rightly and never kept that a secret from me and I appreciated him being that forthcoming about it and so I was I did my best to you know just keep his spirits up and continue to reassure him he will always love your music you are great you are beautiful you are you have a message you're you have the answers to many many questions that people ask about life love sex politics what was the most hottest chapter for you to write in this book it covers from distant lover I'm curious about mushrooms in the desert that's pretty interesting in itself if I'd know about mushrooms but what was the harsh at most challenging chapter for you to write at any given moment there were different times where it was difficult to write and difficult to look back on certain times in my 10 plus years with Marvin I can't really single out one chapter that was more difficult than the other they were difficult for different reasons some were difficult because I was opening myself up to criticism and letting people know that I was no saint but at the same time Marvin was a man he was a human being who had flaws just like we all do sure so you were 17 at the time when you guys yes miss Doug how was Marvin he was 33 Wow okay in this book it really speaks about Marvin Marvin being an exhibitionist and what I mean by an exhibitionist is a person who enjoys watching sexual play for lack of a better perspective a voyeur okay different terms um so and and and you share very openly and candidly about you were sometimes placed in the middle of all that fiasco does there weren't times but you have to think about the fact that we're talking about the early 70s things were a little different than huh things were a lot different then and it was all about coming out of the 60s into the 70s um finding your way it was a time where drugs were not as taboo as they are today and sex definitely was not wasn't the forefront was very open it was you know you can look at any number of films that were done around those times and the question of sex and sexual freedom and the freedom to explore with your partner was not as controversial as it could have been so I would say that Marvin and I as a couple it our share of exploration but I wouldn't say it was anything different from little make anyone's jaw drop okay okay well maybe some people right but um that was it was just a part of our relationship you you probably did beyond the unknown when it came to love because when you found Marvin - Marvin found you that seemed like to be that unconditional love that we all kind of longed for despite of the age differences well we did have unconditional love for each other but we were still human beings yeah we weren't superhuman we had our flaws and our challenges it's like just like anyone just look at what you can look back at Jerry Lee Lewis mm-hmm bride of 15 years um didn't go quite that far but we found a way to make it work and then there were the times where what it didn't work for yeah just like any well just like yeah I get it I get it Jan gay is the author of after the dance my life with Marvin Gaye she's a mom of two children yes my daughter Nona and my son Frankie and how will they know Nonna is I can't say 39 we are familiar with Nona from her debut record that she had out a few years back and then um most recently not too far ago she was in the movie ally with the RO Smith she did The Matrix sequels through it she did xxx State of the Union she was in crash beautiful you've done some great films yes she has and we look forward to her doing some more for sure I question is can a relationship with a big age difference work out sometimes what's the challenge what hat what was the challenge for you if they were at Chris you know obviously you were in a nice gap you were seventeen at the time he was 33 years it were about to turn 34 well so before and what was the challenge was well I think in any situation we have a huge gap there's it's a generation it's you know it's about what culture you've been brought up in what you have been taught as a child to believe what not to believe what's right what's wrong and I think and in my I can only speak for myself and my relationship with Marvin that even though I was 17 in body and he was 33 body um I think any teenager would tell you that that's you're at the height of curiosity as far as your own sexuality and what life has waiting for you and that's what happened with Marvin and I we just came together and made a family and brought two beautiful children into this world and I have a view of grandson and I don't regret any of it her name is Jan Gaye the xwy from Marvin Gaye with us tonight inside the choir storm you

Channel: WBLS

Views: 434,220

Keywords: wbls, wbls1075nyc, nyc, new york, radio, tri-state, music, r&b, rhythm and blues, heritage, Marvin Gaye (Musical Artist), Jan Gaye, After The Dance: My Life With Marvin Gaye

Id: 2zGSM129JL4

Length: 13min 9sec (789 seconds)

Published: Fri May 29 2015