Marvin Gaye Music Found

[ty]

Marvin Gaye: Never-before heard music resurfaces in Belgium https://t.co/4x8v14sGKB
- BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 30, 2024
- His music is still streamed and downloaded around 20 million times a month

Comments

[kashiyaek]

translation from belgian news website VRT:

The family kept and cherished some items, for years on end. Until a few years ago they figured it was time to do something with the material. They visit lawyer Alex Trappeniers, specialized in music industry and copyright laws. He studied the collection intently. A large feat.

It includes 216 documents, about fifty costumes and accessories, but also - perhaps even more noteworthy - 30 cassettes with music. "I listened to everything and took notes every second," says Trappeniers. "Every time I heard a new demo, I took notes."

The result is astonishing: it concerns 66 pieces of music, including 38 recorded with Marvin Gaye's own voice, the lawyer says. "Some of them are full-fledged songs," he states. All dating from the same period as 'Sexual healing', the hit he also created in Belgium. "I think one of the songs on the cassettes is just as strong as that hit."

"An unlikely treasure of demos and recordings," the lawyer calls the collection. "When Marvin Gaye left all of this behind in 1982, it wasn't worth much. But now, it's a time capsule opening up."

The lawyer is clear: the entire collection - including the cassettes - is the property of the Mestdagh family. "Marvin Gaye left everything behind and told her she could do whatever she wanted with it. He never returned [to the country] or asked about it again. So there is no doubt about that," the lawyer stated.

But the family cannot just release the songs. "You need permission from the owners of Marvin Gaye's intellectual property for this. As far as I know, that would be his three children."

This week, Trappeniers has already contacted the lawyer for Marvin Gaye's children. "A first meeting is scheduled for Monday," he says. "If we work together - and I assume we will - we could release 1 or 2 new albums."

[lovebum4life]

This seems so sketch tbh

[kashiyaek]

its very weird, the news report came with a video interview with the lawyer and its all framed very positively/feel good, with the journalist writing the article asking zero questions about the legitimacy of any of these claims

[ty]

As I read the next day, I wonder if someone in the holding family died and the kids just discovered it and want to cash in. The timing sounds about right.

[ty]

Thank you for doing this!