In an unexpected twist of fate, more than sixty previously lost and unheard recordings by Marvin Gaye have been uncovered in Belgium.
Stored on 30 tapes at a Belgian home for 42 years. Gaye had stayed with musician Charles Dumolin in Ostend, Belgium and left behind a collection of music, alongside notebooks, letters and costumes.
In an interview with BBC, Charles’s family lawyer and business partner, Alex Trappeniers said “We can open a time capsule here and share the music of Marvin with the world.” “It’s very clear. He’s very present.”
About the 66 demos of newly discovered repertoire, the spokesman added:
“A few of them are complete and a few of them are as good as ‘Sexual Healing,’ because it was made in the same time.” “There was one song that when I listened to it for ten seconds I found the music was in my head all day, the words were in my head all day, like a moment of planetary alignment.”
According to Belgium law, ownership is established after three decades of possession which means that the newly found repertoire nows belongs to the Dumolin family. “Marvin gave it to them and said, ‘Do whatever you want with it’ and he never came back. That’s important,” Alex said.
Notwithstanding the above, the law does not apply to intellectual property, meaning the Dumolins likely do not have the right to publish Marvins rediscovered material.
At the age of 44, Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father, Marvin Gay Sr. in 1984
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Los Angeles Times