I thought I knew my music history.
But until last night I had no idea that Marvin Gaye spent many of his final years – before his untimely death at the hands of his own father – in Belgium.
And not just anywhere in Belgium, but Ostend: a place most Britons associate less with sultry soulfulness, more with grim windswept ferries from Ramsgate.
Yet it’s true, and there are videos to prove it.
Transit Ostend is a half-hour documentary made for Belgian TV in 1981. It follows a wistful Gaye around the streets of Ostend as he muses on what drew him to the town, and what keeps him there.
It also contains some performance footage, including the clip below.
It’s a peculiar few minutes as it shows Marvin rehearsing I Want You with his band – but the singer himself is either so disengaged or so relaxed that he’s lying down through most of the performance.
And yet… Gaye’s singing is beyond perfect. It is utterly sublime.
He’s performing at a level most vocalists can barely dream of attaining – but he might as well be peeling an orange or picking his fingernails. This is what effortless looks like.
