When thinking of the city of Detroit, three things come to mind. The car industry, Motown, and how bad their American Football team is. It’s not that they are bad, they are really bad. In the 57-year history of the Superbowl (or the Suberb Owl as my predictive text says, despite how many times I have typed it) not only have they not won it, but also, they never have reached the big game. If you think being a Tottenham Hotspur fan is bad, try being a Detroit Lions fan. Spurs have at least won something in the last 57 years.
When two of these passions of Detroit cross over, it’s big news. Really big news. When it’s one of the city’s most famous and most successful sons then it generates hype. It also generated one of the most famous albums ever. This week The Beat Marches On to July 1970 when Marvin Gaye has a try-out for the Detroit Lions.
Marvin Gaye was at the top of his career in 1970. One of Motown’s top songwriters and one of the most popular artists signed. Hits like ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)’ and ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ He wrote songs for the Motown label and played the drums in recording sessions.
By the end of the 1960s Gaye was recording duets with different female artists signed to the label such as Mary Wells and Kim Weston. Then came along Tammi Terrell, the most successful of Gaye’s musical partners. The two recorded monster songs ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and ‘All I Need To Get By’ and toured up and down The USA. The singer loved performing with Terrell and the two were best friends on and off stage.
In October 1967 tragedy struck when Tammi Terrell collapsed on stage. Marvin caught her in his arms on her way down and was rushed to the local hospital. The diagnosis wasn’t good, a tumour was found in her brain and it effectively ended her career. Terrell couldn’t perform live anymore and could only record in the studio under Doctor’s supervision. After a three-year battle and multiple operations to remove the tumour, Tammi Terrell passed away. Just weeks away from her 25th birthday.
Marvin Gaye took Terrell’s passing hard. He sunk into a deep depression and stopped recording and writing songs. Openly sobbing throughout the funeral proceedings, he fought back tears to give a heart-warming eulogy.
The late 1960s were a tremulous time in America. The assassinations of civil rights activists Martin Luther King and Malcolm X started unrest which evolved into riots in Detroit as well as in other major cities. Becoming disinterested in the music industry, Gaye felt like he was ashamed of the success he achieved and was upset with the head of the Motown label Berry Gordy. He needed to get away for a while and a new type of release.
Detroit Lions players Lem Barney and Mel Farr had befriended Gaye while he was grieving the death of Terrell. The players were equally a fan of Gaye’s music as much as he was of theirs. The singer was an avid fan of Gridiron and attended all the home games. The three played golf together regularly then after one round Marvin asked the two a rather peculiar question.
Gaye was talking to the NFL players about a song he had been working on with The Four Tops Obie Benson and session songwriter Al Cleveland, he was talking about giving it to a band he was mentoring called The Originals. The players convinced him to sing it himself which he agreed to but under one stipulation. Barney and Farr sing backing vocals on the track. Oh, the track by the way was the song that relaunched the Singer’s career ‘What Going On’
That wasn’t the only peculiar request Gaye asked the pair. A few weeks after the recording session for ‘What’s Going On’ he asked the Lions stars whether he could join their team. They didn’t know how to react at first, unsure if he was joking or being deadly serious. It was the latter. The singer even discussed it with people at the label. Smokey Robinson said he was insane. Gaye told his brother, Frankie, ‘I’d rather catch a pass and score a Touchdown in Tiger Stadium (the Lions home Field at the time) than rack up another gold record’
The odds were against Marvin Gaye from the start. NFL players, like in most sports, have played the game since a young age. They play in High School and College before getting drafted by a team. Then, of the 1000’s of college players that played in 1970 only 442 of them were drafted.
The players that get drafted in college are in their early 20s too. In 1970 Marvin Gaye was 31. Most players at that time were thinking about retirement in their early 30s rather than starting a career in the sport.
He did take it seriously though. He converted his garage into a gym, trained with his friends on the team along with future Hall of Famer Charlie Sanders and bulked up about 30 pounds. He cut out all the excesses that came along with the late 1960s and early 1970s music industry. Then he got the call from the coaches. His wish was granted, he can try to become a Detroit Lion.
The head coach, Joe Schmidt, originally declined to entertain the idea. Nobody knows why he changed his mind. He invited the singer to come along to a non-contact practice and in front of about 20 people Marvin Gaye had his first NFL practice session.
Throughout the session, Gaye played in a different number of attacking positions and was professional. Considering his inexperience the coach thought he was okay, but in the NFL, okay isn’t good enough. You have to be elite.
That was as close as Marvin Gaye would get to achieving his American Football dream. When training camp started the coach decided not to call. Although the news wasn’t what he expected, the experience helped him to reinvent his musical career.
Gaye recorded the rest of the ‘What’s Going On’ album throughout the summer of 1970, Motown was reluctant to release the album because of the political subject. They didn’t want to bring politics into the music because they thought it would divide the audience. However, the album that was recorded was one of the best in history.
Upon the album’s release critics raved about it. Billboard classed Gaye as the trendsetter of the year. The amount of praise from critics across the board signalled that the singer was back. And back with a message. ‘What’s Going On’ became an inspiration to any artist who questioned authority. The influence is still present to this day as in 2020 Rolling Stone magazine voted it as number one in its revised top 500 albums list.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
Marvin Gaye Once Tried Out For The NFL (And It Saved His Music Career) (bosshunting.com.au)
How Marvin Gaye’s NFL tryout changed his career – ABC News (go.com)
Marvin Gaye’s tryout with the NFL’s Detroit Lions (espn.com)
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