Anna Gordy Gaye

Anna Gordy Gaye was an American businesswoman and record executive (January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014).

While Anna is best known as Marvin Gaye’s first wife, she holds an important and unique place in Motown history as one of its earliest members.

Anna began her own career as a record executive with Checker Records in the 1950s, eventually founding her own label, Anna Records which would be absorbed by her younger brother Berry’s Motown in 1961.

Anna met Marvin in 1959 when he was 20 years old and she was 37. They married four years later with Anna becoming a fixture in Marvin’s music as his muse and a contributor as well as she helped write a number of his songs.

The two adopted a son together, Marvin Gaye III, in 1966 but over time their differences became irreconcilable, culminating in a very public divorce that spawned Here, My Dear, a masterpiece ode to lost love in the form of a musical settlement payment in 1978.

Marvin and Anna reconciled as friends in 1982 upon his return to America and remained in touch until his death two years later at the hands of his father.

Anna never remarried. She passed away three days after her 92nd birthday in 2014.