A treasure trove of previously unreleased recordings of Marvin Gaye by the Motown icon has emerged in Belgium during his 40th anniversary.
Reported by the BBC, the cache of unheard material comprises 30 projects and 66 demos that Gaye, a legendary figure in music history, recorded while residing in the country during the early 1980s.
These recordings were entrusted to Charles Dumolin, a Belgian musician who welcomed the “Sexual Healing” crooner into his home in Ostend.
Dumolin, who passed away in 2019, left the tapes in the care of his family, prompting a legal collaboration between their lawyer, Alex Trappeniers, and Gaye’s family to determine rightful ownership.
“They belong to [the family] because they were left in Belgium 42 years ago,” Trappeniers said.
“Marvin gave it to them and said, ‘Do whatever you want with it’ and he never came back. That’s important,” he added.
Rather than engaging in a legal dispute, Dumolin’s family seeks to honor Gaye’s legacy by commemorating the discovery with a time capsule centered around the newfound material.
“We can open a time capsule here and share the music of Marvin with the world,” Trappeniers expressed, highlighting Gaye’s enduring presence in the project. “It’s very clear. He’s very present.”
Trappeniers also shared insights into the quality of the recordings, revealing that some songs rival Gaye’s iconic track “Sexual Healing.”
“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,” he disclosed. “There was one song that when I listened to it for 10 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.”
While Gaye’s family has been informed of the discovery, they have yet to issue a formal statement regarding the matter.
