Vulnerable

The third posthumous Marvin Gaye album, released 13 years after his death, is a passion project that started in the mid 60s with composer Bobby Scott, when Marvin was continuing at his dream of being a jazz singer, but shelved when he thought his voice wasn’t up to par.

Over a decade later, with his voice more mature, he recorded new vocal takes for the compositions again and again, pouring every ounce of his soul into it, until he got it exactly right.

He was planning to release these recordings in 1979 titled ‘The Ballads’, but the poor sales of his album ‘Here, My Dear’ and the shaky relationship he had with Motown at the time, had him shelve the project again, for the rest of his lifetime.

Various tracks from the 60s and 70s sessions showed up in the album ‘Romantically Yours’ and a few compilations but wasn’t released in its final complete state until 1997, now titled ‘Vulnerable’.