Diana & Marvin is a duets album by soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in throughout 1972 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Featuring vocal collaborations by Gaye and Ross, whom at the time had widely become recognized as two of the top R&B and soul performers, Diana & Marvin became a multi-chart success. However, it did not equal the sales of the two singers' previous efforts, even though it managed to sell near a million copies worldwide. The album was remastered and re-released on compact disc with four bonus tracks on February 6, 2001.

History

During 1973, both Ross and Gaye were in different areas in their careers. Ross had become arguably the biggest female pop star (Cher and Barbra Streisand were close rivals), after a string of hit singles, hit albums, and critical acclaim from her hit film Lady Sings the Blues. Gaye, on the other hand, had become a musical visionary releasing the classic records What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and Trouble Man. The project had been planned as early as the fall of 1971 shortly after Gaye had released the What's Going On album. During the first recording sessions, a pregnant Ross complained to Motown chief Berry Gordy that Gaye wouldn't stop smoking marijuana in the studio. Even after Gordy tried to appeal to Gaye, Gaye stood his ground and refused to stop smoking for Ross. As a result, most of the album was recorded in separate studios in 1972.

When the album was released, the album performed below expectations, peaking at number 26 on Billboard 200 album chart in the United States. Diana & Marvin fared better outside of the US, particularly in the United Kingdom, and yielded different singles in both the US ("You're a Special Part of Me", "Don't Knock My Love", "My Mistake") and the UK ("Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", "You Are Everything"). During its forty-seven week chart tenure in 1973-74, the album peaked at number 6 in the UK and exceeded sales of 100,000 copies. In 1981 it re-entered the British charts again. The singles "You Are Everything" and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" hit #5 and #25 in the UK, respectively. Eventually, the album managed to sell close to a million copies worldwide.

Several of the album's songs, including "Stop, Look, Listen" and "You Are Everything", were cover versions of songs by The Stylistics. The Ross/Gaye version of "Stop, Look, Listen" would later be sampled in 2002 for both Ja Rule and Ashanti's hit "Mesmerize" and Smilez and Southstar's hit "Tell Me", creating controversy when both songs entered the market at the same time. A year later, singers Michael McDonald and Toni Braxton redid the Ross/Gaye version of "Stop, Look, Listen" for McDonald's second album of Motown covers, titled Motown II.

Track listing

Side one

1. "You Are Everything" (T. Bell, Creed) – 3:10
2. "Love Twins" (Bolton, McLeod) – 3:28
3. "Don't Knock My Love" (Pickett, Shapiro) – 2:20
4. "You're a Special Part of Me" (H. Johnson, A. Porter, G. Wright) – 3:35
5. "Pledging My Love" (Robey, F. Washington) – 3:34

Side two

1. "Just Say, Just Say" (Ashford, Simpson) – 4:10
2. "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" (T. Bell, Creed) – 2:53
3. "I'm Falling in Love With You" (M. Gordy) – 2:42
4. "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" (G. Jones, Sawyer) – 2:55
5. "Include Me In Your Life" (Bolton, McLeod) – 3:04

Bonus tracks

Bonus cuts featured on the 2001 reissue.

1. "Alone" – 2:15
2. "The Things I Will Not Miss" – 3:65
3. "I've Come to Love You So Much" – 4:10
4. "I'll Keep My Light in My Window" – 2:40

Chart history

Album

Title	Information
Diana & Marvin	*US [[The Billboard 200|Pop Albums]] (1973) #26 *US Black Albums (1974) #7 |} ===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" |- !Title !Information |- |"[[You're a Special Part of Me]]" | US Pop Singles #12 US Black Singles #4
"Don't Knock My Love"	*US Pop Singles #46 *US Black Singles #25 |- |"[[My Mistake (Was to Love You)]]" | US Pop Singles #19 US Black Singles #15

Personnel

• Arranged By - David Blumberg (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B4, B5), Gene Page (tracks: B2), James Carmichael (tracks: A4), Paul River (tracks: B1)
• Engineer (Recording, Mixing) - Russ Terrana
• Engineer (Recording) - Art Stewart, Cal Harris
• Producer - Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson (tracks: B1), Berry Gordy (tracks: A4), Hal Davis (tracks: A1 to A3, B2, B4, B5), Margaret Gordy (tracks: B3)
• Producer (Assistant & Coordinator) - Suzee Wendy Ikeda
• Producer (Executive) - Berry Gordy
• Producer, Arranged By - Bob Gaudio (tracks: A5), Mark Davis (tracks: B3)
• Vocals – Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross

References

External links

• YouTube: Former Motown employees Russ & Ralph Terrana discuss the making of Diana & Marvin