Michael Eric Dyson pays tribute to Marvin Gaye in new book, 'Mercy, Mercy Me'

Jet, May 10, 2004

Soul music icon Marvin Gaye is remembered on the 20th anniversary of his death with the new book, Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye written by best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson.

Dyson celebrates Gaye's remarkable life and offers a critical reassessment of his music, his life and the troubled times he lived.

"Mercy, Mercy Me is not a biography of the singer," writes Dyson in the book's preface.

"It is instead a work of bio-criticism: an analysis of Gaye's art, loves and demons that turns to elements of his life to illustrate his genius and to detail his struggles and failures.... This book assesses the cultural and intellectual importance of a great figure who helped to shape and define the times in which he lived."

In Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demon of Marvin Gaye (Basic Civitas Books, $23.95) Dyson uses Gaye's life as a prism for examining such issues as violence against children, sexuality, drug use and the Black church.

Dyson digs into the troubled areas of Gaye's life, from his fraught relationship with his cross-dressing preacher father who murdered him in a fight on April 1, 1984, the day before the singer's 45th birthday to his relationship with women, his Christian faith and his political battles with Motown.

Dyson also sheds new light on the collaborative process that created such landmark albums as What's Going On and I Want You.

Dyson's other best-selling books include: Why I Love Black Women, Open Mike, Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X, I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. and Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line.

He is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with his wife, the Rev. Marcia L. Dyson, who is working on a novel, Don't Call Me Angel.