"Sexual Healing" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye. Co-written by Gaye, Odell Brown and David Ritz, it was the leading single from Gaye's sixteenth studio album, Midnight Love released in October 1982 by Columbia Records.
The song was conceived in Ostend, where Gaye had relocated to after spending over a year in London as a tax exile and struggling with his career and personal life. The lyrics were conceived after co-writer and journalist David Ritz discovered sadomasochist drawings in Gaye's Ostend apartment and told Gaye he needed "sexual healing". Gaye convinced Ritz to write lyrics to the song, which the singer later edited and arranged, along with the musical composition with Brown.
Gaye's first single since leaving Motown months prior, it produced a comeback for Gaye as the song reached number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (then Black Singles chart) in just four weeks, where it stayed for a then record-setting ten weeks, where according to Billboard, it was the fastest rising single to reach number one in five years. A huge crossover hit, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1983 and also reached the top ten in seven territorial countries and peaked at number one in Canada and New Zealand. With sales of over four million copies worldwide, it is Gaye's most successful single and his final hit as he would die roughly 18 months after its release in April 1984. It later won Gaye two Grammy Awards and an American Music Award and was ranked the top-selling R&B single of 1983.
The song is listed at number 198 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Background In January 1981, Gaye had relocated to Ostend, Belgium from London, where he had spent over a year at as a tax exile as he was being sought by the Internal Revenue Service in his native United States for failure to pay taxes as well as alimony payments to his first ex-wife Anna Gordy Gaye and his estranged second wife Jan, with whom his divorce wouldn't be finalized until November 1982.
At the same time, Gaye's longtime label Motown had hastily released his concept album, In Our Lifetime, which angered the singer to the point that he decided he would no longer record for the label after 20 years, accusing the label of betraying his creativity. Gaye's move to Ostend was orchestrated by Belgian music and sports promoter Freddy Couseart, who hoped to save Gaye from a debilitating drug addiction that had consumed him for years. Gaye began exercising and boxing at a local Ostend gym while also cutting down on his cocaine use, attending a local church and partaking in Belgian culture.
While still with Motown, Gaye had received offers from labels including I.R.S. Records, Arista Records and Elektra Records; afterward, he sought to make a deal with CBS Records after they offered him a contract. CBS agreed to sign him and help clear his financial debt, and spent a year negotiating. In the meantime, Gaye needed spending money, so Cousaert set him up with a month-long England tour between June 13 and July 1, 1981. The tour was called "A Heavy Love Affair Tour 1981", named after his song "Heavy Love Affair", from In Our Lifetime. After returning to Belgium that July, Gaye performed two shows at Ostend's Casino Kursaal on July 3 and 4, 1981.
Production and composition
At the end of the tour, two of Gaye's musicians, Gordon Banks and Odell Brown, had decided to stay in Ostend as Gaye had been planning on new musical material after being exposed to reggae music while in England. With just Gordon Banks and Odell Brown, Gaye composed a reggae-inspired instrumental. Gaye used a Roland TR-808 drum machine to create the percussion; he was drawn to the instrument because he could use it to create music without other musicians or producers.
Gaye was still working on the track when David Ritz, then a reviewer for Rolling Stone, arrived at Ostend in April 1982 to locate Gaye as the two had been working together on Gaye's planned autobiography. Couseart recalled that neither him nor Gaye wanted him around. At the time, Gaye was living at a seafront apartment at Residence Jane on the Albert-I Promenade 77 where the song had been conceived. Upon Ritz's arrival, Gaye allowed him entry and played him the instrumental he had been working on for months. It was while there that Ritz discovered sadomasochist drawings in the singer's possession and advised Gaye that he needed "sexual healing". When Ritz explained to an amused Gaye what that meant, the singer told him to "write a poem" while he came up with the melody.
According to Ritz, who had never written a song before, he wrote several verses which Gaye edited and rearranged, adding in his own lyrics to the music. In an interview with HUMO in 1994, Cousaert claimed the only songwriters were Gaye and Brown and stated Ritz's contribution was giving Gaye the title of the song. In Frankie Gaye's memoirs, My Brother, Marvin, the singer's brother claimed Ritz had told him, "not only are you sexy, your music is healing," inspiring Gaye to write the lyrics himself. Gordon Banks told The Atlantic in 2012 that the conversation between Gaye and Ritz had nothing to do with Marvin's S&M collection but because Gaye had been intrigued by Amsterdam's red light district, to which Ritz replied that Gaye needed sexual healing but said he had nothing to do with the creation of the song. Odell Brown stated he never met Ritz and assumed Ritz was just there for an interview for Rolling Stone. Gaye himself acknowledged Ritz for inspiring the song's title name. The song was eventually recorded at Studio Katy in Ohain, Belgium.
After finding out his name was not listed in the credits, Ritz sued the singer for $15 million for partial credit, which put an end to their friendship, according to Ritz as Gaye wasn't happy about the suit and stopped communicating with the journalist. Ritz would eventually be credited in 1988 after settling with Gaye's estate.
"Sexual Healing" has been described as a post-disco, soul and funk song. The song is written and composed in the key of E-flat major and is set in time signature of 4/4 with a tempo of 94 beats per minute. It begins with a deep bass drum followed by "tinny" handclaps, "ticky" snare, and "tishy" hi-hats generated by a Roland TR-808 drum machine.
The first vocal sounds are of whisper chants of "get up" and "wake up", recorded by singer Harvey Fuqua, an early mentor of Gaye's who assisted him in the song's production. The song is backed by keyboards, synthesizers, drum programming and rhythm guitar. Background vocals in the song were provided by Gaye and Gordon Banks, who played guitar. The song ends with Gaye repeating the chorus line. As it fades out, Gaye can be heard singing, "please don't procrastinate, it's not good to masturbate."
Critical reception In his review of Midnight Love for Rolling Stone, Dave Marsh described "Sexual Healing" as a track that was "sort of a polemic for the power of rampant humping." Blender described it as "the plaintively blue-balled model for basically every slow jam" since its release. An AllMusic reviewer stated Gaye had "concocted a pioneering percussive sound that was balladic in taste but stimulating in feel." In its end-year lists of 1982, Rolling Stone, NME, and The Village Voice listed it as one of the "songs of the year" with the latter two ranking it at number two. People described it as "America's hottest pop-culture turn-on" since Olivia Newton-John's single "Physical".
Chart performance "Sexual Healing" was released as the first single off the Midnight Love album on October 9, 1982. Just a week later, on October 16, it debuted at number 25 on Billboards Black Singles chart, the "Hot Shot Debut" of that week. Just four weeks later on November 6, it topped the chart, replacing Evelyn "Champagne" King's "Love Come Down" at the top spot.
On the same issue, the magazine noted that it was the fastest rising R&B single in five years. It would stay at number one for ten consecutive weeks, surpassing his 1968 hit single "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as his longest-running number-one hit and tying a then all-time record with Ray Charles's "I Can't Stop Loving You" as the longest running number one R&B single in history after Billboard consolidated its R&B charts in 1958.
"Sexual Healing" debuted at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 30, 1982, marking Gaye's return to the Hot 100 after "Got to Give It Up" in 1977. On November 20, it vaulted from number 52 to number 19 in its fourth week. It entered the top ten of the chart at number 8 on December 11, becoming Gaye's 18th and final top ten hit of his career. Eight weeks later, on January 29, 1983, it reached its peak of number three on the chart behind Men at Work's "Down Under" and Toto's "Africa".
The song was a success on Billboards other charts, reaching number 12 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and number 34 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song reached number one on Canada's RPM chart.
It peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and Australia's Kent Music Report. On Belgium's Ultratop 50 chart, the song reached number two. It reached number one on New Zealand's RIANZ chart, where it stayed at the top spot for six weeks. It reached number three on the Dutch Top 40 in the Netherlands and number seven on the Irish Singles Chart in Ireland. In other countries, success was more modest: West Germany's Media Control Charts, Switzerland's Swedish Singles Chart, and Italy's Italian Singles Chart, where it reached numbers 23, 17, and 37, respectively. It ultimately sold over four million worldwide.
Awards and accolades "Sexual Healing" won several music industry awards. At the 1983 Grammy Awards, the song won Gaye two Grammys, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Gaye's performance of the song later made it into the compilation album, Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I, in 1994. The American Music Awards recognized the track for Favorite Soul/R&B Single. "Sexual Healing" sold over two million units in its standard 45 RPM single format and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The digital sales of "Sexual Healing" reached 500,000 downloads and was certified as a gold single in 2005. Also issued as a mastertone, this format was certified platinum in 2007.
Personnel Credits sourced from The Atlantic, Electronic Sound, and the original album liner notes
Marvin Gaye – lead and backing vocals, Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizers, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, Roland TR-808 programming, finger cymbals Gordon Banks – electric guitars, backing vocals Harvey Fuqua – backing vocals
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1982–1983)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)4Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)12France (IFOP)17Quebec (ADISQ)1US Billboard Hot 1003US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (Billboard)34US Hot Black Singles (Billboard)1US Hot Dance Club Play (Billboard)12US Cash Box Top 1005
YearChart Rank20112012201320142015
Year-end charts Chart (1982)RankNetherlands (Single Top 100)55US Cash Box44
Chart (1983)RankAustralia (Kent Music Report)31Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)72Canada Top Singles (RPM)12New Zealand (RIANZ)20US Billboard Hot 10032US Hot Black Singles (Billboard)1US Cash Box49
Certifications
Soul Asylum version
"Sexual Healing" was covered in 1993 by Minneapolis rock band Soul Asylum for the charity compilation No Alternative. Despite not being promoted as a single, the song peaked at number 10 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was included on the compilation Playlist: The Very Best of Soul Asylum.
Charts Chart (1993)Peakposition
Max-A-Million version