Marvin Gaye

A 1962 dance record named after thumbing a lift by the roadside (1962)

'Hitch Hike' — his first real hit, later covered by the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground.

A 1963 Holland–Dozier–Holland plea for a sympathetic hearing, a floor-filler on Britain's all-nighter circuit (1963)

'Can I Get a Witness', a Northern soul staple and a favourite of the early Rolling Stones.

A 1967 duet with Tammi Terrell insisting no distance could keep him from reaching her (1967)

'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', written by Ashford and Simpson.

A 1968 Norman Whitfield production in which a man learns of his lover's infidelity via office gossip (1968)

'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' — Motown's biggest-selling single of the 1960s, seven weeks at US number one.

A 1971 song cycle sung from the viewpoint of a serviceman returning from Vietnam to a country he no longer recognises (1971)

What's Going On — topped Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums.

A 1971 single from that album about poisoned fish, mercury and oil-blackened skies (1971)

'Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)' — one of the first environmental protest hits.

A 1973 album of frank seduction that became his biggest-selling record (1973)

Let's Get It On, whose title track spent six weeks at US number one.

A 1982 comeback single for a new label, driven by a drum machine, that won him his only competitive Grammys (1982)

'Sexual Healing', from Midnight Love, recorded in Ostend after he left Motown for Columbia.