Good Lovin Ain't Easy To Come By by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Album: Easy (1969)

Charted: 26 30

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This memorable duet between Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell is about how love isn't easy to find. Released on the Tamla label in 1969, it was written and produced by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
The vocals are by Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell and Valerie Simpson. Terrell was limited because she was dying from brain cancer which lead to her death on March 16, 1970. She was only 24 years old. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Travis - Canton, OH, for above 2
Valerie Simpson explained the true nature of her vocal contribution to tracks from the Easy album, including this song, in a 2011 interview with the Chicago Tribune:
"Tammi was very ill. We would have everything ready, the track and Marvin's vocal, and then I'd get her alone in the studio and we'd go line by line. There were a couple things that were tweaked, but not a lot. I couldn't just sing like Tammi. People give me the credit of thinking I could be Tammi Terrell, but it's just not true. We did some production edits to fix things, but that's about it."

Comments: 1

Staley from Dallas, TxThe vocals are actually just Valerie Simpson (doing a halfway-decent Tammi Terrell imitation) and Marvin Gaye. Interestingly, accounts vary as to who admits Valerie was singing and who denies it. You can tell by listening te most of the album it came from ("Easy") that it's not Tammi singing, though. There are some pretty good songs on the album (including "Good Lovin'"), but it doesn't rise to the heights of "You're All I Need to Get By" or "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You."

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