Marvin's Room (studio)

For other uses, see Marvin's Room.

Marvin's Room (originally named Marvin Gaye Studios) is a recording studio founded by American soul musician Marvin Gaye.

Created by the singer in 1975 shortly after renegotiating a deal with Motown Records, the singer built the studios in Los Angeles as a spacious apartment-like complex big enough to be a studio, a home and, for a time, a dance club. It was once called "the Studio 54 of the West Coast".^[1]

There, Gaye recorded his late-'70s material including I Want You, Here, My Dear, the hit single "Got to Give It Up", his shelved Ballads album (later released as the Vulnerable album in 1997), and a shelved disco-styled album, Love Man, which was later redone and released in 1981 as In Our Lifetime.

Gaye's studio would often run parties there where a vast majority of the Hollywood elite including Diana Ross and Muhammad Ali and other musicians and even politicians would be spotted.^[2]

The studio was shut down due to the singer's legal and financial troubles foreclosed on his house, cars as well as the studio. Marvin's ex, Janis Gaye, said that Marvin was "emotionally crushed"^[3] by the sale of the studio in the end of 1979.

It was later rechristened in the mid-1980s as Eldorado Studios where rock groups such as Alice in Chains recorded there unbeknownst to anyone that the studio was once owned by Gaye. In 1997, the studio was restored by John McClain, who purchased the studio saving it from being turned into a photo lab.^[3] Since then, artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, and Drake have all since recorded there. Drake recently recorded a song named after this legendary studio.

References

1. ^ Writer Tom Kenny writes "in the mid-'70s, Marvin Gaye's studio was the place to be in Los Angeles, the Studio 54 of the West Coast."
2. ^ Writer Tom Kenny writes "One engineer said... 'Yep, the parties were legendary, at times running 24-7. Muhammad Ali would stop by. Diana Ross, too. Rock stars and beautiful women. Film stars and politicians. Everybody wanted in...'"
3. ^ ^{a b} [1]

Drake's single "Marvin's Room" is referring to this studio.

External links

• Mix magazine Marvin’s Room-Mix magazine profiles recording studio Marvin Gaye’s Room on the November 2006 cover