Pride and Joy (Marvin Gaye song)

Infobox Single
Name = Pride & Joy
Background = khaki


Artist = Marvin Gaye
from Album = That Stubborn Kinda Fellow
B-side =
Released = May 1963
Format = 7" single
Recorded = September 12, 1962; Hitsville, USA; Detroit, Michigan
Genre = R&B/soul
Length = 2:05
Label = Tamla
Writer = Norman Whitfield
Marvin Gaye
William "Mickey" Stevenson
Producer = William "Mickey" Stevenson
Chart position = * #10 US Pop Singles Chart
* #2 Hot R&B Singles Chart
Last single = "Hitch Hike"
(1962)
This single = "Pride & Joy"
(1963)
Next single = "Can I Get a Witness"
(1963)"Pride and Joy" is a 1963 single by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label. The single, co-written by William "Mickey" Stevenson, Gaye and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Stevenson, was considered to be a tribute to Gaye's then girlfriend, Anna Gordy.

The song was also the third straight (and last) single to include Martha and the Vandellas in background vocals just weeks before "(Love is Like a) Heat Wave" made the girl group one of the high-tier Motown acts.

The song was also Gaye's first top ten pop single peaking at number ten on the chart and just missed the top spot of the R&B singles chart peaking at number two. The song also helped continue Gaye's successful hit streak as the singer would score another Top 40 pop hit at the end of that year with "Can I Get a Witness".

Credits

*Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
*Background vocals by Martha and the Vandellas: Martha Reeves, Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard
*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers