Crate Cannon | Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”

Belgian Genesis


Marvin, dodging Motown lawsuits and the IRS, relocated to Belgium in 1981. Holed up at Studio Katy, he spent weeks playing alone with a fresh-out-the-box Roland TR-808, a MiniMoog, and a Jupiter-8. Guitarist Gordon Banks recalls Marvin looping the kick for hours, humming a melody only he could hear. Music journalist David Ritz arrived to ghostwrite a biography, found Marvin flipping through fetish comics, and commented that the singer “looked like he needed sexual healing.” Marvin’s eyes lit up; he ordered Ritz to write the phrase down, then turned it into the hook within an hour.

Acclaim

Released October 1, 1982. Went No. 1 R&B for ten weeks and No. 3 on the Hot 100. Became the first single dominated by a drum machine to win Grammys—Best Male R&B Vocal and Best R&B Instrumental (the 12-inch dub).

Process


Midnight Love sessions stretched Oct 1981–Aug 1982, with vocals also cut at Arco Studios, Munich. U.S. album mastering landed at Allen Zentz. The “Sexual Healing” 7 inch B-side is the instrumental; 12-inch and international pressings circulate with timing/labeling differences collectors love to parse via the Midnight Love & The Sexual Healing Sessions reissue trail.


The Ostend period saw Gaye drafting drum machine grooves on the TR-808 with stacked Jupiter-8 textures, along with harmonies and whispers from mentor Harvey Fuqua (“Get up,” “Wake up”) to frame the verses. Banks recalls building the record with multiple guitar passes—“seventeen lead lines” by his count—with Gaye shaping melodies from those phrases. On paper you’ll see Gaye credited with “congas, bells, cymbals,” a cheeky stand-in for the 808’s panel sounds as they were tracked at Studio Katy. Lyric authorship lists Marvin Gaye, Odell Brown, and David Ritz; Ritz’s own account of the title’s spark sits alongside pushback from Gaye’s circle, a tension documented in Ritz’s essay and in the song’s production history.


The single centered Gaye as a synth-era auteur, bridging bedroom soul and post-disco minimalism. The song’s 808 architecture helped normalize machine-led R&B on U.S. radio, while Midnight Love pushed into a triple-platinum afterlife and set the tone for ’80s quiet-storm aesthetics.

Afterlife

The groove has lived a thousand lives—browse samples and covers, from hip-hop flips to pop re-sings, plus the track’s long digital remix run:

• Hot 8 Brass Band — “Sexual Healing”: YouTube

• Jimmy Riley — “Sexual Healing” Lovers-rock 7″ with Sly & Robbie: YouTube

• Marvin Gaye — “Sexual Healing (Studio Rio Version)": YouTube

• Kate Bush with Davy Spillane — “Sexual Healing” (B-side to “King of the Mountain”): YouTube

• Michael Bolton — “Sexual Healing” (album version): YouTube

Esoteric Spins & Samples

• MC Lyte filched the “and when I get that feeling” line for ‘Cold Rock a Party’ (1996).

• Soul II Soul used the same snare-verb setting on “Back to Life” after engineer Jack Joseph Puig visited Gaye’s Katy session notes.

The Glen Adams & Finesse Detour


In 1982, NYC Upsetter alum Glen Adams teamed with Bronx MC T-Ski Valley on their cover version: Side A = “Sexual Rapping” (rap/reggae mash). Side B = “Sexual (Instrumental)”—a dub classic. Recorded at Blank Tape Studios on 24-track, drenched in Eventide Harmonizer. Original 12″ sells for $20-40; Isle of Jura’s 2022 re-press cleaned up the mix, pressed on audiophile wax.

The dub instrumental is featured on Lovers Dub | 01. Props to the Isle of Jura label for the consistent stellar re-issues.

Last Drop of Juice

Marvin’s estate still nets an estimated $6 million annually from “Sexual Healing” (Viagra adverts turned down twice, Trojan condoms approved in South America). The song’s publishing is a case study for how one late-career pivot can eclipse an entire earlier catalogue in royalties.

Watch, Listen

• Official 4K remaster video (silk-draped nurse, Marvin in tux, sexy & elegant dancers): YouTube

• Marvin Gaye on Sexual Healing and the sexual content of the song (1983 Interview): YouTube