"He rebuilt himself in Ostend," she says. "He was quiet and peaceful. At that time, he was free of drugs. He could walk in the streets. He was calm. He was happy alone in front of the sea. In my opinion, he should have stayed in Ostend. I don't understand why he went back to the States. That is the cruel reality. If he had stayed, he might still be alive today."

IT IS EASY TO SEE why Gaye found some tranquillity in Ostend, a working fishing port with a wide, miles-long beach and a cheerful seafront crowded with restaurants and clubs. It is the sort of place where visitors are left alone, if that is what they want, and welcomed whenever they seek company. The sound of the waves is a constant, soothing presence, and the vastness of the sea seems to have pleased Gaye, who was raised in crowded, inner-city neighborhoods.

He made friends easily and never acted like a big star, says Jan van Snick, who today runs Jan's Café but who used to be the proprietor of Le Bistro, where Gaye was a regular.

"He came in every day with the basketball players who were his friends," says van Snick, who has a signed poster from Gaye on display at his new restaurant. "He was very generous, very nice, and he liked the girls. He acted like a normal person - no glitter, no show. He spoke about his problems in the United States. He was very popular here; he spoke to everyone, he sang in the church, he went to the fishermen's cafés. He was a good man. He did not have a big head."

Gaye's stay in Ostend revolved around the late Freddy Cousaert, a local club owner and promoter who convinced the soul singer­ to leave his risky life in England behind and take up residence in Ostend. The open-ended sojourn lasted for almost two years before Gaye returned to the United States as his last hit song, "Sexual Healing," was climbing the charts. Cousaert, who died in a bicycle accident in 1998, was motivated partly by an abiding love for American soul and blues music, and partly by the conviction that he could rehabilitate Gaye and earn a healthy living by putting the singer back on the road for European gigs.