Marvin Gaye | Belgium | What''s Going On | English Channel

Twenty-five years ago, Marvin Gaye rebuilt his mind, body, and eventually his career in an unlikely place: a tiny town on the coast of Belgium. retraces Gaye's steps to find out what was going on back then.
Marvin Gaye was on the brink when he crossed the English Channel on a ferryboat in 1981 seeking refuge in the small Belgian city of Ostend, a faded seaside resort town that had once hosted Europe's moneyed classes­ but was now, like the great soul singer himself, facing harder times. The man with the string of feel-good Motown hits in the 1960s and the 1971 breakthrough album What's Going On was leaving America behind. The reasons for his self-­imposed exile were many and complex, and included­ two failed marriages; financial woes, highlighted by a losing battle with the Internal Revenue Service; a career that seemed to be in terminal decline; and an increasing dependence on hard drugs. Gaye, in his early 40s, still had the charm, looks, and talent of a star - his voice would never fail him - but he was squandering these gifts. Michael Jackson and other talented newcomers had eclipsed him at the beginning of a new, video-dominated era that focused attention on younger performers. It seemed the music world was passing him by as his successes of the '60s and '70s faded into memory. He was lucky to be well enough to even travel to Belgium. At the end of a chaotic European tour, Gaye had declined to return to Los Angeles and instead plunged into London's drug scene, living in squalid conditions and shunning his contacts in the music business who had brought him fame and fortune. Those close to him feared that, like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison before him, Gaye would die on foreign shores.