Marvin Gaye
After his early success, which Marvin had struggles with, Motown began to widen his role as a ladies man, having him record duet albums with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Diana Ross. His first album with Wells, Together, became Marvin's first charted album, and yielded two popular hits, while his single with Weston, the Sylvia Moy-penned "It Takes Two", hit the top twenty on both sides of the Atlantic. But it would be his collaboration with Philadelphia R&B singer Tammi Terrell that landed him his biggest known success in his duet work. Building on songs written by Ashford & Simpson, the team of Marvin and Tammi scored a multitude of hits including their original version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Your Precious Love", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". Their success would be short-lived following Tammi's collapse during a show at Virginia in October 1967. Having complained of headaches, Tammi was rushed to the hospital that night and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Terrell braved it out but by the release of their third and last album together, Easy, was losing her fight with the tumor. Tammi died in March 1970 at the age of 24 from complications of her brain cancer. Marvin was said to be so devastated by Tammi's death that he said he felt a piece of him died with her, and reports state at her funeral, Marvin talked to her remains as if she was gonna respond. Promising not to tour again and not to record another duet album after that, Marvin went into a self-imposed seclusion that ended briefly. In 1973, Marvin would work on his final duet album with Diana Ross. Their recording was hampered by arguments between them as Marvin refused to stop smoking marijuana in the studio as Diana was then pregnant. The resulting album, Diana and Marvin, became a top twenty U.S. success and reached the top ten in the U.K.