Marvin Gaye
December 1980
Marvin Gaye’s career was in a doldrums at the time. He was depressed and even attempted suicide. Marvin was having trouble at various levels: he owned the IRS millions in back taxes, there was the long drawn-out divorce from Anna Gordy, other family problems with his second wife Janis, difficulties with Motown Records, and on top of all this, he was in the throes of a drug addiction. Ostend-born Freddy Cousaert, a passionate music fan and soul lover, arranged a meeting with him in London. During this meeting he invited Marvin to Ostend to get his life back on track.
"One week after that first meeting he tried to call me at home. I wasn't in, but my wife spent half an hour on the phone talking to him. He sounded depressed, she said. When I rang him up he was in Brighton. Marvin loved the rain and the wind, the honesty of the sea. When I told him that all this and more was available plentifully in Ostend, he immediately decided to visit Ostend for two weeks. We set up an apartment for him and cared for him as if he was a member of the family. The two weeks turned into a month, and the rest is history. “
Freddy Cousaert
On February 14th 1981 Marvin Gaye and his son Bubby arrived by boat in Ostend. He spent his first weeks in an apartment that the Cousaert family arranged for him. This is the beginning of a fascinating story about Ostend, and about Marvin Gaye and the relationship between the two.
February 2012
Toerisme Oostende vzw launched a mobile app which takes you on a tour of Ostend, in the footsteps of the great Marvin Gaye during his Ostend period. During a walking tour of the city, you learn all there is to knowabout his recovery and how the monster hit "Sexual Healing" came about. A varied tour elaborates on this local story, and on the larger international scope.
The story is told through a mix of moving images taken from existing archival footage, completed with photos, newspaper clippings and interviews with the people involved, by a narrator . The walk is introduced by none other than the famous Jamie Lidell. He is the ideal representative of a new generation of soul musicians who were heavily influenced by Marvin Gaye’s music.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Launch: 15/02/2012
Available in Dutch, French, German and English.
Toerisme Oostende vzw rents out iPods.
€ 5 per person
© foto Jean-Jacques Soenen
Keywords: marvin gaye
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Some comments
Dirk van der Horst commented on Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Prachtig iniatief !
Zoals gezegd, het heeft wel wat lang geduurd.
Vele Oostendenaars hebben mooie herinneringen over aan THE MARVIN.
Misschien ook een eerbetoon aan de Oostendenaar die Marvin naar Oostende haalde : Freddy Cousaert !?
Van den Poel Filip commented on Friday, 11 February 2011
inderdaad.
Tot vorig jaar had ik een lieve, bejaarde tante wonen op de Zeedijk van Oostende. Ze was afkomstig uit Deinze, doch verhuisde eind de jaren 70 naar Oostende met haar echtgenoot.
Altijd een swingende, opgewekte dame. Op het einde van haar leven (ze vocht al lang tegen kanker) kwam ik toevallig van haar te weten dat Marvin Gaye ooit in diezelfde flat woonde (nu heeft Arno er tevens een optrekje) Ze herinnerde zijn nachtelijk getokkel met drumsticks op de bakelieten radiatoren. Vrank en vrij had ze hem ontmoet in de traphall en hem gevraagd even een aperitief te komen drinken. Hij zou dit zeker eens doen. Door omstandigheden is het er nooit van gekomen, want Marvin kreeg het terug drukker met zijn concerten, en verhuisde kort nadien naar een huis iets meer in het binnenland. Zijn concert in het Kursaal woonde ze wel bij.
Op 83-jarige leeftijd zei ze ons gniffelend dat hij nog steeds haar favoriete zanger was!
claus pettersson commented on Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Im will be visiting Oostende for the first time in august 2011 and would like to see some of the Marvin Gaye relatede places.
Is the house in Moere where he wrote Sexual healing easy to find?
The Cafe Zeemans Verlangen that apears in the Transit Oostende documanetar easy to find?
Cousaert Nicole commented on Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Sexual healing is not write in Moere buth in Ostend ,cafe zeemansverlangen is now an nightschop
Geert commented on Friday, 1 July 2011
Hoi, ik zou binnenkort naar Oostende gaan om plaatsten te bezoeken waar Marvin Gaye aan gelinkt is, zoals cafe "Zeemansverlangen" maar dat schijnt nu een nachtwinkel te zijn, maar weet niet waar juist in Oostende dat is.Kan iemand mij meer informatie geven over die plaatsen?
Alvast bedankt!
paul mechele commented on Wednesday, 8 February 2012
@claus pettersson Yes, the house in Moere is easy to find. It is across a touristic bikers road from Ostend to Torhout.
Coordinateur Sportif de Courcelles commented on Saturday, 3 March 2012
http://www.rtbf.be/video/v_kustodyssee-2012-jacques-horlait-a-ostende?id=1629153&category=divertissement#.TzdnlXaKqyE.hotmail
Philippe De Geyseleer commented on Monday, 12 March 2012
In de Hertstraat kan je het lievelingskostje eten van Marvin Gaye: Smoked Chicken salad with a thousand islands sauce, Spicy (spicy!) Meat Balls en een overheerlijke Home Made Brownie with Vanilla ice. Leuk om de rondleiding mee af te sluiten!