Charles Dumolin, a musician from Belgium, claims to have unreleased, original music from Marvin Gaye in his possession and he says he’s ready to share it with the world.
Gaye lived with Dumolin during his time in Belgium, more than 40 years ago, and he is said to have left him with a treasure trove of costumes, recordings and other personal items, according to BBC. The audio tapes are originals that are believed to have been recorded by Gaye at roughly the same time as his legendary hit single, “Sexual Healing.”
Gaye died Apr. 1, 1984. His music is still streamed and downloaded roughly 20 million times a month. His duet with singer-songwriter Tammi Terrell, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” has been streamed more than a billion times, according to BBC.
The late artist is now at the center of one of the biggest stories about music rights.
Dumolin’s family has legal possession of the unreleased music and has hired Belgian lawyer Alex Trappeniers to handle the fate of the valuable collection of stage costumes, notebooks and unreleased music.
Gaye’s heirs own the rights to his intellectual property, but they can’t access the music if the Dumolin family doesn’t release the audio tapes.
Trappeniers carries the responsibility of determining the best legal course of action.
Gaye’s heirs are children — Marvin III, Nona and Frankie — and the administrators of his estate, according to BBC.
“They belong to [the family] because they were left in Belgium 42 years ago,” he says. “Marvin gave it to them and said, ‘Do whatever you want with it’ and he never came back. That’s important,” Trappeniers said. “At the end, when I had listened to all the 30 tapes, I had 66 demos of new songs. A few of them are complete and a few of them are as good as ‘Sexual Healing’ because it was made in the same time.”
“There was one song that when I listened to it for ten seconds I found the music was in my head all day, the words were in my head all day, like a moment of planetary alignment,” he said, according to BBC.
Trappeniers said he already notified lawyers for two of Gaye’s three children that he’d like to work with them to come to an agreement on the release of the tapes. (RELATED: ‘Incredibly Grateful’: Family Returns Paul McCartney’s Stolen Guitar 51 Years Later)
“I think we both benefit, the family of Marvin and the collection in the hands of [Dumolin’s heirs],” he told BBC.
“We can open a time capsule here and share the music of Marvin with the world,” he said. “It’s very clear. He’s very present.”