DETROIT (AP) — Singer, songwriter and record producer Harvey Fuqua, an early mentor of Marvin Gaye, has died. Fuqua was 80.
Ron Brewington of the Motown Alumni Association says Fuqua died of a heart attack Tuesday at a Detroit hospital.
The Louisville, Kentucky, native founded the R&B-doo-wop group the Moonglows, which signed with DJ Alan Freed. The group’s first single was the 1954 hit “Sincerely.”
Fuqua added Gaye and others in 1958 to a reconstituted group that he called Harvey and the Moonglows. It had the 1958 hit “Ten Commandments of Love.”
He started Tri-Phi and Harvey Records in 1961, recording the Spinners, Junior Walker & the All Stars, and Shorty Long.
Motown Records founder Berry Gordy later hired Fuqua to develop recording talent.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
