*Lost Marvin Gaye tracks have surfaced in Belgium, marking a discovery four decades after the passing of the iconic R&B singer in 1984.
The news comes from Belgian musician Charles Dumolin, who once hosted Gaye at his Ostend home. Dumolin allegedly possesses a never-before-seen collection of costumes, letters, notebooks, and dozens of Gaye’s unheard recordings, New York Post reports.
“We can open a time capsule here and share the music of Marvin with the world,” Alex Trappeniers, a Belgian lawyer and a business partner of Dumolin’s family, told the BBC. “It’s very clear. He’s very present.”
According to the BBC, Gaye left the items in Belgium with Dumolin’s family. The collection includes 66 demos of new material across 30 tapes.
“Marvin gave it to them and said, ‘Do whatever you want with it’ and he never came back. That’s important,” Trappeniers said.
“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,” Trappeniers said about the unheard tracks.
“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 added.
Gaye allegedly gifted the rare items to the late Dumolin. Trappeniers said the items legally “belong to [his family] because they were left in Belgium 42 years ago.”
Per The Post, “Belgian law indicates that, after 30 years, any item is legally yours,” the publication writes, noting that the regulation, “does not apply to intellectual property, under which music would fall, meaning the Dumolin family, who own the songs but not the rights to publish.”
The BBC reports that attorneys representing two of Marvin Gaye’s three children have been informed of the collection.
“I think we both benefit, the family of Marvin and the collection in the hands of [Dumolin’s heirs],” Trappeniers said. “If we put our hands together and find the right people in the world, the Mark Ronsons or the Bruno Mars…. I’m not here to make suggestions but to say OK, let’s listen to this and let’s make the next album.”
According to Trappeniers, the Dumolin family has the legal right to sell the collection.
“I’d like to work with the family but this is the nightmare for them,” he said, adding, “that someone comes from a country where there’s a lot of money and we make an agreement and this collection leaves this country.”
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