Frankie Beverly and Teddy Pendergrass; and also how Marvin made her have threesomes with other couples. Oh Lawd! She’s telling it all.
In order to explain the Teddy P. and Frankie Beverly affairs, we have to first break down how Jan’s and Marvin’s sexual trysts started. Marvin started dating Janis when she was 17 years old and he was 34. That’s also when they first had sexual intercourse, according to Janis.
At that time, Marvin Gaye was estranged from his then-wife Anna Gordy (Berry Gordy’s sister) and Janis said this about her relationship with Marvin
“The explosive power of our sexual union was incredible,” she writes. “We made love at every opportunity, night and day. We knew every inch of each other’s bodies. We never used birth control. It was clear that Marvin wanted me pregnant — and I did nothing to prevent that.”
Soon, Janis began to see how Gaye thrived on the emotional turmoil of those around him and learned the depth of his jealousy and possessiveness.
He tried to convince her to quit school so they could spend their days together and offered to be her educator instead.
“I can teach you everything you need to know,” he said. “I’ll be a far more loving and patient teacher than whomever the school provides.”
Being together, though, was not his only motive.
“I don’t want to share you,” he said. “There are all those strapping young high-school football players looking to love on you. They’re my competitors.”
Their first child, Nona Gaye was born a few years later in 1974, and their son, Frankie Gaye, was born a year after that. Then, Marvin and Janis settled into family life.
Now THIS is where things start to get really different. Marvin started to introduce Jan to more risque crowds and situations.
One day when Janis was in her early 20’s, she and Marvin, along with another couple] had been smoking weed and snorting cocaine when Gaye noticed the pair sizing her up.
“I think they want to take this party to the next phase,” he said. “A small intimate orgy is just what the doctor ordered.”
He didn’t participate but acted as ringleader, urging on the sexual proceedings between his hesitant, eager-to-please girlfriend, 15 years his junior, and the couple they had just met.
After, Gaye projected his joy at the event onto Janis. He projected something else as well. “You loved it, didn’t you,” he asked.
“Not especially,” Jan said.
“Oh, dear, please don’t deny it. You were an animal in heat. You couldn’t get enough. This was your dream come true,” says Marvin.
George Clinton and Bernie Worrell would often drop by to shoot hoops and drop acid with Gaye. The couple were invited to watch Ike Turner in the studio, where he “carried around his coke supply in a suitcase.”
They also partied with Richard Pryor, who invited them one night “to watch bikini-clad dancers having sex with each other.”
“The evening was uncomfortable for me, but I went along with the program,” writes Janis.
Then along came Frankie Beverly:
Noting a chemistry between Janis and Maze singer, Frankie Beverly, Gaye did everything he could to set up an illicit liaison between the two. When Beverly came for a visit, Gaye not only booked him a room at a local motel but booked the adjoining room for Janis, saying he needed her out of the house so he could focus on music.
As Janis and Beverly smoked a joint in Janis’ hotel room, well aware of the awkwardness, there was a loud bang at the door. It was…
Here we go again!