Sounds on Sunday: 50 of 50/6

WHAT WERE WE listening to 50 years ago? Here’s a short series on the hits of 1969 – two years after the Summer of Love, the year that humans landed on our moon, the last year of the 1960s.

Half a century ago, we were listening to the Marvin Gaye classic I heard it through the Grapevine, which topped the UK charts from 23rd March to 12th April 1969. Gaye wasn’t the first to record the song, with earlier versions having been recorded by Motown artists Gladys Knight & the Pips and The Miracles. Grapevine made it on to a Gaye album – and airplay persuaded the record company to release it as a single. As a single, it did very well – topping the US charts for seven weeks between December 1968 and January 1969 and becoming Tamla Motown’s biggest selling record.

Here’s a video of Gaye singing the Motown clasic live.

•Read more about it:
Sounds on Sunday