Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton "Islands in the Stream"

The Bee Gees wrote "Islands in the Stream" with Marvin Gaye in mind, but they took a left turn and turned it into one of the most successful country ballads of all time thanks to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. The duet "Islands in the Stream" topped the Country, Adult Contemporary, and Hot 100 in 1983.

Robert Palmer - "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"

You know how Adult Contemporary radio loves remakes, right?  Enter Robert Palmer.  He reworked Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" into a medley with "I Want You".  The result: a #4 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart in 1991.

4 Non Blondes - "What's Up?"

Nowhere in the lyrics of "What's Up" do the words "what's up" appear.  What's up with that?  This was intentionally done to avoid confusion with Marvin Gaye's signature tune, "What's Going On?".  "What's Up" never found airplay on Adult Contemporary radio stations in 1993, but has since become part of many Hot AC station's gold libraries.

Michael McDonald - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

Michael McDonald did a series of television commercial for MCI's "The Neighborhood" phone calling promotion that featured him singing the Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".  Within a matter of years, MCI was gone.  Michael McDonald continues touring and recently toured with acts such as Boz Scaggs and Toto.

Diana Ross - "Missing You"

One listen to "Missing You" from Diana Ross would lead you to think the song is about a relationship that went wrong, yet the somber ballad was actually about a much different topic.  "Missing You" was a somber homage from Diana Ross to her friend Marvin Gaye who was killed by his father earlier in 1984.  The song was Diana's last major hit and is part of the ever-growing list of tributes to fallen musicians.

Gregory Abbott - "Shake You Down"

Gregory Abbott's "Shake You Down" is the poor man's version of "Let's Get It On".  Why?  It contains the following lyrics:

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe (you read my mind)

Come on, girl, let's start the show (girl, I wanna shake you down)

Aah, yeah (I can give you all the loving you need)

Roses are red and violets are blue

I'm gonna rock this town for you (come on, let me take you down)

Hey, baby (we'll go all the way to heaven)

Kenny Loggins - "Conviction of the Heart"

Can you rattle off some songs about preserving the Earth? "Mercy, Mercy Me" by Marvin Gaye might come to mind followed by.....um.......silence. Well, don't forget about Kenny Loggins and his 1991 song "Conviction of the Heart". It quickly became a catchy "who sang that?" song whenever it turned up on the radio and the album version runs just about seven minutes in length. Heck even after creating the internet, Al Gore adopted "Conviction of the Heart" as the anthem of Earth Day back in 1995.  

Luther Vandross - "Don't Want to Be A Fool"

Not too many artists compared with the talents of Luther Vandross during the 1980s and '90s. His voice set the standard for R&B music for an entire generation. You could spend hours listening to his music while yelling out the occasional, "Oh, I forgot how much I loved that song!" "Don't Want to Be A Fool" is one of those songs that AC stations passed onto Smooth Jazz stations. "Don't Want to Be A Fool" was a top 10 song on the Hot 100, R&B, and AC charts in 1991 with good reason. Actually, Luther managed to score at least one #1 song on the R&B charts from 1981 to 1994. Like Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, and Whitney Houston, Luther's music will play on for generations to come.  

Robert Flack & Maxi Priest - "Set The Night to Music"

Plenty of songs still exist from the lost Adult Contemporary radio years that should have be locked up and never played again.  Roberta Flack & Maxi Priest's duet "Set The Night To Music" is not one of them.  This particular song is the '90s equivalent to Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing."  Less obvious than "Sexual Healing", "Set The Night To Music" is a whispery-soft romantic ballad that gently leads you to the bedroom to partake in adult activities.