"Joy" is a 1983 single released by Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, the final single issued from his Midnight Love

Midnight Love

Midnight Love is the final studio album recorded and issued by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and was the singer's first release from Columbia months after leaving his longtime label, Motown. It claimed the number one slot on NME Album of the Year....

album. The song, which was built around a funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 vibe, was inspired by Gaye's religious background, which had also inspired songs such as "God is Love

God Is Love (song)

"God is Love" is a 1970 song written by Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy Gaye, James Nyx and Elgie Stover and recorded by Marvin for his What's Going On album. The song was a return of sorts to Gaye's religious background dedicating this song to God and his father, Marvin Pentz Gay, Sr. The song was...

", "Everybody Needs Love

Everybody Needs Love (Marvin Gaye song)

"Everybody Needs Love" is a 1977 song recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and issued on the singer's confessional 1978 album, Here, My Dear. Though most of the songs on the album were based on a mostly antagonist view of Marvin's first wife, Anna Gaye, few songs like this stood out which...

" and "Praise

Praise (song)

"Praise" is a 1981 gospel-inspired funk number released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. The song, written by Gaye, is a tribute to not only his church upbringing but also to the sound of then-label mate Stevie Wonder, who is given a shout out on the song by Gaye.The song, equipped with horns,...

". Gaye introduced the song as a tribute to his father during his 1983 concert tour.

The song peaked at number thirty-one on the Billboard R&B singles

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart, and was the last single Gaye released while alive. Three later posthumous releases would reach the Billboard Top 40 over the next twenty years.

Credits

• All vocals by Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
  
  
• Instrumentation by:
  • Marvin Gaye: drums, Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, bass synthesizers
  • Gordon Banks: guitars, bass
  • Bobby Stern: tenor saxophone solo