Marvin Matthew Sease Sr., Southern Soul and Blues Legend died of pneumonia at River Region Medical Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 8, 2011, eight days before his 65th birthday.
Marvin Matthew Sease Sr., Southern Soul and Blues Legend died of pneumonia at River Region Medical Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 8, 2011, eight days before his 65th birthday. His musical roots were deep as Marvin grew up in the church sing gospel music.
He started out his singing career as a gospel singer with the group the Five Gospel Crowns in Charleston, South Carolina and later the Gospel Crowns in New York City.
He made the transition to R & B music by forming the group “Sease” with his three brothers. He began to distinguish himself as a singer to be reckoned on the Chittlin’ Circuit with the release of his 1986 self titled album which produced the classic Southern Soul hit “Ghetto Man.” He signed with Polygram Records and Mercury Records and launched his music nationally.
While Marvin Sease’s musical lyrics were considered too explicit for mainstream R&B/Urban radio, in 1987, he release the 10 minute Southern Soul Classic “Candy Licker” which sold in great numbers in the South despite the lack of radio airplay and label promotion, solidifying his base in the Southern Soul and Blues nation and developing an expanding cult following (especially among female listeners) that crossed generations.
Over the next 30 years, Marvin Sease was a mainstay in Southern Soul and Blues Nation, producing Southern Soul classics like "Do You Qualify?", "Please Take Me", "Bitch Git It All", "Hoochie Mama", "Women Would Rather Be Licked", "Do You Need A Licker", "Don't Come Now", "I Got Beat Out" and "Playa Haters". His importance (although mostly ignored by the mainstream recording industry) to Southern Soul and Blues Music is beyond measure.
His sense of humor combined with his musical arrangements and storytelling abilities made him one of the undisputed masters of Southern Soul music and set a musical standard in which future Southern Soul musicians have patterned.
Marvin Sease is buried at the Cadedonia Christian Church Cemetery in Ehrhardt, Bamberg County, South Carolina (Plot #130-C1).
