MARVIN GAYE’S WHAT’S GOING ON TURNS 50 — SECRETS BEHIND THE HIT ALBUM:

Marvin Gaye famously sang that “war is not the answer” in his signature protest song “What’s Going On.”

But for the late Motown legend, football was the answer to help lift him out of a deep depression after the 1970 death of Tammi Terrell — his frequent duet partner on hits such as  “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”  — and into creating “What’s Going On,” his classic album that was released 50 years ago on May 21, 1971.

“It was during a time when he was trying out for the Detroit Lions and being a football player,” said David Ritz, author of 1985’s “Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye,” the definitive biography of the singer. “He was a good athlete, and he had this notion of wondering if he could turn pro, but I’m not sure he had the chops. But he certainly had the drive.”

Ultimately, his would-be teammates stepped in. “They told him, ‘Hey Marvin, we’re crazy about you, but go home ‘cause we don’t want to hurt you.’”

They’ve seen this sort of thing before. George Plimpton showed up in 1963 to get the raw material for what would become his 1966 book Paper Lion. A year after its publication, Alan Alda and a film crew arrived for the movie version. Four years later, Marvin Gaye decides that while being an R&B star is cool, why not try out for the NFL instead? It must have been quite surreal to be a veteran of the Lions, or in the front office in the 1960s and early 1970s.