PopMatters | Sease & Desist: The Soulfully Outrageous Sound of Marvin Sease
This past February, the chitlin circuit became a little less funky when one of its greatest performers died following complications from pneumonia. Marvin Sease, a native of Blackville, South Carolina, was 64 years old and only eight days short of his 65th birthday when he passed. He was originally a gospel singer and as is the case with many southern gospel singers, he made his way into secular R&B music. In 1986, Marvin Sease released his self-titled album which included the tune that would become his trademark for the remainder of his days, “Candy Licker”.
From that point on, Marvin Sease built a career and a cult following based on his racy and raunchy songs. He never saw even a portion of the mainstream success that some of his peers did. Johnnie Taylor, Tyrone Davis, and to a lesser extent, Bobby Rush all come to mind. Perhaps that’s something to be expected here though. With songs like “The Power of Coochie”, “Rather Be Licked”, “The Bitch Git It All”, and “I Ate The Whole Thang”, chances of getting radio play would have to be slim to none.
To further illustrate the point, below is a list of some of Marvin Sease’s greatest songs with a bit of insight as to what makes them and him so great. If you have sensitive ears, you may want to depart now and we thank you for reading the post to this point. For the rest of us that came for some juke joint rockin’, Saturday night partying, and drinkin’, down home blues… get ready for these tunes from the self-proclaimed Ghetto Man.
