Gaye's final years 'become movie'

Marvin Gaye was killed in 1984

The final years of soul singer Marvin Gaye's life are to be made into a film, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Law & Order actor Jesse L Martin will play the Motown star, who was killed by his father in 1984.

The biopic, Sexual Healing, follows on from recent successful films about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash.

"More than just being the voice of a generation, Marvin Gaye proved to be its very heartbeat," said director Lauren Goodman.

The film will be an independently financed film which be shot on location in Hungary and Germany, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Martin stars in Law & Order

Gaye moved to Europe from the US as he battled drugs and music industry wrangles.

It was after this that he was taken under the wing of a promoter who helped him recorded his comeback album Midnight Love, which featured the hit song Sexual Healing.

He eventually moved back to the US to live with his parents after drug addiction and depression took hold.

He was shot dead just before his 45th birthday in the middle of a row with his father, Marvin Senior.

Jesse L Martin most recently starred in the movie adaptation of the musical Rent.