kadir nelson’s marvin gaye portrait will be a stamp

Some of our heroes do appear on stamps, after all. Thirty-five years after his passing, Marvin Gaye will be honored by the United States Postal Service with his own stamp in 2019, featuring a portrait of of the Prince of Motown by Kadir Nelson.

Marvin Gaye by Kadir Nelson (for USPS 2019)

The newest stamp in the Music Icons series, it features a pane designed to resemble a vintage 45rpm record sleeve. One side of the pane will include the stamps, brief text about Gaye’s legacy, and the image of a record peeking out the top of the sleeve, while another portrait of Gaye appears on the reverse.

Gaye’s portrait was created by the acclaimed New York-based artist Kadir Nelson, who over the past half-decade has proven himself as as one of the foremost documentarians of the Black American experience, with magazine covers, commercial work, as well as portraits of artist such as Drake and Michael Jackson.

Among the other stamps to be rolled by the USPS in 2019 will be one featuring the great dancer and actor Gregory Hines (1946–2003), who is credited with renewing interest in tap during the 1990s. Hines’ stamp features a 1988 photograph of the artist by the photographer Jack Mitchell.