Disappointed in the results of his last two albums and in his relationship with Motown, as well as disappointing fans during his oft-chaotic concert tours, Gaye, with Cousaert's help, began rehearsing a new band for the short Heavy Love Affair Tour, named after Gaye's song from the In Our Lifetime album in Ostend.

The tour took place mainly in London, Bristol and Manchester, England, before Gaye performed the final two dates in Ostend.

Within the final months of 1981, with word of Gaye plotting a musical comeback and an exit from Motown, several labels offered record deals.

Gaye eventually accepted CBS Records, which in turn gave him a three-album contract with Columbia.

[1] Gaye had begun recording his new album starting in December 1981 in Brussels before the deal was set.

The then-Rolling Stone reviewer David Ritz had arrived to Belgium in April 1982 after he had been tipped off to where Gaye was.

[12] Around April 1982, Gaye presented a rough demo of "Sexual Healing" to Columbia executive Larkin Arnold, who was as pleased with the song as Marvin had been.

[15] The album took more than nine months to be completed, and was mixed and edited in several studios in Belgium, Germany and the United States, particularly in California.

[1] Midnight Love contains elements of funk, boogie, Caribbean music, reggae, new wave and synthpop, as well as older genres such as soul, R&B and doo-wop.

[1] "Midnight Lady" starts off with assorted percussion, provided by Gaye and other musicians, before its beat is delivered by a drum machine and overdubbed handclaps provided by the singer, followed by keyboard riffs (also played by Gaye), guitar lines by Banks and a horn section.

[17] "Sexual Healing" was influenced by Caribbean music and reggae while also including funk elements musically; vocally the song recalls Gaye's gospel background while his background harmonies (which included Fuqua and Banks as co-backing vocalists) took influence from doo-wop.

"My Love Is Waiting" has elements of funk, synthpop and gospel music, as evident to Gaye's final words in his thank you calls, "we like to thank our Heavenly Father, Jesus!"

[18] A controversial outtake from the album sessions, "Sanctified Lady" was originally planned and expected by the singer to become a follow-up to the success of Sexual Healing.

[21][22][23][24] In his review of Midnight Love, Rolling Stone reviewer Dave Marsh called the album in terms of it being viewed as a comeback as "remarkably arrogant", stating "it simply picks up from 1973's Let's Get It On as if only ten minutes had elapsed since Gaye hit his commercial peak", though he did state the album was a successful comeback.

"[1] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau explained that the album's "concentration on the carnal is one reason it's his best ever".

[26] Mike Freedberg of The Boston Phoenix said "There's not a trace of old Motown in the best of Midnight Love, and more's the power.

Midnight Love was voted the eighth best album of 1982 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.

[citation needed] The UK magazine Melody Maker listed it as one of the significant albums to be released between 1982 and 1985.

The album's biggest hit single, "Sexual Healing", sold over two million US copies and earned an RIAA Platinum certification.

[12] Gordon Banks stated the album "influenced a lot of people doing a mellow thing with a funk vibe in it".

[37] In the wake of its success, "Sexual Healing" became one of Gaye's most covered songs as well as being sampled by several artists in the hip-hop and R&B genres.

The demo version of "Turn On Some Music" was sampled for Erick Sermon's hit, "Music", giving full credit to Gaye as a leading vocalist, giving Gaye a posthumous top 40 hit in 2001, 17 years after his death.

In 1998, Sony Music re-released the album as a two-CD "Legacy" edition set titled Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions.