Charlie Puth Shares the Surprising Artist Who Was First Considered to Perform His Hit “Marvin Gaye”

Puth teamed up with Meghan Trainor for the 2015 track, which went on to become a major hit.

Charlie Puth almost didn’t perform his breakthrough hit.

In a recent SiriusXM Hits 1 interview, the 33-year-old singer revealed that his 2015 hit “Marvin Gaye,” which he co-wrote, was originally intended for CeeLo Green.

“That song was actually written with CeeLo in mind. A lot of people don’t realize that, but if you think about it, it makes sense as something he would sing,” Puth explained.

Ultimately, the track ended up back with Puth due to circumstance, leading him to record it as a duet with Meghan Trainor — and it became his debut single.

“I got to sing it myself, which I really ended up enjoying,” he said. “The same thing happened with ‘See You Again.’ I feel like with my songs, I have to step out of my own perspective to really create a Charlie Puth track.”

“Marvin Gaye” appeared on his third EP, Some Type of Love, and reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Meanwhile, “See You Again,” also released in 2015, was written for the Furious 7 soundtrack as a tribute to the late Paul Walker. Puth revealed that his label initially wanted a more established artist, like Chris Brown or Sam Smith, to perform it, but he insisted on singing the chorus himself — a decision that helped the song hit No. 1.

“They wanted someone else because I was relatively unknown at the time,” Puth said. “I had to fight to be on the track. Some people supported me, some didn’t, but I’m not bitter. Things worked out the way they were meant to.”

He added, “I definitely had to defend my spot on the song, but since I wrote it, I wasn’t going to hand it over if I wasn’t going to sing it.”