<P> In addition to being recorded several times by Motown artists, the song has been covered by musicians including Creedence Clearwater Revival who recorded an 11 - minute version for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory, that was released as a single, reaching 43 on Billboard's chart, with more modest success in other countries, and funk musician Roger Troutman whose extended version (nearly 11 minutes itself) lifted off his 1981 solo album, The Many Facets of Roger, brought the song back to number one on the R&B chart in early 1982 marking the third time the single reached the top spot on that chart . It also made the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 79 . Queen Latifah used the music as a basis for her 1998 single "Paper", produced by Pras Michel for her album Order in the Court . </P> <P> "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has been used twice in television commercials--each time using session musicians recreating the style of the Marvin Gaye version . For the 1985 Levi's 501 commercial, "Launderette", featuring male model Nick Kamen, agency BBH and director Roger Lyons, owing to budgetary constraints, brought in Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge to recreate the sound of the Marvin Gaye original with Tony Jackson, a Barbadian background singer for Paul Young, handling vocals and P.P. Arnold on backing vocals . The commercial's success prompted Tamla - Motown to re-release Gaye's single with the Levi's 501 logo on the sleeve--"an example of integrated marketing almost before the term was invented". The record went to number eight on the UK Singles chart, marking its second chart performance . A year later, in 1986, Buddy Miles was the singer for the clay animation group The California Raisins which sang it as part a TV advertising campaign . </P> <P> Marvin Gaye's version of the song is used in the opening credits of The Big Chill (1983) as each of the main characters gets to hear (through the "grapevine") about the death of their college friend, and then travels to his funeral; the song serves in an extradiegetic fashion to both unite the main characters' friendship and to locate it nostalgically for the viewer . </P> <Ul> <Li> Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye </Li> <Li> Background vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps </Li> <Li> Organ by Earl Van Dyke </Li> <Li> Drums by Richard "Pistol" Allen and Uriel Jones </Li> <Li> Bass by James Jamerson </Li> <Li> Instrumentation by the Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra </Li> <Li> String arrangement by Paul Riser </Li> </Ul>

Who sings i heard it through the grapevine