Harvey Fuqua was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1929, the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots. In 1951 he formed the Crazy Sounds with Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes, then moved to Cleveland, where disc jockey Alan Freed renamed them the Moonglows after his own Moondog persona. After stints on Champagne and Chance, they signed with Chess in 1954, and Sincerely reached No. 1 on the R&B chart. In 1957 Fuqua fired the original lineup and took over the Marquees, featuring a young Marvin Gaye, as Harvey and the Moonglows for Ten Commandments of Love.
Leonard Chess steered him to Anna Records in Detroit, where he joined the Gordy circle, introduced Gaye to Berry Gordy and married Gwen Gordy. His Tri-Phi and Harvey labels signed the Spinners, Junior Walker and Shorty Long before merging into Motown, where he ran artist development and paired Gaye with Tammi Terrell on Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Your Precious Love. In the 1970s he produced New Birth and Sylvester's disco hits, then co-produced Gaye's 1982 comeback album Midnight Love. That same year Sylvester sued over withheld royalties.
Fuqua produced Sylvester's Dance (Disco Heat) and You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and the 1979 album Stars.
He brought in backing singers Two Tons of Fun, who later became the Weather Girls.
Sylvester won a judgment of more than $218,000, of which Fuqua paid only $20,000.
In 1995 Fuqua and his wife Caroline founded the Foundation for the Stars for underprivileged inner-city youth.
The Moonglows entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and Fuqua died in Detroit on July 6, 2010, at 80.
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