Mel Farr, whom...

...I used to confuse with Lem Barney, died at age 70.

Here's something I did not know:

Farr shared rookie of the year honors with his fellow Lion Lem Barney, who was his roommate. The two also shared an unusual distinction: They became friends with the singer Marvin Gaye, who invited them to sing backup on his 1971 hit “What’s Going On.”

“We thought like always that we’d just sit and watch him perform,” Barney told The Los Angeles Times in 2010. “But he said, ‘Lem, you take this part,’ and, ‘Mel, you take this part.’ And as a result, it got us a gold record.”