Motown icon Marvin Gaye "chased away the demons of millions… with his heavenly sound and divine art," as music critic Michael Eric Dyson famously observed. However, the man who was singing had a great deal of agony in addition to the healing of people who listened to his beautiful voice.
Gaye's connection with his violent father, Marvin Gay Sr., who openly expressed his lack of desire for his son, was a major source of that agony. Gay, a violent drinker, vented his resentment on his kids, particularly Marvin.
Not only did Marvin Gaye grow up in an abusive household, but he also achieved global recognition in the 1960s and 1970s as a soul vocalist for the venerable Motown Records. But in the 1980s, after a failing struggle with cocaine addiction and financial setbacks, Gaye returned to living with his parents in Los Angeles.
The terrible culmination of the conflict between Gaye and his father occurred there on April 1, 1984, when Marvin Gay Sr. shot his son three times in the chest. The family lived in a Los Angeles mansion.
However, as Frankie, the brother of the Prince of Motown, subsequently stated in his autobiography Marvin Gaye: My Brother, Marvin Gaye's demise seems predetermined from the start.
Inside The Abusive Household Of Marvin Gay Sr.
On April 2, 1939, Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (who subsequently altered the spelling of his last name) was born in Washington, D.C. His father was the source of domestic violence from the beginning, and their harsh neighborhood and public housing project also contributed to external violence.
Living with his father was like "living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all-powerful king," according to Gaye.
Marvin Gay Sr., the aforementioned monarch, was born in 1914 to an abusive father in Jessamine County, Kentucky. When Gay started a family of his own, he was a pastor in a Pentecostal sect that enforced tough discipline on his kids, with Marvin supposedly receiving the worst of it.
The young Gaye endured severe maltreatment from his father almost daily while he lived under his home. Later on, Gaye's sister Jeanne recalled that her early years "consist[ed of] a series of brutal whippings."
Furthermore, as Gaye subsequently stated, "By the time I was twelve, there wasn't an inch on my body that hadn't been bruised and beaten by him."
He rapidly turned to music as an escape from this torture. He said thereafter that he would have committed himself if it weren't for his mother's support and nurturing.
One possible contributing factor to Marvin Gay Sr.'s suicidal thoughts and maltreatment was his complex feelings over his own alleged homosexuality. Whether or whether that's accurate, the main basis of the rumors was that he had engaged in cross-dressing, a practice that was sometimes mistakenly associated with homosexuality, particularly in earlier years.
"there have been periods when [my father's] hair was very long and curled under, and when he seemed quite adamant in showing the world the girlish side of himself." Marvin Gaye claims, adding that his father frequently dressed like a woman.
Whatever the reason, though, Gaye's tremendous musical skill did not stop her from blossoming despite the abuse. At the age of four, he began performing at his father's church, and by the time he was a teenager, he had mastered the drums and piano as well. He fell deeply in love with doo-wop and R&B.
Gaye changed his name from "Gay" to "Gaye" when he began to establish himself professionally in an effort to break out from the unhealthy connection he had with his father. According to reports, Gaye also changed his name to dispel the notion that he and his father were gay.
After relocating to Detroit with a fellow musician, Gaye managed to get a gig for the most well-known figure in the city's music industry: Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. He was signed to the label right away, and he shortly wed Anna, Gordy's elder sister.
Despite enjoying enormous success over the following fifteen years and quickly rising to the position of Prince of Motown, Gaye's relationship with his father never fully recovered.
The Troubled Months Before Marvin Gaye's Death
When Marvin Gaye wrapped up what would be his final tour in 1983, he was addicted to cocaine, which he used as a coping mechanism for the stresses of the road and his failing marriage to Anna as a result of his adultery, which led to a difficult court struggle. His financial instability and paranoia stemmed from his addiction, which motivated him to go back home. He was even more motivated to relocate into the family's Los Angeles house after learning that his mother was recuperating from kidney surgery.
He discovered that he and his father were frequently getting into violent arguments at home. The past issues between the two were still very much alive and well, even after decades.
Alberta Gay, the mother of Marvin Gaye, subsequently said, "My husband never wanted Marvin, and he never liked him," Alberta Gay, Marvin Gaye's mother, later explained. "He used to say he didn't think he was really his child. I told him that was nonsense. He knew Marvin was his. But for some reason, he didn't love Marvin, and what's worse, he didn't want me to love Marvin either."
In addition, Gaye carried unresolved feelings about his father's supposed homosexuality and transvestism into adulthood.
One biographer claims that Gaye had long worried that his father's sexual orientation might affect his own, saying:
"I find the situation all the more difficult because… I have the same fascination with women's clothes. In my case, that has nothing to do with any attraction for men. Sexually, men don't interest me. It's also something I fear."
These anxieties, Marvin Gaye's drug addiction, Marvin Gay Sr.'s alcoholism, or a host of other factors all contributed to the violent nature of Gaye's stay at home. After a while, Gaye ejected Gay and came back, declaring, "I have just one father. I want to make peace with him."
He wouldn't get the opportunity.
How Marvin Gaye Died At The Hands Of His Father
Like so many other deaths, Marvin Gaye's began with a quarrel. Following another argument, Marvin Gaye and Marvin Gay Sr. got into a violent brawl in their Los Angeles home on April 1, 1984.
After that, Gaye allegedly started assaulting his father until Alberta, his mother, decided to break them up. Gaye's father groped for a.38 Special that his son had previously given him while he was attempting to calm himself in his bedroom as Gaye was speaking with his mother.
Without saying anything, Marvin Gay Sr. entered the bedroom and shot his son once in the chest. Gaye was killed by that one shot, but not before his father approached him and shot him again and a third time at close range.
Following Marvin Gaye's passing, Alberta fled in terror, and her younger son Frankie—who resided in a guest house on the property with his wife—was the first to arrive. Later, Frankie described how his mother sobbed as she fell in front of them, saying, "He's shot Marvin. He's killed my boy."
At 1:01 PM, Marin Gaye's age of 44 was declared as deceased. Marvin Gay Sr. was sitting quietly on the porch with a revolver in his hand when the cops came. "Let's say I didn't dislike him," Gay said in response to the police asking him if he loved his son.
Why Did Marvin Gaye's Father Shoot Him?
Although Marvin Gay Sr. never held back when it came to his animosity for his son, once Marvin Gaye passed away, his perspective did shift. In remarks, he expressed his sorrow at the death of his cherished kid and asserted that he didn't completely understand what he was doing.
Before going on trial, Gay acknowledged in a prison cell interview that "I pulled the trigger," but he insisted that he mistook the gun for one that was loaded with BB pellets.
"The first one didn't seem to bother him. He put his hand up to his face like he'd been hit with a BB. And then I fired again."
In addition, Gay defended himself by saying that his son had turned into "something like a beastlike person" due to cocaine use and that the singer had severely beaten him before to the shooting.
However, the ensuing inquiry turned up no tangible proof that Gay Sr. had been beaten. The case's chief detective, Lieutenant Robert Martin, stated, "There was no indication of bruises." nothing along the lines of "he'd been punched out" or similar.
Concerned neighbors stated at the time that the altercation before Marvin Gaye passed away had to do with preparations for the singer's 45th birthday, which was the following day. Subsequent accounts stated that Gay became enraged when they fought about an insurance policy letter that Alberta had misplaced.
He went on to say that he was sorry and that he didn't even realize his kid had died until a detective informed him hours later, regardless of the reason or the veracity of Gay's BB allegations.
"I just didn't believe it," he said. "I thought he was kidding me. I said, 'Oh, God of mercy. Oh. Oh. Oh.' It just shocked me. I just went to pieces, just cold. I just sit there and I didn't know what to do, just sitting there like a mummy."
Ultimately, despite the harsh manner in which Marvin Gaye had passed away, the judges appeared to be sympathetic to Marvin Gay Sr.'s account of events.
Gay was granted permission to enter a plea of not guilty to one count of willful manslaughter on September 20, 1984. He received a six-year sentence that was suspended and five years of probation. at 1998, at the age of 84, he passed away at a California nursing facility.
During his sentence on November 20, 1984, he said the following final comments on Marvin Gaye's passing:
"If I could bring him back, I would. I was afraid of him. I thought I was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry for everything that happened. I loved him. I wish he could step through this door right now. I'm paying the price now."
Nevertheless, the cherished singer was lost forever, regardless of whether Marvin Gay Sr. was genuinely contrite or whether his death was a cold, deliberate act. For the duration of the boy's life, the father and son were unable to break free from the abusive cycle.
