Marvin Gay, Sr.

Marvin Pentz Gay Sr.
Born	October 1, 1914(1914-10-01) Jessamine County, Kentucky
Died	October 10, 1998(1998-10-10) (aged 84) Culver City, California
Occupation	Minister
Spouse	Alberta Gay (1913–1987); (1935–1984) (divorced)
Children	Jeanne Gay (b. 1937) Marvin Gaye (1939–1984) Frankie Gaye (1941–2001) Zeola "Sweetsie" Gaye (b. 1945)
Parents	George Gay (1891–1971) Mamie Gaye (1891–1981)

The Reverend Marvin Pentz Gay Sr. (October 1, 1914 – October 10, 1998) was an American minister of the House of God. He was the father of musician Marvin Gaye and gained notoriety after shooting and killing him on April 1, 1984 following an argument at their Los Angeles home.

Biography

Early life

Gaye was born on a farm on along Catnip Hill Pike in Jessamine County, Kentucky to George and Mamie Gaye, and raised in Lexington, Kentucky.^[1] Gaye had a difficult childhood, surviving his father's physical abuse towards him and his 12 siblings.^[1] Gaye eventually entered ministry in his late teens, joining a Pentecostal church as a pastor in a church in Washington, D.C. where he and wife, Alberta Cooper from North Carolina, raised their family of four children: daughters Jeanne (b. 1937) and Zeola (b. 1945) and sons Marvin, Jr. (1939–1984) and Frankie (1941–2001). After leaving his church, he formed a religious group called the House of God and spent most of his time as a storefront preacher taking his sermons to different churches where he often took his eldest son to sing gospel songs.

Relationship with son

Marvin Gaye later said that, as a child and adolescent, he feared his father often describing him as a "peculiar, tyrannical, powerful king." As he grew older, Gaye adopted a rebellious attitude against his father, often instigating beatings by either messing with his father's hairbrush or chewing a pack of his gum. When he began attending Cardozo High School, Gaye began listening to doo-wop, smoked Menthol cigarettes and skipped home to attend rock 'n' roll concerts by Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. This angered his father, who had ordered his four children to not do what he regarded as "sinful" including going out to dances or trying out for sports.

In 1956, Marvin Gaye, Jr. left home, dropped out of school and enrolled in the United States Air Forces. He eventually returned home from an honorable discharge and later joined The Marquees, which later joined Harvey Fuqua to become "Harvey and the New Moonglows." In 1961, shortly before releasing his first single, young Marvin altered his last name to Gaye with an e added to it because he felt "it was more professional." Author David Ritz insisted that Gaye also did this to "silent the gossip of his name and to distance himself from his father." Throughout his life, Gaye tried to have a relationship with his father but as his fame grew, the two grew distant. In 1972, Gaye returned to Washington, D.C. where he was honored with "Marvin Gaye Day." During the ceremony and after a heralded concert performance at the Kennedy Center, Gaye's first in four years following the collapse of late duet partner Tammi Terrell, Marvin said that the day was one of the first times where he felt that he "had made my father proud."

Despite the often stormy and troubling relationship between father and son, Gaye often dedicated some of his famous works to his father, including "God is Love" from his What's Going On album, "Everybody Needs Love" from Here, My Dear, where he states that his father, like him, "needed love," and "Joy," which he dedicated on his father bringing him up in church. Marvin often mentioned how he was influenced by his father's sermons during his concert tours. At one point, Marvin even had his father on with him during a Midnight Special show where Marvin allowed his father to give him advice. After Marvin, Sr. told him that he thought he was "a wonderful person," Gaye embraced his father.

The murder of Marvin Gaye

Main article: Death of Marvin Gaye

By the 1970s his marriage to Alberta grew more contentious. After Marvin moved his parents to a manor he bought for them in the West Adams district of Los Angeles in 1972, their marriage continued to deteriorate. In 1983, following the end of his erratic final concerts to promote his successful Midnight Love album, Gaye, who was dealing with money issues and drug addiction, moved to his parents' home as he watched over his mother, who was recovering from surgery. After being away for a few months, Marvin Sr. returned to Los Angeles around October 1983.

Upon hearing news his father had sold their family home in Washington without consulting his mother, Marvin kept his distance from his father but was reportedly angry about the decision. The few times father and son came into contact, it nearly exploded in violence. At one point, Marvin Sr. reportedly told Gaye's sister Jeanne that he would "kill" Marvin if he touched him. On Christmas Day, 1983, Gaye gave his father a .38 to help protect Gaye from what he felt was a building attempt on his murder. Friends and family members later said Gaye giving his father the gun was "a premeditated suicide"; Gaye had made failed suicide attempts a few times in the past. On the night of March 31, 1984, Marvin, Sr. began arguing with Gaye's mother over a missing insurance policy. At one point, the argument continued into their son's bedroom where, dressed in a maroon robe, Gaye confronted his father to leave his mother alone. The following morning, April 1, Gaye's parents began arguing again. Gaye's mother was beside her son when the elder Marvin began yelling for her. Gaye told his father to come in his room and talk to Alberta directly. When the elder Gay refused, Gaye yelled, "If you don't ever come in here, don't ever come into my room again." When Marvin Sr. entered, Gaye yelled at him, cursing at him and pushing him out of the room. While at the elder Gaye's bedroom, Marvin began kicking him. Alberta said she remembered her husband screaming, "He's kicking me! I don't have to take this!"

Alberta rushed in to grab her son's arm and walked him calmly back to his room. Angered at his father, Gaye told his mother, "I'm packing my stuff and getting out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back." A few moments later, Marvin Sr. entered his son's room with the .38 that Gaye had given him and shot the singer at point-blank range to the heart. After Gaye slumped to the edge of the bed, the elder Gay shot him again at point blank range at the shoulder. Gaye's brother Frankie and his sister-in-law Irene were next door when they heard the shots and quickly rushed to the house where Irene eventually got the elder Gay to retrieve his gun while Frankie rushed to console his dying brother, who was clinging to Frankie's arm gasping for air. By the time paramedics took him to the hospital, Gaye was already pronounced dead on arrival. Gaye died the day before his 45th birthday.

Aftermath and death

After Marvin Jr.'s death, Alberta filed for divorce after 49 years of marriage. Marvin Sr.'s other three children were estranged from their father, as well as Marvin's own children. Marvin Sr. did not attend his son's funeral service as he was still held on bail. During his time in jail, when asked if he loved his son, Marvin Sr. said, "Well, let's just say that I didn't dislike him." Originally charged with first-degree murder, the charges were dropped when doctors examined Marvin Sr. and discovered that the then 69-year-old suffered a brain tumor. He agreed to serve five years probation for the crime, after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter. During sentencing, Marvin Sr. tearfully stated to the court that he wished he hadn't killed his son, saying he feared for his safety. His wife later went and lived at their daughter Jeanne's house. Marvin Sr. was later sent to a rest home for the remainder of his life, where he died of complications from pneumonia in Culver City, California on October 10, 1998, just nine days after turning 84.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/marvin_gaye/2.html

External links

• Grave

Persondata
Name	Gay, Marvin Sr.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 1, 1914
Place of birth	Jessamine County, Kentucky
Date of death	October 10, 1998
Place of death	Culver City, California