The death of the "Prince of Soul"
Marvin Gaye was a soul and R&B singer-songwriter and producer. In the 1960’s, he helped reshape the sound of Motown Records, leading him to be known as the "Prince of Motown" and the “Prince of Soul.” On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gaye Sr.
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born on April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C. Gaye described his home life as "living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all-powerful king." His father, Marvin Gay Sr., was an alcoholic who took his anger out on his children, according to History.
Marvin Gaye Sr. severely disciplined his children, and Marvin Gaye received the worst of it almost every day. Jeanne, Gaye’s sister, recollected that Gaye’s childhood "consisted of a series of brutal beatings." “By the time I was twelve, there wasn’t an inch on my body that hadn’t been bruised and beaten by him," said Gaye of the abuse.
Alberta Gay, Marvin’s mother, shared that, "He [Marvin Gay Sr.] used to say he didn’t think he [Marvin Gaye] 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."
Throughout the abuse, music provided Marvin Gaye with an escape from reality, a place of safety.
The soul singer began singing in his father’s church at the age of four and went on to sing in the Moonglows until he was signed to Motown Records.
When Gaye’s career started taking off, he changed his surname from "Gay" to "Gaye" because he wanted to distance himself from the relationship with his father.
In 1983, after his last tour, Gaye returned to his parents’ house. He was struggling with a failed marriage, financial instability, depression, and a cocaine addiction.
Once back home, the fights with his father started again, and the pattern continued.
On the Saturday night before his death, Gaye and his father had a verbal dispute. The argument continued the next morning, and by noon, the argument turned into a physical altercation with "some pushing and shoving" in the upstairs hallway, according to Police Lieutenant Bob Martin.
When the fight turned physical, Gaye’s mother, Alberta, stepped in and separated the two. While Gaye and his mother went to his bedroom to cool off, his father, a retired minister of the House of God Church, was downstairs arming himself with a .38-caliber pistol, a gift from the singer.
Gay Sr. made his way upstairs to his son’s bedroom and opened fire on his son. Marvin Gay Sr. shot him once in the chest, and after the soul singer fell, he approached him and shot him two more times.
When police arrived at the home, Marvin Gay Sr. was sitting on the porch, gun in hand. He was arrested on suspicion of the murder and, after hours of interrogation, he was booked for the murder of his son at Parker Center.
When asked if he ever loved his son, he replied, "Let’s say that I didn’t dislike him."
The police lieutenant said, "As best we can tell, there was some bad blood (between the father and the son)," according to the LA Times.
The motive behind the fight was claimed to be Marvin Gaye’s 45th birthday plans, according to their neighbors, but later reports revealed the fight was over an insurance letter that Alberta Gay had misplaced.
The “Prince of Soul” was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center on April 1st, 1984, at 1:01 p.m., one day before his 45th birthday.
By late afternoon, news broke about the death of the singer, and the crowd in front of his home grew. Fans swarmed the home to pay tribute to the legendary “Prince of Soul.”
On September 20, 1984, Gay Sr. entered into a plea bargain. He pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to a suspended six-year sentence and five years of probation.
His final words about his son's death were delivered at his sentencing on November 2, 1984. He said, "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."
In 1998, he died in a nursing home at the age of 83.
Marvin’s brother, Frankie Gaye, was the last person to see the singer and hear his last words. He wrote in his memoir, Marvin Gaye: My Brother, that Marvin’s final words were, “I got what I wanted… I couldn’t do it myself, so I made him do it.”
The legendary soul singer that was Marvin Gaye may have passed away 38 years ago, but his music continues to live on, from his iconic song “Let’s Get It On” to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with Tammi Terrell to his Grammy Award-winning song, “Sexual Healing.” In one of his last interviews, when asked about his music, Gaye said, “I would like for my music to raise people’s consciousness, rather than lower it, to give people hope.”
