Marvin Gay, Sr.

Marvin Pentz Gay, Sr.
Born	October 1, 1914(1914-10-01) Jessamine County, Kentucky
Died	October 10, 1998 (aged 84) Culver City, California
Occupation	Minister
Spouse(s)	Alberta W. Cooper-Gay (?–1984) (divorced)
Children	Jeanne Gay (b. 1937) Marvin Gaye (1939-1984) Frankie Gaye (1942-2001) Zeola "Sweetsie" Gaye (b. 1945)
Parents	George Gay (1891-1971) Mamie Gay (1891-1981)

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

Biography

Early life

Born on a farm along Catnip Hill Pike in Jessamine County, Kentucky to George and Mamie Gay^[1] on October 1, 1914, Gay lived a difficult childhood as a loner and struggled with his father's physical abuse towards him and his twelve siblings^[1]. After growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, Gay 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 (1942-2001). After leaving his church, he formed a spin-off sect 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.

Difficult relationship with Gaye

As a child and later into his teenage adolescence, Marvin Gaye said he feared his father often describing him as a "peculiar, tyrannical, powerful king". Because of this, as he grew older, Gaye adapted 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, angering 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.

Rumors abound in Marvin's biographies that his father was a crossdresser and acted very effeminate leading to gossip around Gaye's neighborhood that he was homosexual. Marvin and his younger brother Frankie would often find themselves defending their father and themselves, often being accused of being homosexual. Gaye's friend from D.C. and himself a Motown star, Bobby Taylor, said that suggestions that Marvin was gay was "ridiculous" often saying "go look in the phone book, I bet you'll find a whole bunch of Gay people then." Contrary to rumors, Marvin Sr. was a womanizer who cheated on his wife and was often physically abusive towards her as well.

Finally in 1956, embarrassed by his father and humiliated by life at home, young Marvin Gay, 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 in a rare moment of emotion shared by the two men.

The murder of Marvin Gaye

By the 1970s, Marvin Sr. had proven to be too difficult to continue his ministry. A longtime alcoholic, he continued to allegedly live his double life. At this point, his marriage to Alberta grew more contentious. After Marvin moved his parents to a mansion he bought for them in the West Adams district of Los Angeles in 1972, their marriage continued to deteriorate with his drinking. 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 he had sold their former family home in Washington without consulting his mother, Marvin kept his distance from his father but was reportedly angry over his father's decision. The few times father and son came to 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" since Gaye had failed to commit suicide a few times. 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 besides 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 Gay's bedroom, Marvin began physically dominating his father 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 giving 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 breathing for air. By the time paramedics took him to the hospital, Gaye was already pronounced dead on arrival. Gaye was to have turned forty five the day later.

Aftermath and death

After Marvin Jr.'s death, Alberta filed for divorce after 47 years of marriage. Marvin, Sr.'s other three children were estranged from their father, as well as Marvin's own children. Marvin Sr. also was noticeably absent from Marvin, Jr.'s star-studded funeral. 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 was scared 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 pneumonia in Culver City, California on October 10, 1998, just nine days after turning 84.

References