Marvin gay sr. died
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I shouted for him to stop, but he paid no attention to me. I loved him. I wish he could step through this door right now. I tried to run. Only two years later, Marvin Gaye was murdered in one of music's most shocking series of events.
So what happened? I shouted for him to stop, but he paid no attention to me. I screamed but it was very quick.
He, my husband, shot – and Marvin screamed. A strict Christian minister who punished his children, Gaye would even be bullied as a child due to rumours spread through his community of his father being a cross-dresser.
Gay Sr. never approved of Marvin's career as a musician, and resented him becoming the family's breadwinner. I want to make peace with him."
Gay Sr.
felt differently, telling Marvin's sister Jeanne that if the singer ever touched him, he'd "kill him".
Stevie Wonder performed 'Lighting Up The Candles' at the star-studded funeral, with Smokey Robinson delivering a eulogy along with Gaye's family members.
The outpouring of grief from his peers emphasised the tragedy of his loss.
I loved him. I wish he could step through this door right now. He was given a burial plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery, and was later cremated and his ashes spread around the Pacific Ocean.
Who was Marvin Gay, Sr?
Marvin Gaye's father was an American Pentecostal minister.
He married his wife, Alberta Cooper, in 1935.
However, his father charged upstairs to the bedroom to shout at Alberta, causing Gaye to jump out of his bed.
When ordering him to leave did not work, Gaye is said to have shoved his father out of the room, and began to kick and punch him. I was afraid of him. Jeanne said that from the age of seven and into his teenage years, Marvin's life was full of "brutal whippings".
Marvin later said that "living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king".
Why did Marvin Gaye's father shoot him?
In the days just before his death, Marvin Gaye's parents had arguments over a misplaced insurance policy letter.
The day before his death, arguments had spread to Gaye's bedroom.
His Motown hits included 'How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)' and 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', and duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell.
In the 1970s, he recorded the albums What's Going On and Let's Get It On, becoming one of the first artists from Motown (along with Stevie Wonder) to break away from the company on his own merit.
After a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, he made a successful comeback with the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit 'Sexual Healing' and its album Midnight Love.
Marvin Gaye death: What happened?
Marvin Gaye was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr, on April 1, 1984, at their home in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, California.
The singer was shot twice, following an argument with his father after he intervened in an altercation between his parents.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center.
His death inspired many musical tributes over the years.
Inside the late soul music legend's tragic death
27 March 2024, 14:30
By Thomas Curtis-Horsfall
Marvin Gaye was a singular talent.
Few artists can attest to having the same kind of lasting impact that Marvin Gaye has had on popular music.
His involvement in Motown Records during the 1960s was key in establishing their sound and the series of acts the label produced, first as a session performer and later as the leading man himself.
With timeless hits like 'How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)' and 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', Gaye helped propel Berry Gordy's hit-making machine of a record label to chart success.
As he progressed as an artist through the following decades, it was Marvin's blend of social commentary and swooning balladry that set his stall as a one-of-a-kind star, becoming a bonafide legend of soul music in the process.
Surviving numerous highs and lows throughout his career such as drug addiction, divorce, and critical lashings for a handful of albums, he made his comeback in 1982 with arguably his most enduring hit, 'Sexual Healing'.
Though the album it featured on, Midnight Love, would be his last.