Reaction to marvin gayes death
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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". Only two years later, Marvin Gaye was murdered in one of music's most shocking series of events.
So what happened?
The argument continued, with Gay Sr.
charging upstairs to continue berating his mother, Alberta, which made Marvin jump out of his bed to restrain his father.
Marvin shoved his father out of the room, kicking and punching him in a frenzy. But this time, Marvin was married, starting an affair with Janis while still married to Anna.
The couple went on to have two children together, Nona and Frankie, but divorced in 1981.
Smokey said his "innards wouldn't accept the news" after hearing the announcement of Marvin's death on the radio.
The Temptations' Otis Williams - a fellow Motown Records performer - recalled receiving the news whilst touring Australia with the Four Tops: "It was a very dark day that I will never forget as the day I lost a friend."
Jermaine Jackson recalled crying uncontrollably after learning of Marvin's death, and Diana Ross later released the tribute song 'Missing You' which featured live footage of Gaye in the accompanying music video.
Rightly so, the killing of Marvin Gaye was and still is widely regarded as one of the most shocking moments in popular music history.
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I was afraid of him.He acted like someone who had finally gotten something out of the way."
Turner says Gaye's bodyguard Andrew White played a recording for him in which Gaye said his father had threatened his life before. (Police photos back up this claim, the book asserts.) After Gaye walked away, returning to his bedroom, his father soon appeared in the doorway with a .38-caliber revolver and shot him twice.
He later said that "living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king".
Tensions between the two boiled over during Marvin's stay at the family home, and heated quarrels were frequent during the six months they lived under the same roof between 1983 and 1984.
In her memoir, “After the Dance,” Janis Hunter Gaye writes about the toll Gaye’s often drug-induced jealousy took on their marriage as well as the affairs she had with two other well-known soul singers – Teddy Pendergrass and Frankie Beverly.
Dealing With Demons
Marvin Gaye experienced lots of success as a singer, but his personal demons, including a battle with depression, a cocaine addiction and financial issues would eventually get the best of him.
"He fancied himself as a prophet and message-giver, and then Marvin became hailed as a voice of his generation, and yet Marvin wasn't living a Godly life. "'I brought you into the world, and if you cross me, I can take you out,'" Turner recalls Gaye saying. I'm paying the price now."
Due to the amount of drugs in Marvin's system at the time of their altercation, and the bruises suffered by Gay Sr., he was granted a plea bargain, avoiding a murder charge after pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge on 20th September 1984.
His eyes were dry. As a child, Marvin discovered a passion for music and learned to play the piano and drums at a young age.
Getting Berry Gordy’s Attention
Gaye started out singing gospel music in his father’s church choir. I screamed but it was very quick. But his undeniably smooth voice led him to come into his own as a solo recording artist.
Gay then walked closer, shooting his already dead son point-blank through the shoulder.
Most filicide—when parents kill their children—occurs when children are young.
But the singer also dealt with a host of personal issues, including drug addiction, depression and an ongoing battle with his father – a Pentecostal preacher who wasn’t a fan of his son’s music.
This is the story of the highs and lows of Marvin Gaye.
Born in D.C.
Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.) was born on April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C. His father, Reverend Marvin Gay Sr., was a minister at a local church.
The reality of Gaye's situation though, was that to cope with the pressures of touring, he had relapsed into cocaine abuse once again.
His mental state deteriorated to such a degree, that he'd wear a bulletproof vest at all times he wasn't on stage, fearing an assassination attempt on his life.
Once the Sexual Healing Tour - which would be his last - came to its conclusion, Gaye moved into his family home to care for his mother who was recovering from kidney surgery.
During his stay, Marvin's father was away, however, he later returned and the pair's fractious relationship would become fatal.
Who killed Marvin Gaye?
Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father, Marvin Gay Sr.
After an altercation between the father and son, Gay Sr. shot Marvin twice with a Smith & Wesson .38 Special pistol, with one bullet piercing his heart.
Ironically, the pistol was a gift from his son that previous Christmas Day, one that would sadly take away his life.
Gaye's relationship with his father had been bitter from his childhood.
But as he entered his teens, he found he liked R&B a lot more – something that would become a point of contention with his father. Gaye's mother Alberta Gay told his "Sexual Healing" co-writer and biographer David Ritz in Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye that the first time she spoke to her husband after posting his $30,000 bail, "He started speaking to me, but said nothing about Marvin.
But the relationship worsened as his son's phenomenal professional success grew, with megahit songs like "Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Goin' On" and "Sexual Healing." "It created conflicts when Marvin…started to earn more than his daddy, and everybody ran to Marvin," the singer's "Let's Get It On" co-writer Ed Townsend Gaye told Gaye biographer Turner.
Marvin Sr.
resented his son's success, said Turner in an interview with A&E. His duet partner Tammi Terrell collapsed in his arms onstage, dying of a malignant brain tumor two years later. He gave my husband some hard kicks."
Incensed, Gay Sr. returned upstairs with the pistol his son bought him, and shot Marvin directly in the heart.
"I was standing about eight feet away from Marvin, when my husband came to the door of the bedroom with his pistol," said Alberta.
“He fancied himself as a prophet and message-giver, and then Marvin became hailed as a voice of his generation, and yet Marvin wasn’t living a Godly life.