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Marvin Gay Sr.

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Marvin Gay Sr.
Born
Marvin Pentz Gay

(1914-10-01)October 1, 1914
Jessamine County, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedOctober 10, 1998(1998-10-10) (aged 84)
Culver City, California, U.S.
Cause of deathPneumonia
OccupationMinister
Spouse(s)Alberta Gay (née Cooper)
(m. 1935–1984; divorced)
ChildrenJeanne Gay (b. 1937)
Marvin Gaye (1939–1984)
Frankie Gaye (1941–2001)
Zeola "Sweetsie" Gay (b. 1945)
Antwaun Carey Gay (b. 1970)
Parent(s)George Gay (1891–1971)
Mamie Gay (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 American recording artist Marvin Gaye and gained notoriety after shooting and killing him on April 1, 1984 following an argument at their Los Angeles home.

Early life

Marvin Gay Sr. was born the first of 15 children to George and Mamie Gay on October 1, 1914 on a farm along Catnip Hill Pike in Jessamine County, Kentucky and was raised in Lexington. He had a troubled childhood, where his physically abusive father would often beat his mother and five siblings.[1][2][3][4] According to Gay's wife, Alberta, Gay's family life consisted of constant violence involving domestic abuse and shootings. "Gays against Gays", she told author David Ritz.[5] When Gay Sr. was still a child, he and his mother joined the Pentecostal church sect, the House of God.[5] Gay moved to Washington, D.C. in his late teens to pursue a career as a minister of a House of God church there.[6]

Marriage and family

While in Washington, Gay Sr. met his future wife, Alberta Cooper, whom he would marry on July 2, 1935.[6] The couple bought a small house in southern Washington at 1617 First Street, which was only a few blocks away from the Anacostia River.[7] The street would be nicknamed "Simple City" for its being "half-city, half-country".[6] Alberta already had a son named Michael, but believing he couldn't raise another man's son, Gay Sr. sent Michael to live with his sister-in-law Pearl, one of Alberta's sisters.[6] Two years after marrying, they had their first child, a daughter they named Jeanne. On April 2, 1939, their first son, Marvin Jr. was born. Son Frankie (born Frances) and daughter Zeola followed shortly afterwards. In 1970, Gay would later father a son named Antwaun Carey with another woman as a result of one of his extramarital affairs.[8]

Ministry work

On one of his first missions as preacher at a church in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Gay Sr. impressed the congregation, and his church later made him Bishop.[9] According to his son Marvin, his father was known as a healer.[6] Gay Sr. eventually settled as a minister of a local House of God church. When his son was around four or five, his father brought him to church congregations and revivals to sing for audiences.[10][11] According to Marvin Gaye's relatives, Gaye's father coached him in piano lessons, which Gaye learned by ear, and it was one of the few stable times in the father and son's relationship.[12]

However, by the late 1940s, Gay Sr. had left the House of God to join another sect called the House of the Living God, but soon returned to the House of God to head its Board of Apostles in the early 1950s.[12] Gay Sr. left the House of God altogether in the mid-1950s after not being named Chief Apostle of the church[12] and according to his son, "that's when my father lost his healing powers".[12]

Personal life

Marriage, family life and relationship with eldest son

In most accounts, Gay Sr. was described as a strict and sometimes overbearing father to his four children. According to his children, Gay would make them observe an extended Sabbath, which was every Saturday. Gay was against the Christian tradition of attending church Sunday, accusing them of going against observing God on "Lord's Day", which he contended was Saturdays.[13] According to Gay Sr.'s daughter Jeanne, Gay was someone who never "spared the rod, he was very, very strict" in reference to the saying "spare the rod, spoil the child".[14] Gay also would question his children on Biblical passages, administering beatings if they answered wrong.[10][15] Gay Sr.'s children also suffered from bed wetting, which led to more beatings.[16]

Gay Sr. administered most of his harshest punishments on Marvin Jr. According to Marvin's sister, Jeanne, from the age of seven well into his teenage years, Marvin's life consisted of "brutal whippings".[2] Marvin would state later, "living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king".[2] He further stated to David Ritz, "if it wasn't for Mother, who was always there to console me and praise me for my singing, I think I would have been one of those child suicides you read about in the papers."[2] Alberta Gay later stated that her husband hated Marvin, as she told David Ritz in 1979:[6]

My husband never wanted Marvin, and he never liked him. He used to say he didn't think he 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. Marvin wasn't very old before he understood that.

Conversely, Gay Sr. said this about Marvin Jr.,[6]

It was important that I have a male child. A namesake is what I wanted. The day he was born, I felt he was destined for greatness. I thanked God for the blessing of his life. I thanked God for Marvin. I knew he was a special child.

According to Jeanne Gay, her father never held a job for longer than three years.[17] Gay Sr. worked briefly in the post office and at Western Union, but a back injury laid him off early[18] and when explaining why he left the latter job, Gay stated to Ritz that people were working on the "day of the Sabbath".[18] Eventually, Gay Sr. withdrew from social life, developing alcoholism and was involved in cross-dressing, which humiliated his son who, at the age of twelve, spied on his father dressing in his mother's clothes.[19][3] Due to this difficulty, Gay Sr.'s wife provided for most of the family's income working as a domestic worker.[18] As Marvin grew older, his relationship with his father worsened and Gay Sr. often threw his son out for allegations of misbehavior.[20] Neighbors of the Gay family, according to Frankie Gaye, often teased them for their name, their father's manner and religion. Gay Sr.'s sons often found themselves having to confront the neighbors, vocally defending their father and their religion.[21] According to Alberta, Gay Sr. began to drink heavily in the 1950s, only furthering the friction in his relationship with Marvin and "he never did develop any love for the boy. "[20]

Following Marvin's musical career beginnings, he refused to be in the same room with his father for a number of years. This decision led to Marvin adding an "e" to his final name, which, it was stated, was done to quiet any rumors of his own sexuality, to emulate his idol Sam Cooke and to add more distance from his father.[22]

Son's fame and relocation to Los Angeles

By 1968, however, after Gaye had found musical stardom in Motown, Gaye extended an olive branch, giving his father a Cadillac as a present, but Gaye said his father's response was not affecting.[23] Four years later, Marvin reunited with his parents in Washington, D.C. after the city honored Gaye with a day in his honor called Marvin Gaye Day; a day, Marvin later said, on which he felt he had made his father "proud".[24][25] In 1974, dressed in a female wig and clothing, Gay appeared on his son's Midnight Special episode. In 1973, Marvin gave a residence in the West Adams district of Los Angeles to his parents after moving them to California.[26] By this time, Gay Sr., a longtime alcoholic, had proven to be too difficult to continue his ministry and his marriage to Alberta would grow more contentious with his drinking.

By the early 1980s, Gay Sr.'s marriage to Alberta had deteriorated and according to his wife in 1984, the couple hadn't shared the same bed in nearly ten years and as a result, they were now sleeping in separate bedrooms.[4]

Fatal shooting of Marvin Gaye

Main article: Death of Marvin Gaye

In October 1983, after months in Washington, D.C., Gay Sr. returned to the West Adams home located at Gramercy Place.[27] Gay Sr. often told his daughter Jeanne that if Marvin ever touched him, he'd "kill him".[28][29] On Christmas Day 1983, Marvin, for reasons not entirely clear, gave his father an unregistered .38 Smith & Wesson caliber pistol to protect him from intruders and murderers, after Marvin, heavily addicted to cocaine, felt someone was seriously plotting to kill him.[30] Gaye also had the guns because he felt "protected".[30]

On March 31, 1984, Gay Sr. was angry because he could not locate a missing insurance policy document and he accused Alberta of misplacing the letter. Marvin awoke from his drug-induced stupor and commanded Gay Sr. to leave Alberta alone; however, neither father nor son physically attacked each other that night.[13]

Around 12:30 pm (PST) on April 1, 1984, Gay Sr. began arguing with Alberta again over the missing insurance letter.[13] After Gay Sr. was heard yelling from downstairs, his son, dressed in his maroon robe, shouted downstairs if he wanted to talk to his mother to do it in person.[31] When Gay Sr. initially refused, Marvin threatened him to not enter his room, according to interviews from Alberta Gay, the only other witness to the shooting. When Gay Sr. did enter, his son, angry, despondent, and heavily intoxicated, shoved his father into the hallway, then hit him.[31] The fight continued in Gaye's bedroom where Marvin reportedly struck his father and kicked and punched him severely.[31] Alberta successfully separated the men and convinced Marvin to leave the room.[31]

At approximately 12:38 p.m. (PST), minutes after returning to his bedroom, Gay Sr. came back to the bedroom with the .38 pistol and shot his son.[4] The bullet penetrated Marvin's vital organs, including his heart. Gay Sr. then walked forward and shot him a second time in the shoulder at point-blank range.[4] According to his daughter-in-law, Irene, Gay Sr. hid the gun in his bedroom pillow, and she later retrieved it for the police.[32] Gay then went outside and sat on the front porch and awaited his arrest, which came after discovering[who?] Marvin's body and confirmation that Gay had shot his son.[33] Marvin Gaye Jr.'s body was later taken to California Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:01 pm PST.[33]

During his first police interview, Gay Sr. stated that he didn't mean to kill his son, but that he had been scared that he would be hurt and only shot him in self-defense.[34] When the police asked him if he loved his son, Gay Sr. softly told them, "let's say I didn't dislike him."[34] When the police later told Gay Sr. that his son had died from his shots, he reportedly sobbed and wept uncontrollably before he was taken to prison and was promptly charged with first-degree murder for his son's death.[34]

Aftermath, divorce from wife, final years and death

After being taken to the Los Angeles County Jail, Gay Sr. was held on a $100,000 bail.[34] The bail was eventually reduced to $30,000, and Gay Sr.'s estranged wife Alberta posted the bond via a bondsman.[35] Aware of Gay Sr.'s failing health, doctors examined him in May and discovered a benign walnut-sized brain tumor in his pituitary gland.[36] The brain tumor would later play a factor in preliminary hearings of the trial against him, with his lawyers stating that the tumor might have played a part in Gay Sr. shooting his son. However, judges in the case argued that Gay Sr. was competent enough to stand trial and that he knew what he had done.[36] After results of Gaye's autopsy showed that he had traces of cocaine and PCP (angel dust) in his system and pictures of Gay Sr. taken after he was brought into custody showing injuries, possibly from his final fight with his son, Judge Gordon Ringer agreed to let Gay enter a plea bargain. Gay Sr. pleaded no contest to a charge of voluntary manslaughter on September 20, 1984.[37]

During the sentencing hearing two months later on November 20, Gay Sr. was allowed to talk. In tears and struggling to come up with words, Gay Sr., 70, told the court:

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.[38][39]

Following this, Gay Sr. was given a six-year suspended sentence and five years' probation for the shooting. During this time, Alberta Gay had filed for divorce after 49 years of marriage.[35] Gay Sr. eventually returned briefly to the Gramercy Place residence,[35] but health issues forced him to move to a nursing home, first in Inglewood around 1986, and in the final years of his life, to a nursing home in Culver City, California, where he died of pneumonia on October 10, 1998, nine days after his 84th birthday.[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 3.
  2. ^ a b c d Ritz 1991, p. 13.
  3. ^ a b Ritz 1991, p. 18.
  4. ^ a b c d "The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye". Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Ritz 1991, p. 5.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Ritz 1991, p. 6.
  7. ^ Gaye 2003, p. 4.
  8. ^ "Gaye's second wife calls play 'completely and utterly exploitative'". February 16, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  9. ^ Glatt 2011, p. 218.
  10. ^ a b Ritz 1991, p. 14.
  11. ^ Gaye 2003, p. 8.
  12. ^ a b c d Ritz 1991, p. 15.
  13. ^ a b c Ritz 1991, p. 332.
  14. ^ What's Going On: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye, 2006
  15. ^ Gaye 2003, p. 6.
  16. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 12.
  17. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 20.
  18. ^ a b c Ritz 1991, p. 19.
  19. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 17.
  20. ^ a b Ritz 1991, p. 25.
  21. ^ Gaye 2003, pp. 8–10.
  22. ^ Jet 1985, p. 17.
  23. ^ Glatt 2011, p. 226.
  24. ^ Glatt 2011, p. 228.
  25. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 162.
  26. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 169.
  27. ^ Ritz 1991, p. 322-325.
  28. ^ Ebony 1985, p. 108.
  29. ^ Jet 1984, p. 18.
  30. ^ a b Jet 1985, p. 102.
  31. ^ a b c d Ritz 1991, p. 333.
  32. ^ Final 24: Marvin Gaye, Discovery Channel, 2006
  33. ^ a b Ritz 1991, p. 334.
  34. ^ a b c d Ritz 1991, p. 337.
  35. ^ a b c Ritz 1991, p. 338.
  36. ^ a b The Montreal Gazette 1984, p. 60.
  37. ^ "AROUND THE NATION; No-Contest Plea In Death of Marvin Gaye". The New York Times. September 21, 1984.
  38. ^ "The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye". Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  39. ^ Glatt 2011, p. 239.
  40. ^ "BBC News: ENTERTAINMENT - Marvin Gaye's father and killer dies". BBC.co.uk. 25 October 1998. Retrieved December 8, 2012.

Sources

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