Eldergays, tell me about when Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father.

We all asked, "What's Going On."

His dad killed him.

He was gay

Marvin's father was mentally ill. He was abusive and vile, and they argued and he shot Marvin. it was terribly sad.

I heard it through the grapevine.

The death was one thing.

What and who Marvin was at the that time is quite another story and fills in some dee-tails. It's out there if you want to know it, but you aren't paying me to talk, so get it yourselfishes.

There were clowns and elephants and dancing bears

And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads

It was Reflections of the way life used to be.

[quote]He was gay

Well, he was Gay, but changed the spelling of his last name to Gaye.

MPG had his ups and downs, and MPG was "with" a lot of different women, but he was never so down and out that he'd touch Miss Warwick with a ten foot pole.

He was so pretty. Sexy man.

I wonder if Marvin Gay's dad would have been like Caitlyn and come out as a MTF transgender. He was a cross dressing religious zealot.

What an unfortunate tragedy. RIP to this soul icon.

I remember some news stories that seemed to basically say that the father was within his rights to murder Marvin, who they said had been acting out while high on drugs. It was a very weird time.

RIP Marvin.

Beautiful man, beautiful talent.

The family has some crazy, implausible stories about the incident, saying Marvin was suicidal and gave a pretty long speech after being shot about how he got what he deserved and he was fine with being murdered by his dad.

I was six when he was killed, rural Kansan at the time. I must have heard it on the news and asked my dad about it because I remember him saying it was a 'sad deal' and a waste that he was killed.

Was Marvin Gaye crazy from cocaine at that point?

Sexual Healing was an unexpected comeback, one of his best songs that hasn’t enjoyed the eighties nostalgia boom it should be a part of.

I wonder what might’ve come next for him after that success.

While I do remember when Martin Gaye was killed by his father, though if I recall, he'd been out of the spotlight for some time at that point due to his drug addiction, what I remember most was when Donny Hathaway killed himself by jumping off a roof. Being terrified of heights, that seemed (and still seems) like an unspeakably awful way to die

MG was not in a great state at the time, paranoid and using coke and PCP, but still taking care of his elderly parents, whom he’d moved in with after finishing a tour. He bought his father the gun that his father used to kill him.

Really a depressing story.

^

Marvin not only had a drug problem.

He had a failed marriage to the boss' sister, and a long, drawn-out acrimonious divorce from her.

He had creative differences with Barry Gordy, who at first refused to release "What's Going On" (which went on to become a monster hit commercially and critically). Gordy routinely rejected subsequent MPG projects despite his prior successes.

He had money problems, including a huge tax bill with the IRS.

Any of these things would be enough to wear down someone by themselves, much less all of them together.

It was a long time ago, but I thought he was coked out, aggro and the dad shot him in self defense

The last words he heard was his father saying, "Mother fucker! This is the last 45 you'll ever hear!"

just listen, bitches

r24 except he claimed he didn't know it was loaded.

And the the self defense claim had quotes around it because senior was known to be about as fatherly as Joe Jackson.

"I remember some news stories that seemed to basically say that the father was within his rights to murder Marvin"

I remember that too, the media spun the incident as "self defense". There was some talk later that Gaye Sr. was an awful person and abusive, but not in the mainstream media. The mainstream media was, again, perfectly okay with a gay man being murdered, even murdered by his own family. There was a lot of that in those days.

I was in Cocoa Beach, Fla on Spring Break when this happened. It was all over the radio everywhere. Marvin's murder was tragic. It seemed to inspire a Motown revival of folks like Smokey and Little Richard appearing everywhere on talk shows. Maybe that was just coincidence.

I wonder why he doesn’t resonate much with the younger generations. Great music and tragic figure.

I was a sophmore in college, and remember when this news broke that he was killed by his father.

The next thing we all knew was that Diana Ross was making it all about herself, like she was a grieving widow (even though there were longtime reports that the two Motown stars barely liked each other) and she recorded that sappy ballad "Missing You" to capitalize on his death.

Wasn't someone in drag when it happened, or rumors Marvin cross dressed?

Marvin's father was mentally ill. What happened was tragic. I think I was about 13 when it happened and everyone in my family was shocked. We loved Marvin. He was a gifted, talented musician, composer, performer. Beautiful guy.

I remember feeling like I was punched in the gut when I heard, and had to sit down in a daze. The DJ on the R&B station I listened to was so overcome he left his chair and there was 20 minutes or so of dead air. We loved MG very much.

"Marvin?"

[quote]The next thing we all knew was that Diana Ross was making it all about herself, like she was a grieving widow (even though there were longtime reports that the two Motown stars barely liked each other) and she recorded that sappy ballad "Missing You" to capitalize on his death.

r30 =

It was traumatic to me and I was in 3rd grade, it begat this song but I'd rather have Marvin

I mean he ranks #383 on Spotify and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” has almost a billion streams.

He’s not much of a figure but he has really popular songs.

And a lot of his songs have been ripped off in the last few years. Robin and Pharrell ripped off “Got To Give It Up” with “Blurred Lines”, Miguel ripped off “Sexual Healing” with “Adoen” and Ed Sheeran ripped off “Let’s Get It On” with “Thinking Out Loud”.

So he’s still in there.

In "Jungle Fever", Spike Lee based the Samuel L Jackson and Ossie Davis characters on Marvins junior and senior.

The Campbell's holiday commercial featuring "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is on TV every five minutes right now. I don't like that they have some hussy singing covers of the songs in the commercials when the originals are so much better.

There was a blind item a while back that had a singer who had killed a couple of women while he toured & he was found out by a relative who was so angry they killed him & the family hushed it all up to keep the royalties coming in. The popular guess was Marvin Gay.

Back when the crime occurred, I read that Marvin and his mother were lying in bed reading and discussing the Bible when Gaye Sr walked in and accused his son of improprieties with the mother. An argument involving physical contact ensued and Sr stormed off for his gun. It doesn't match the Wiki account.

The Crime Reel YouTube channel did a video about Marvin Gaye's murder.

I was at the Eastland School...it was awful.

Speaking of awful, did I ever tell ya about the time I was nearly raped?

His huge dick was "this close" to my vagina...

Yes, it was kind of shocking. Especially when it came out that his Dad killed him. Then they started reporting that it was self defense, because Marvin was high on cocaine and his Dad killed him in self defense. His old man was an abusive asshole though and probably jealous of his Son. What a voice though and he was so handsome.

Re: the Jungle Fever clip: That's the first time I've seen Samuel L. Jackson be bad in something. His death scene is okay, but he's just off the rest of the scene.

(To me, obviously)

Marvin was a major hearthrob. When he sang "Distant Lover," people fell to their metaphorical knees

I wonder if they haven’t made a biopic about him because of his messy family life. He fathered a child with his 15 year old niece Denise Gordy because his wife Anna Gordy couldn’t have children. And then the whole being murdered by his father thing.

Sorry, Denise Gordy is the niece of Marvin’s wife Anna Gordy.

R37 His music is still influential and popular but he himself isn’t talked about much. I wonder why?

Marvin Gaye Sr was a cross dresser and possibly a closet self loathing gay.

Cyndi Lauper did a cover of What's Going On that was absolutely atrocious, one of the worst cover songs I've ever heard.

I got a little blood on my brand new dashiki but was able to rinse it out quickly with some seltzer. Man, you got to love cotton.

One in a million talent.

Marvin belting it out, no frills, or Auto-tune:

OMG r51 I hate ALL covers of What's Going On. That song had a time a place and furthermore no one can do it like he did it. The post 9/11 remake was foisted upon us.

Genius.

Best version of the National Anthem, ever.

He was certainly a complicated character and a truly tormented genius. I don't think any biopic could do him justice.

Has anyone read this book?

That’s powerful at R53

I’m about to read that.

Didn’t he beat up Tammi Terrell?

R29, he does. A lot of his songs have sold well as digital downloads

R61 I don’t think so. I’ve read they had a loving relationship/friendship. James Brown and David Ruffin however beat up Tammi.

R61 He may have beaten his wife tho.

Gurl in the 70s most men beat their wives. Can you imagine being married to thee Marvin Gaye, who everyone wanted? Most women would put up with a lot of shit to say he was their man.

I don’t know if he beat her but the article says he tortured her. It doesn’t take away from his talent. He was a tortured soul who was abused and repeated the cycle of abuse.

What was Marvin's last hit? The floor

The critical stock of the "What's Going On?" album just keeps rising. It rated Number One on the 2020 update of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. (Number One on the 2012 version of the list was "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.")

On the other hand, the 2020 RS Top 500 Albums of All Time list also features TWO Kanye albums among the top 20.

[quote]she recorded that sappy ballad "Missing You" to capitalize on his death.

I actually like the song...except for Ross's singing, which is full of shallow diva emoting, most of all in that spoken interlude near the end.

The lyrics sound more as if it's about a loved one lost to suicide than to homicide. I wondered if maybe it was something Lionel Richie had in the trunk and it got repurposed for Marvin Gaye's death without being revised, but he claims it was actually inspired by Gaye's death.

Miss Ross wasted no time hustling into the studio to record Missing You, and she also did a video that had clips of her and Marvin together. She released the song and video practically five minutes after the coroner carted Marvin off to the morgue. Pretty shameless, but timing is everything in show business.

It was a good song, though.

There was another one by the post-Richie Commodores (a response to the deaths of both Gaye and Jackie Wilson). This and Missing You were in the top ten the same month in 1985.

r69 Missing You is my favorite Diana Ross song. I also like the Biggie Smalls remake from the 90s

I killed a person in self defense too! And nobody ever found out that I paid that hooker to steal his clothes and wallet.

It was like, : "OMG, Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father !!!!!!". that's what it was like.

I personally thought it was hilarious that as part of his divorce settlement to Anna Gordy he was required to turn over the proceeds from an album to her, so he deliberately put together a sub-par album and called it "Here, My Dear." That's DL level cuntinshness.

The Eddie Murphy character in Dream Girls was based on Marvin

Marvin Gaye was big dick energy before it was big dick energy.

R76 Not at all. There were several old timers who had been there at the birth of R&B fusion with Rock and Roll, and trying to transition to the music of the moment and they fell by the wayside. They were yesterday. Old School. Eddie Murphy's character was not based on Marvin.

^ James Brown and Little Richard in looks, style and music seem more the prototype for Eddie Murphy's characterization in Dreamgirls than Gaye,

Jimmy Early was a composite character and not much of it was based on Gaye. The only things the character had in common with Gaye was the drug addiction, a resistance to his label's push to make him a crossover star, and a drought period with no hits (although Gaye unlike the character had a big comeback). Gaye, for example, did not tour or record with the Supremes, nor did he bomb or do outrageous things onstage, nor did he have an affair with Mary Wilson.

I'm surprised no one posted the video of Marvin and his father talking together. Marvin's body language suggests he wasn't comfortable with his dad.

r81 whew gurl Mrs. Marvin Sr. was a piece of work. Definitely jealous of his son and probably resented that Marvin Jr. was hetero

[quote]Re: the Jungle Fever clip: That's the first time I've seen Samuel L. Jackson be bad in something. His death scene is okay, but he's just off the rest of the scene.

I've seen my share of crazy, desperate crackheads in my day, and I thought Jackson nailed it. It's the role that put him on the map, and the Cannes Festival awarded him a rare Supporting Actor citation for his performance.

R81 he was never comfortable with his father. His father beat him when he was a child and threw him out when he was a teen.

Marvin had a naturally beautiful voice. I saw one video where he is laying on a couch bumming around and his singing voice is still perfect.

[Quote]whew gurl Mrs. Marvin Sr. was a piece of work. Definitely jealous of his son and probably resented that Marvin Jr. was hetero

Marvin wasn't hetero according to Quincy Jones

These things happen.

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RIP

He was such a beautiful man, with a nice thick body. But he had so many issues I don't know if he would have gone on to an exceptionally long life anyway. Sadly a lot of the R&B / soul greats of the time met tragedy while they were still at the height of their talents (Marvin, Donny Hathaway, Minnie Ripperton, Teddy Pendergrass, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, etc.). The father seemed to have some deep insecurity and had obviously treated Jr like shit in his youth. All that resentment obviously came out in a terrible argument, and we lost one of the greats.

This song is so good, similar message to 'What's Going On' but even better IMO.

RIP Janis

His best song.

R81 His Dad says in the interview that he doesn’t want to see his son in a stretcher from football, wow. His Dad seems to take credit for everything, that alone is a clue of how unhinged he was. His Dad also gives off the bad vibe that one gets from excessively authoritarian ultra conservative “might makes right” southern churchy people. Family members like that eventually cause harm. When they do cause harm, they are always displaying false surprise and concern, and the empathy and concern is non existent because they can’t feel it or recognize compassion, everything is punitiveness or the threat of punishment, and when the parent is being nice, they are in public. Maybe a rolling camera that his Dad was aware of could have saved Marvin. The Dad seemed so pathologically vain.

I am completely against beating partners and children. It’s also not surprising if he abused his partners/wives if that was the family life he came from. The family even blamed him after he died. If the construct of the concept of a family scapegoat exists in reality, could Marvin’s Dad shooting him and his family blaming him be that type of dynamic? Or is the insanity of Marvin’s Dad, and the motive behind the crime impossible to understand?

[quote]When the police asked him if he loved his son, Gay Sr. softly told them, "Let's say I didn't dislike him."

Damn...