The Early Home Life of Marvin Gaye

“Living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king”(What’s Going On)

Marvin Gaye, originally born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., was born April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C. He and his five siblings were brought up by Reverend Marvin Gay, a Pentecostal minister in the House of God, and his wife, Alberta Gay, in a strict, abusive, and highly religious household. His father put strict restrictions on what Gaye and his siblings were allowed to do and beat them regularly for falling out of line. Though he regularly performed at his father’s church, the tensions between the two men and the resentment Gaye felt towards his father grew until Gaye finally left home at the age of 18 to join the United States Air Force (Erlewine). Following his discharge from the military, Gaye came home to find his father’s restrictive attitudes had persisted and now transferred over to his burgeoning music career. As Gaye became immersed in D.C.’s doo-wop scene, the tensions between him and his father grew until Gaye left for Chicago in the mid-1950s to become a part of the Moonglows (Ritz). Though he quickly grew in popularity and eventually emerged as an influential, mainstream artist, Gaye continued, in vain, to seek approval from his father through his music. Following a downward mental spiral after his divorce with Janis Hunter, his prolonged drug binges in Hawaii, England, and Belgium to escape the IRS, and his chaotic 1983 “Sexual Healing” tour, Gaye returned to his childhood home where, after a family dispute, his father shot and killed him (Ritz). 

Marvin Gaye and his parents • Getty Images

Gaye’s strict upbringing in such an oppressive and religious household led Gaye to have very repressed ideas about sex and intimacy. As he broke away from his disapproving and disciplinary father and began to explore his musical identity, Gaye simultaneously began to explore his sexual identity. As he experimented with sex and his sexuality, Gaye became more open to sharing his newfound philosophy with his audience through his liner notes as well as directly in the lyrics of his music (Gaye). For instance, in his sexual breakout song, “Let’s Get It On” Gaye sings that,   

“There’s nothing wrong with me

Loving you, baby no no

And giving yourself to me can never be wrong

If the love is true, oh baby.”

Further, in the liner notes of “Let’s Get It On,” Gaye says that,”I can’t see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. I think we make far too much of it. After all, one’s genitals are just one important part of the magnificent human body … I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such. Time and space will not permit me to expound further, especially in the area of the psyche. I don’t believe in overly moralistic philosophies. Have your sex, it can be exciting, if you’re lucky” (Gaye). As shown through his sexual performances, purported physical acts, and displayed attitude about sex, it’s obvious that his music was not just a break from the ultraconservative and repressive attitudes his father had about his life choices, but also a form of liberation and exploration into the limits of his own sexual comfort and identity.   

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