This Day in History:, Marvin Gaye Is Shot and Killed by His Own Father.
April 1, 1984.
Gaye's father — Rev.
Marvin Gaye Sr. — shot and killed the Prince of Soul three times in the chest following a physical dispute between the two.
It was a day before the soul icon's 45th birthday.
Despite winning his first Grammy for "Sexual Healing" just a year before, Gaye was struggling with debt, depression and substance abuse.
He had recently moved in with his father and mother.
Gaye and his father had a difficult and complicated relationship since Gaye was a boy.
According to Gaye's brother, Frankie — who held the singer in his arms as he died — his final words were, “I got what I wanted... I couldn’t do it myself, so I made him do it.”
