Voting Station

Marvin Gay Sr.

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Murderer

The Resume

    (October 1, 1914-October 10, 1998)
    Born in Jessamine County, Kentucky
    Reverend Marvin Pentz Gay Sr.
    Married Alberta Cooper (Marvin Jr.'s mother), July 2, 1935
    Marvin Gaye's father
    Minister with the Pentecostal church sect, The House of God
    Shot and killed his son after a heated domestic argument at their Los Angeles home (Apr. 1, 1984)

Why he might be annoying:

    He shot his own son to death a day before his 45th birthday.
    He was a longtime alcoholic who was into cross-dressing.
    He beat his children because they struggled with bed-wetting.
    He was a shiftless charlatan 'healing preacher' who went between churches.
    His daughter attested to his never being able to hold a steady job, leaving his wife to do the breadwinning as a domestic helper.
    He was by all accounts physically abusive and controlling towards young Marvin, administering a strict curfew forbidding him from being out of the house before three.
    His reclusiveness - and his habit of dressing in Alberta's clothes, humiliated his son and made him an easy target for neighborhood bullies.
    While many chalked his son's adding an extra '-e' to his name as a tribute to his idol Sam Cooke, it was also a means of adding 'more distance from his father' (for years Gaye refused to be in the same room with his father).
    He harbored a bitter professional jealousy towards his son and was overly-critical of him after he became successful (even after he was gifted with a new Cadillac as a reconciliation gift).
    He was allegedly abusive towards Alberta Gaye, as well, and had been haranguing her over the loss of some insurance priors in the days prior to the fatal argument between the two men (it broke out after Gaye told his father to 'yell at her in the same room').
    He shot Marvin with the gun his son had gifted him with for Christmas the year prior.
    Alberta later admitted in an interview (before the murder): '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.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the eldest of fifteen siblings.
    He was physically abused by his father, along with both his mother and siblings.
    His son was arguably the greatest Motown star the genre produced.
    He brought his son to sing at revival meetings before congregations, sparking the boy's interest in music.
    He also taught his son to play the piano, which he picked up by ear (probably his earliest musical ability).
    His son was dealing with a cocaine addiction when he moved into their Los Angeles home (which clashed with his own alcoholism).
    His wife admitted that he had been physically assaulted by his (heavily intoxicated) son prior to getting the pistol.
    He went and sat out on the front porch to wait for the police after shooting his son (and reportedly wept uncontrollably when he learnt that Gaye had died from the gunshot wounds).
    He received a suspended sentence with probation after doctors diagnosed him with a malignant brain tumor, reasoning that it may have played a part in his decision to shoot his son.
    At his sentencing, he made a tearful final statement: '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 loved him [and] I wish he could walk through that door right now.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 54 Votes: 48.15% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 13 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 142 Votes: 73.94% Annoying