Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father on April 1, 1984, on the eve of his 45th birthday. The Motown artist's father shot him with the gun that he had given him.
Marvin Gay Sr. was a preacher belonging to the so-called House of God, a conservative Christian congregation with elements of Pentecostalism and Orthodox Judaism that required compliance with very strict codes of conduct. Gaye's charisma contrasts with a tormented life, weighed down by the turbulent relationship with the man who gave and took his life.