page_title: Marvin Gaye
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Marvin Gaye / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: The exterior of Cardozo, Washington DC after the completion of a $128 million renovation.
context_page_description: Marvin Gaye was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul".
  Gaye's Motown hits include "Ain't That Peculiar", "How Sweet It Is", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Gaye also recorded duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross. During the 1970s, Gaye recorded the albums What's Going On and Let's Get It On and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of a production company. His later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. He was a tax exile in Europe in the early 1980s, he then released "Sexual Healing" the 1982 hit which won his first two Grammy Awards on the album Midnight Love. Gaye's last televised appearances were at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, where he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner"; Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever; and Soul Train.
context_section_description: Gaye was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939, at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., to church minister Marvin Gay Sr. and domestic worker Alberta Gay (née Cooper).  His first home was in a public housing project, the Fairfax Apartments (now demolished) at 1617 1st Street SW in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood.  Although one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, with many elegant Federal-style homes, Southwest was primarily a vast slum.  Most buildings were small, in extensive disrepair, and lacked both electricity and running water.  The alleys were full of one- and two-story shacks, and nearly every dwelling was overcrowded.  Gaye and his friends nicknamed the area "Simple City", owing to its being "half-city, half country".
  
  Gaye was the second oldest of the couple's four children. He had two sisters, Jeanne and Zeola, and one brother, Frankie Gaye. He also had two half-brothers: Michael Cooper, his mother's son from a previous relationship, and Antwaun Carey Gay, born as a result of his father's extramarital affairs.
  Gaye started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano. Gaye and his family were part of a Pentecostal church known as the House of God. The House of God took its teachings from Hebrew Pentecostalism, advocated strict conduct, and adhered to both the Old and New Testaments. Gaye developed a love of singing at an early age and was encouraged to pursue a professional music career after a performance at a school play at 11 singing Mario Lanza's "Be My Love". His home life consisted of "brutal whippings" by his father, who struck him for any shortcoming. The young Gaye described living in his father's house as similar to "...living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king." He felt that had his mother not consoled him and encouraged his singing, he would have killed himself. His sister later explained that Gaye was beaten often, from age seven well into his teenage years.
  Gaye attended Syphax Elementary School and then Randall Junior High School. Gaye began to take singing much more seriously in junior high, and he joined and became a singing star with the Randall Junior High Glee Club.
  In 1953 or 1954, the Gays moved into the East Capitol Dwellings public housing project in D.C.'s Capitol View neighborhood. Their townhouse apartment (Unit 12, 60th Street NE; now demolished) was Marvin's home until 1962.
  Gaye briefly attended Spingarn High School before transferring to Cardozo High School. At Cardozo, Gaye joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including the Dippers and the D.C. Tones. Gaye's relationship with his father worsened during his teenage years, as his father would kick him out of the house often. In 1956, 17-year-old Gaye dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a basic airman. Disappointed in having to perform menial tasks, he faked mental illness and was discharged shortly afterwards. Gaye's sergeant stated that he refused to follow orders. Gaye was issued a "General Discharge" from the service.
caption: Marvin Gaye attended Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood.
exif: {"Image Make": "Samsung", "Image Model": "Galaxy Nexus", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa", "Image DateTime": "2014:08:17 16:20:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[20, 20, 51]", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "90", "GPS GPSDate": "2014:08:17", "Image GPSInfo": "856", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1102", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5982", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1343/500000", "EXIF FNumber": "11/4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "[50, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:08:17 16:20:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:08:17 16:20:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "0", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "209/25", "EXIF ApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "MultiSpot", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "343/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "[0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "978", "EXIF FlashEnergy": "0", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "0/0", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "c2062164fa4ee18a0000000000000000"}