Marvin Gaye, smooth-voiced soul singer, shot and killed by father

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marvin Gaye, the smooth-voiced soul singer who topped the charts in the 1960s with such hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” was shot and killed Sunday by his father after a fight, police said.

Gaye was at his parents’ home on the eve of his 45th birthday when he became involved in the fight and was shot twice in the chest with a handgun. Police later questioned his father, Marvin Gaye Sr., 69, about the shooting, said Lt. Robert Martin.

“He became involved in a physical altercation with his father” around 12:30 p.m., Martin said. “Marvin Sr. subsequently armed himself with a handgun of unknown caliber and fired several rounds.”

The elder Gaye was not immediately booked, Martin said, but was later taken to police headquarters. He added that police were contemplating seeking manslaughter or murder charges against the elder Gaye.

Gaye, whose career spanned nearly 30 years, was taken in critical condition to California Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m., said hospital spokeswoman Michelle Barker.

The argument between father and son began Saturday night “over some insurance dealings,” Martin said, adding the fight resumed Sunday as Gaye first ordered his father into the younger man’s bedroom and then ordered him out again.

After the two men pushed at each other in the hallway, Martin said, the elder Gaye got a .38-caliber handgun and fired two shots into his son’s chest, Martin said. Gaye’s mother, Alberta, 71, who witnessed the shooting, ran to the next-door home of her son, Frank, who called police.

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Martin said the singer’s body was found in an upstairs bedroom.

Best known for the 1968 hit, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Gaye was born in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1939.

“Just like Muhammed Ali was built to box, I was built to sing,” he once said.

He began his career with the vocal group the Rainbows in the 1950s and his last completed album, “Midnight Love” won acclaim for the comeback hit “Sexual Healing,” which won two 1983 Grammy awards.

He was nominated for a 1984 Grammy for “Midnight Love.”

This year, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” was re-issued and featured in the film soundtrack of “The Big Chill.”

Other songs from his career which became soul standards include “What’s Going On” and “Mercy, Mercy Me.”

Gaye grew up in Washington playing organ in church. He was a shy performer who was first hired by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy as a drummer before his singing career was launched with the debut record “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” in 1962.

He recorded the gospel-blues “Can I Get a Witness” in 1963, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” in 1964, and with Smokey Robinson recorded “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Peculiar” in 1965.

His career really soared in the mid-1960s, when he teamed with Tammi Terrell with “You’re All I Need to Get By,” “Your Precious Love” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.”

Miss Terrell collapsed in his arms on stage during a concert in 1967. Three years later she died of a brain tumor. Gaye grew despondent and retreated from the limelight until 1971, with the release of his LP, “What’s Going On,” which had a jazz coloring.

Two years later came the erotic sound of the hit “Let’s Get it On.” But his next major hit wasn’t until 1977, when he recorded the funky “Got to Give it Up.”

Between 1963 and 1977, Gaye had 17 top 10 hits.

He showed his skill as a songwriter as co-author of “Dancing In The Streets,” and as a writer-producer with the Originals, cutting “Baby, I’m for Real” in 1969 and “The Bells” in 1970.

He was once a member of the Moonglows, a vintage Fifties vocal group.

Gaye married Anna Gordy, Berry’s sister, but they divorced in 1976 with Anna receiving $600,000 in royalties from Gaye. Gaye used the incident as inspiration for “Here My Dear” a 71-minute musical recount of the breakup.

He also declared bankruptcy, just before the Internal Revenue Service told him he owed $2 million in back taxes.

Gaye said he once tried to kill himself by ingesting more than an ounce of pure cocaine while in Hawaii following the breakup of his his second marriage to Janis Hunter, with whom he had two children.

At one point during a dispute over child custody, Gaye said he nearly stabbed Ms. Hunter with a knife.

In 1981, he moved to Belgium with a Dutch girlfriend. There a CBS Records executive tracked him down, and the company bought his Motown contract for a reported $2 million. While Gaye started recording in Belgium, legal advisers at home made arrangements with his bankruptcy creditors.

In a 1983 interview, Gaye said: “I’m emotionally weak, but I’m emotionally strong at the same time. … My basic fight with life is that I get extremely depressed because of empathy for people.”