Marvin Gaye: Movies & Box Office

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was born on April 2, 1939 in Washington, D.C., the son of minister Marvin Gay Sr. and domestic worker Alberta Gay. Growing up in the cramped Fairfax Apartments, he endured a harsh childhood marked by his father's brutal discipline, yet found refuge in the church where his father played piano and he began singing at age four. By his early teens Gaye had joined local doo‑wop groups like the Dippers and the D.C. Tones, and after a brief stint in the United States Air Force he returned to music, forming the vocal quartet the Marquees. After a series of failed label attempts, he moved to Detroit with Harvey Fuqua and signed with Motown’s Tamla subsidiary in 1960. Initially recorded as “Marvin Gay,” he added the “e” to his name and struggled as a session drummer and backing vocalist before scoring his first solo hit, “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” in 1962. Throughout the 1960s Gaye forged a reputation with Motown hits such as “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” “Ain’t That Peculiar,” and the chart‑topping “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” while also enjoying successful duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross.