This Day in History: Marvin Gaye Is Shot and Killed by His Own Father

This Day in History:, Marvin Gaye Is Shot and Killed by His Own Father.

April 1, 1984.

Gaye's father — Rev.

Marvin Gaye Sr. — shot and killed the Prince of Soul three times in the chest following a physical dispute between the two.

It was a day before the soul icon's 45th birthday.

Despite winning his first Grammy for "Sexual Healing" just a year before, Gaye was struggling with debt, depression and substance abuse.

He had recently moved in with his father and mother.

Gaye and his father had a difficult and complicated relationship since Gaye was a boy.

According to Gaye's brother, Frankie — who held the singer in his arms as he died — his final words were, “I got what I wanted... I couldn’t do it myself, so I made him do it.”