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[11] (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.
Marvin Gaye attended Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood.
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 that 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 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.[36] At Cardozo, Gaye joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including the Dippers and the D.C. Tones.[38] Gaye’s relationship with his father worsened during his teenage years, as his father would kick him out of the house often.[39] 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 afterward. Gaye’s sergeant stated that he refused to follow orders. Gaye was issued a “General Discharge” from the service. From Wikipedia
