Marvin Gaye Birthplace — Washington, D.C.

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born on April 2, 1939, at 1617 First Street NW in Washington, D.C. — a row house in the Trinidad neighbourhood — and grew up in a household dominated by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., a minister of a fringe Pentecostal denomination whose strictness bordered on cruelty. The household was suffocating, the beatings were regular, and Marvin's relationship with his father was a source of lifelong torment that ran directly beneath the surface of even his most romantic music. He moved to Detroit in the late 1950s, joined Motown as a session drummer, and within a few years was one of the label's biggest stars.

Gaye's Motown career moved through several distinct phases: the smooth, dance-oriented hits of the 1960s ("Hitch Hike," "How Sweet It Is"); the duets with Tammi Terrell ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "You're All I Need to Get By"); and then the political and personal awakening of "What's Going On" (1971) — an album-length meditation on the Vietnam War, poverty, and environmental destruction that Motown initially refused to release and that became a commercial and critical triumph. "Let's Get It On" (1973) and "I Want You" (1976) were equally radical in their exploration of sexuality and spirituality.

Gaye was shot and killed by his father on April 1, 1984 — the day before his 45th birthday — at the family home in Los Angeles, following a violent confrontation. His father was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter after a brain tumour was discovered. Washington, D.C. has recognised Gaye with historical markers and public art. The birthplace row house on First Street NW is in a private residential neighbourhood.