It has certainly cast a long shadow over the mood of the Gaye Family's Thanksgiving dinner every year since. Gaye for all of his musical brilliance had a rebellious streak that caused him to famously fall on the outs with Berry Gordy Jr., Anna Gordy- Berry's sister and Marvin's first wife, Dianna Ross, the executives at Columbia Records who signed him away from Motown, and probably a LOT of others. Were it not for the smoking gun in the hand of his father, there probably would have a very long list of suspects to round up when he was found dead.

I think everyone knows by now the tragedy surrounding the death of Marvin Gaye at the hands of his estranged father, much less a day short of what would have been his 45th birthday. What makes Gaye's death even more tragic is that Gaye was in the middle of another great comeback which produced what proved to be his last great hit (and arguably one of his greatest songs), "Sexual Healing" when two bullets ended his life. How many other now-nameless hits would have come from Gaye had he lived, no one will ever know. But like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke (his idol) before him, his body of work has only reinforced his legend as one of the great performers of the 20th century.

His music lives on. It is so soulful and deep. He was killed by his father which just adds to his tragic death and our loss of a great singer.

Shot by his own father---a year after his comeback (Sexual Healing).
As tragic as John Lennon's assassination.

Shot by his own father. . .why, god, why do you make a world where Marvin Gaye gets shot and Vanilla Ice and Barry Manilow live? How could you do this to us? This one's HOF tragic. . .

I was shocked to hear he had died at the hands of his own father! Marvin Gaye contributed so much to the music world.

One of the greatest soul singers of all time,shot dead by his own father.If that isn't tragic,I don't know what is!