Marvin Gay Sr.
Personal life
Gay administered most of his harshest punishments on Marvin Jr. According to Marvin's sister, Jeanne, from the age of seven well into his teenage years, Marvin's life consisted of "brutal whippings" since Gay Sr. would strike him for any shortcoming, including putting his hair brush in the wrong place or coming home from school a minute late. Marvin would state later, "living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king". He further stated to David Ritz, "if it wasn't for Mother, who was always there to console me and praise me for my singing, I think I would have been one of those child suicides you read about in the papers." Alberta Gay later stated that her husband hated Marvin, as she told David Ritz in 1979:
Marvin Gay Sr.-7