Editing Marvin Gaye (section)

==Early life==
Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was born on April 2, 1939, at [[Howard University Hospital|Freedman's Hospital]]<ref name=catlinwithlinks /> 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,<ref name=crockettsong>{{cite news|last=Crockett|first=Stephen A. Jr. |title=Song of the City: In the Name of Marvin Gaye, Neighbors Rescue a Park Near His Old Home|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 24, 2002|page=C1}}</ref> the Fairfax Apartments<ref name=milloysoul>{{cite news|last=Milloy|first=Courtland|title=The War for One Man's Soul: Marvin Gaye|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 8, 1984|page=C1, C2}}</ref> (now demolished) at 1617 1st Street SW in the [[Southwest Waterfront]] neighborhood.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|page=6}} Although one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, with many elegant [[Federal architecture|Federal-style]] homes, 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.{{sfn|Banks|Banks|2004|page=41}}{{sfn|Gutheim|Lee|2006|pages=266–267}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Bahrampour|first=Tara|title='Old but not cold': Four very longtime friends anticipate turning 100 this year|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 14, 2016|access-date=January 29, 2017|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/old-but-not-cold-four-very-long-time-friends-anticipate-turning-100-this-year/2016/03/14/2c9f1b5e-e723-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202070442/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/old-but-not-cold-four-very-long-time-friends-anticipate-turning-100-this-year/2016/03/14/2c9f1b5e-e723-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Gaye and his friends nicknamed the area "Simple City", owing to it being "half-city, half country".{{sfn|Ritz|1991|page=13}}{{sfn|Gaye|2003|p=4}}{{Efn|This area should not be confused with the present-day [[Benning Terrace]] public housing complex in the [[Benning Ridge]] neighborhood, which today is also nicknamed "Simple City".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gillis|first1=Justin|last2=Miller|first2=Bill|title=In D.C.'s Simple City, Complex Rules of Life and Death|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 20, 1997|page=A1|access-date=January 29, 2017|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/april/21/gangs.htm?ref=driverlayer.com/web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202070423/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/april/21/gangs.htm?ref=driverlayer.com%2Fweb|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

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,<ref name=gayeplay>{{cite web|url=http://m.detnews.com/entertainment/article?a=2013302160303&f=1216 |title=Gaye's second wife calls play 'completely and utterly exploitative' |date=February 16, 2013 |access-date=February 17, 2013}}{{dead link|date=May 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} [https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthread.php?8014-Janis-Gaye-not-happy-with-Marvin-play Alt URL]</ref> born as a result of one of his father's extramarital affairs.<ref name=gayeplay/>[[File:Cardozo2014.jpg|thumb|Gaye attended [[Cardozo Senior High School|Cardozo High School]] in [[Columbia Heights (Washington, D.C.)|Columbia Heights, Washington D.C.]]|alt=|left]]Gaye started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano.{{sfn|Browne|2001|p=316}}{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=14}}{{sfn|Gaye|2003|p=8}} Gaye and his family were part of a conservative church known as the House of God that took its teachings from [[Pentecostalism]], with a strict code of conduct.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=5}}{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=11}} 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]]".{{sfn|Gaye|2003|p=8}} His home life consisted of "[[child abuse|brutal whippings]]" by his father, who struck him for any shortcoming.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=12}} 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".{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=13}} He felt that had his mother not consoled him and encouraged his singing, he would have committed suicide.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=13: "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 suicide cases you read about in the papers"}} His sister later explained that Gaye was beaten often, from age seven well into his teenage years.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=12: "From the time he was seven until he became a teenager, Marvin's life at home consisted of a series of brutal whippings"}}

Gaye attended Syphax Elementary School<ref>{{cite news|last=Fleishman|first=Sandra|title=Reading, 'Riting And Redevelopment|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 13, 2000|page=G1}}</ref> and then [[Randall Junior High School]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Bonner|first=Alice|title=The Golden Years: City's Randall Junior High School Celebrates 50th Anniversary|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 1, 1973|page=C1|postscript=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Harrington |first=Richard|title=The Fallen Prince: Marvin Gaye & His Songs Full of Soul|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 2, 1984|pages=B1, B8}}</ref> Gaye began to take singing much more seriously in junior high,{{Sfn|Ritz|1991|page=23}} and he joined and became a singing star with the Randall Junior High Glee Club.<ref name=milloysoul />

In 1953<ref name=crockettsong />{{sfn|Gaye|2003|page=197}}{{sfn|MacKenzie|2009|page=153}} or 1954,<ref name=catlinwithlinks>{{cite news|last=Catlin|first=Roger|title=Washington, D.C., sites with links to Marvin Gaye|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 27, 2012|access-date=January 29, 2017|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/washington-dc-sites-with-links-to-marvin-gaye/2012/04/26/gIQAClu6lT_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202070432/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/washington-dc-sites-with-links-to-marvin-gaye/2012/04/26/gIQAClu6lT_story.html|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Ritz|1991|page=24}}{{Efn|At least once source claims they did not move in until 1955.<ref name=hopkinsonblues />}} the Gays moved into the East Capitol Dwellings public housing project in D.C.'s [[Capitol View (Washington, D.C.)|Capitol View neighborhood]].<ref name=catlinwithlinks />{{sfn|Evelyn|Dickson|Ackerman|2008|pages=290–291}}{{Efn|MacKenzie and a wide range of sources mischaracterize this neighborhood as [[Deanwood]].{{sfn|MacKenzie|2009|page=153}}}} Their townhouse apartment (Unit 12, 60th Street NE; now demolished) was Marvin's home until 1962.<ref name=hopkinsonblues>{{cite news|last=Hopkinson|first=Natalie|title=House of Blues: Marvin Gaye's Boyhood Home Awaits the Wrecking Ball or a Second Act|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 19, 2003|page=C1}}</ref>{{Efn|Some sources suggest the family first moved to the [[Benning Ridge]] neighborhood after leaving Southwest. According to Zeola Gay<ref name=simmonsmemories /> and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reporter Roger Catlin,<ref name=catlinwithlinks /> the Gay family moved to the [[Benning Terrace]] public housing project in the early 1950s. This is not possible, as the Benning Terrace apartments did not begin construction until late 1956,<ref>{{cite news|title=NCHA Lets Contract for New Project|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 14, 1956|page=B2}}</ref> a full year after Marvin Gaye had left home for the military.}}

Gaye briefly attended [[Spingarn High School]] before transferring to [[Cardozo Senior High School|Cardozo High School]].<ref name=simmonsmemories>{{cite news|last=Simmons|first=Deborah|title=Memories of Marvin Gaye kept alive by a loving sister|work=The Washington Times|date=April 29, 2012|access-date=January 29, 2017|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/29/simmons-memories-of-marvin-gaye-kept-alive-by-a-lo/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043928/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/29/simmons-memories-of-marvin-gaye-kept-alive-by-a-lo/|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> At Cardozo, Gaye joined several [[doo-wop]] vocal groups, including the Dippers and the D.C. Tones.{{sfn|Gulla|2008|p=333}} During his teenage years, his father would kick him out of the house often.{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=25}} In 1956, 17-year-old Gaye dropped out of high school and enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] as an [[Airman Basic|airman basic]].{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=34}}{{sfn|Redfern|2007|p=228}} His early disenchantment with the service was similar to most of his peers who were made to perform menial labor, not working on jet airplanes as hoped. Gaye later said he lost his virginity to a local prostitute while in the Air Force. He feigned mental illness and was given a "General Discharge", with an outgoing performance review from his sergeant remarking "Airman Gay cannot adjust to regimentation nor authority".{{sfn|Ritz|1991|p=36}}<ref name="Marvin Gaye No Military Hit">{{cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0913051_marvin_gaye_1.html|title=Marvin Gaye No Military Hit|date=September 13, 2005|access-date=December 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826145634/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0913051_marvin_gaye_1.html|archive-date=August 26, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>