Alberta Gay
Family Member
Best known as the mother of legendary R&B singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye, she witnessed her their son's 1984 murder at the hands of his father (and her husband), Marvin Gay, Sr.
She was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and she had a troubled childhood, during which her father fired a non-fatal shot at her mother. She was not allowed to attend school until she was the age of a typical third-grader.
She supported her family by working as a housekeeper in Virginia and Maryland.
She divorced Marvin Gay, Sr. after he shot and killed their son following an argument. Her nearly fifty-year marriage to Gay produced three other children in addition to Marvin: Jeanne, Frankie, and Zeola.
Her son Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Gay) is remembered for such hits as "Sexual Healing" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."