Alberta Gay
Alberta Gay, born Alberta Williams Cooper, was born on January 1, 1913, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and died on May 8, 1987, in Burbank, California. She was a domestic worker and, at times, a schoolteacher. She married minister Marvin Gay Sr. in 1935, and they had four children: Mable Jeanne (1937), Marvin Pentz Jr. (Marvin Gaye, 1939), Frances “Frankie” (1941), and Zeola (1945). Alberta also had an earlier son, Michael, by another relationship; he grew up with relatives and learned later that she was his mother.
The family moved to Washington, D.C., in Alberta’s twenties. They joined a strict religious group called the House of God. Marvin Sr. struggled with work and alcohol, and he was sometimes abusive. Alberta worked hard to support the family and tried to keep the peace.
Marvin Gaye grew up to become a famous musician and often supported his mother and family, moving them to better homes in Washington, D.C., and later to Los Angeles.
In 1982, Alberta fell seriously ill with a kidney infection and needed surgery; her sons rushed to be with her.
On April 1, 1984, a confrontation between Alberta’s husband and son Marvin Sr. ended with Marvin Gaye being shot and killed by his father. Alberta was the only other person present. She later filed for divorce, but two days after the shooting she posted a bond to bail him out of jail out of sympathy.
In 1986, Alberta founded the Marvin P. Gaye Jr. Memorial Foundation to help people with drug and alcohol problems. She died in 1987 from bone cancer at the age of 74, in Burbank, California, where she was cared for by her daughter Jeanne.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:22 (CET).