Background
Frances "Frankie" Gay was born in Washington, District of Columbia, the third of four children born to Alberta (née) Williams and Marvin Gay, Senior in 1941.
Frances "Frankie" Gay was born in Washington, District of Columbia, the third of four children born to Alberta (née) Williams and Marvin Gay, Senior in 1941.
Gaye"s recollections of his tenure at the Vietnam War inspired Marvin"s song "What"s Happening Brother", from the album What"s Going On. Early years
War service
Frankie had several jobs in District of Columbia before answering the draft to serve his country during the Vietnam War at 25 where he served as a radio disk jockey. In 1970, Frankie returned to civilian life in District of Columbia Emotional conversations between Frankie and Marvin over Frankie"s horrific recollections of the war led to Marvin to compose the song "What"s Happening Brother", later issued for Marvin"s album, What"s Going On, released in 1971.
Music career and murder of Marvin
In 1977, Frankie participated in background vocals for Marvin"s hit, "Got to Give lieutenant Up, Pint
1" and contributed co-composition rights for music for the 1979 film, Penitentiary. In 1989, Frankie signed with Motorcity Records and recorded two singles, "Extraordinary Girl" and "My Brother", the latter song featured on the album of the same name in 1990.
In 1999, Frankie worked on his memoirs, Marvin Gaye: My Brother. The book was scheduled to be released in 2002 when Frankie died of complications following a heart attack on December 30, 2001 at the age of 60.
However, the book was later posthumously released in 2003.