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How Marvin Gaye's Murder Affected Smokey Robinson

Season 5 Episode 502
Aired on 11/01/2015 | CC tv-14
On April 1, 1984, Motown superstar Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his own father. More than 30 years later, Smokey Robinson, Marvin's longtime friend and musical collaborator, still remembers where he was when he heard the news. "I'm in my car, and I'm listening to the radio," he says. "And the disc jokey interrupts the programming to say, 'Soul singer Marvin Gaye was pronounced dead on arrival at so and so hospital.'"

Considering the date, Smokey says his first thought was that this was a cruel April Fool's Day joke. Then, he pulled over at a gas station and called Marvin's ex-wife, Anna. "As soon as she heard my voice, she said, 'Yes, baby, its true,'" he says. "That was ... just unacceptable to my psyche."

In the above video, Smokey shares how he learned to accept the fact that Marvin was gone.

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