Listen Live
Fantastic Voyage Generic Graphics Updated Nov 2023
Black America Web Featured Video
CLOSE

What do we have here? It seems the family of the late Marvin Gaye has grown overnight.

Now he’s got three grandchildren nobody knew about. Well, if true, we guess somebody knew, just not the people closest to him.

“There are allegations going around that my brother Marvin had another son,”Zeola Gaye, Marvin’s youngest sibling tells EURweb’s Lee Bailey in an exclusive interview. Apparently, the girl group RoXxy Montana, who made their TV debut recently on Simon Cowell’s show, “X Factor,” claim heritage to the icon.

“My allegations,” she continues, “and I’m speaking for the family also, is that these allegations are definitely unsubstantiated…We give no credence to it; they are rumors as far as we’re concerned.”

Zeola says that she doesn’t want the media to basically run rampant with this rumor; and put it out there as if it’s a fact.

“What I want to know is has anyone taken a DNA test?, she asks. “And if they have not taken a DNA test, are they willing to take a DNA test? Once that’s done then, and only then, can we stop all the speculation and know the truth…As of September 17th, I only know of two sons that my brother Marvin had which was Marvin Gaye, III and Frankie Gaye. So I want to put a stop, an arrest to all these rumors. We need to get a retraction from them once the truth comes out.”

Zeola, who recently closed a successful tour of the play, “Zeola Gaye’s My Brother Marvin,” based on the life of Marvin Gaye, says that if after the test is done, the young women turn out to indeed be the children of Marvin’s son, the family will embrace them with “open arms.” She does add, however, that she does not believe the relation to be “a fact as of now.”

Many who have kept up with the drama first caused by Zeola Gaye’s book about her brother, then the play, due to the reaction by Gaye’s ex-wife, Janis, to both – may find it, er, how to say this, “interesting” that Zeola Gaye positions herself to be the spokesperson for the entire Gaye/Gay family. EURweb’s last interview with Zeola clearly showed half of them were not on speaking terms with the other half. And with the estate being in the firm, unyielding grasp of Janis Gaye, who, unless there has been some change of heart since, was definitely not speaking to Zeola, (and to our understanding neither were her kids), we can’t help but wonder exactly who the we are that Marvin’s little sister is referring to as she speaks for ‘the family.’

When asked if the RoXxy Montana girls have identified who their father is supposed to be, or who the son is supposed to be, Zeola responds,

“I believe his name is, has been looked up, but I can’t tell it to you right now because I don’t know it…They’re going by because he favors Marvin. They claim they have letters – I need to see the letters. I need to see, I know Marvin’s handwriting you know.”

Zeola says if this were the case, and they were her brother’s children, because he loved kids so much, this is not something he would have kept hidden. She is emphatic that he would have told her. She also says she is a bit leery about the timing of this news, and wonders if it is to boost ratings for The “X Factor.”

“I don’t know, it all seems to be coming at a really great opportunity for them, for the RoXxy Montana group,” she states bemusingly.

And as if she heard my earlier dilemma, Zeola adds,

“And when I say I’m speaking for the family you know, my sister, Marvin’s kids, you know, we’re all in agreement with this. We need to know.”

Oh ok, that clarifies it.

LB wonders if the headlines that suggest the girls ‘downplayed’ their relation to Marvin Gaye makes any difference to ‘the family.’

“Now as far as I know,” Bailey clarifies, “they seem to not be promoting that they are Marvin Gaye’s grandchildren. They said that they want to ‘shine on their own merits’ – their own talents; and want to keep the information about Marvin in the background. Does that make any difference?”

“No it don’t make a difference, Lee. I just want to know for a fact. It’s disturbing that the media is saying that they are. They are not saying ‘allegedly they may be’ you know. They’re saying that they are.”

The question most likely on many minds now becomes, if RoXxy Montana didn’t break the news of this claim, who did? How did it even become an issue?

“I hadn’t read anything that they actually quoted,” Zeola states in regard to RoXxy Montana, but adds, “But they’re not denying it either.”

Zeola Gaye is hoping that through this article, where she says she is “putting it out there,” the girls will reach out to the family and agree to have a DNA test performed.

“I have no problem being swabbed. My sister has no problem being swabbed, or any of the other family members. Let’s just do that,” she states. “And I’m hoping that this is publicized and that they will reach back out and say, ‘Ok Zeola, we would like to do this.’

If this does not happen, and RoXxy Montana makes no attempt to contact the family to initiate a test, Zeola feels that too, will be an admission.

And no one has to guess what that is.

In the clip above we get to see a bit of the girls’ personality prior to their X Factor audition, the actual audition, and the aftermath. As is the case with many Hollywood hopefuls, you can see that they are definitely hungry for the attention. EURweb readers, we know you will weigh in.