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Birth name | Eldra Patrick DeBarge |
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Also known as | EL Debarge |
Born | June 4, 1961 (age 58) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Origin | Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
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Instruments | |
Years active | 1979–present |
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Associated acts |
Eldra Patrick 'El' DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the family groupDeBarge. Popular songs led by El Debarge include 'Time Will Reveal', 'Stay with Me', 'All This Love', and 'Rhythm of the Night'. As a solo artist, he is best known for his unique high tenor register, strong falsetto and hits like 'Who's Johnny' and 'Love Always'. He's also collaborated with artists such as Dionne Warwick, Al Green, Lalah Hathaway, Babyface, Faith Evans, Quincy Jones, Fourplay, and DJ Quik.[1] DeBarge is a five time Grammy Award nominee.[2]
- 1Life and career
- 2Personal life
Life and career[edit]
Early life[edit]
A native of Detroit, Michigan, El was the sixth of ten children born to Robert Louis DeBarge, Sr. (1932-2009) and Etterlene (née Abney) DeBarge. DeBarge sang in his local church choir and played piano as a child. Later, after his family moved to Grand Rapids, he and the rest of his family began performing at their uncle's Pentecostal church. When El was 13, his parents divorced after a difficult and stormy marriage. El is of African American, Native American, English, and French descent.[3] Growing up, he was closest to his eldest brother Bobby and began imitating his brother's vocal styling.
For several years, El spent time in private study with music educator Ricky Callier. By 1975, El had begun to express a desire to become a performer. He became a father for the first time at 16 and eventually fathered 11 more children. In 1977, he dropped out of high school and began performing with his elder brothers in clubs and venues in Michigan. By 1979, Bernd Lichters was able to secure a deal with Source Records/MCA to release the Pall Mall Groove – Hot Ice album as SMASH for the USA/Canada market and moved El from Michigan to Los Angeles, to have him, his brothers Mark and Randy DeBarge, in addition to their cousin Andre Abney, Elliot Townsend, and Stanley Hood, to back up the release as the SMASH band. His eldest sister Bunny joined her brothers in California as well. In 1980, because of the success of their brothers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge with the hit group Switch, El was able to perform live at the piano and sing in front of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, who immediately signed the group, then known as The DeBarges, to the label.
Motown mentored them, and members later worked with and contributed songwriting, arrangements, and production to the recordings of Switch, including the 1980 albums This Is My Dream and Reaching for Tomorrow. El's first professional recording was as background vocalist to Switch's 1979 hit 'I Call Your Name'. He later helped to arrange music for several Switch songs including 'Love Over and Over Again' and 'My Friend in the Sky,' which he, Bunny, and Bobby wrote. This song would later be sampled by the likes of Queen Pen and Raheem DeVaughn.
Music career[edit]
In 1981, The DeBarges was released after the family had worked in the studio for a year recording it. The album was noted for most of its songs produced and written by all four family members including Bobby DeBarge, who helped end the album track 'Queen of My Heart' after El had led the song for most of its tenure. The following album, 1982's All This Love featured younger brother James and saw much success with the compositions 'I Like It' and the title track. El would remain the producer and arranger for all of the group's Motown albums. In 1983, DeBarge released In a Special Way, which spawned the hits 'Time Will Reveal' and 'Love Me in a Special Way', and in 1984, the band became a sensation while touring for Luther Vandross on the singer's Busy Body tour. Though the group enjoyed much success and appeared to be a family unit, there were growing tensions between El and his brothers, mainly because of Motown's push to have El become the only noted star of the group, repeating a pattern that began with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. By the end of the tour, El DeBarge was mainly called to handle the production of DeBarge's next album, Rhythm of the Night, without much help from his siblings. The DeBarge family had one more album, although El and Bobby weren't on the album. Bobby had died years after the album was released and El was working as a solo artist.
Rhythm of the Night became the group's best-selling album ever, although some contended that El DeBarge was the only member present on the album with the exception of the title track, which became a top five hit in several countries including the US and UK becoming the group's and El's signature song. In late 1985, he appeared on The Facts of Life in the Season 7 episode 'Doo-Wah' as himself and performed his single 'You Wear it Well' with Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn, and Nancy McKeon singing backup. In 1986, El DeBarge left the group and began his solo career with the release of his self-titled debut album, which spawned the hits 'Who's Johnny' and 'Love Always'. Three years passed, however, until DeBarge released his second album, Gemini in 1989. The album had two hits,″Real Love″ and ″Somebody Loves You″. DeBarge's contract with Motown was terminated in 1990, and he signed with Warner Bros.. In the meantime, DeBarge was featured on the Quincy Jones single 'The Secret Garden', alongside Al B. Sure!, James Ingram, and Barry White, released in 1990.
In 1992, DeBarge released his third album, the Maurice White-produced In The Storm, which featured the Chanté Moore duet 'You Know What I Like', which was Moore's first professional recording. Critics noted the album for its Marvin Gaye-styled productions. El DeBarge later admitted that Gaye was a huge influence on his musical style and once commented that he had initially written 'All This Love' as a song he imagined Gaye doing; he even imitated Gaye's ad-libs during his I Want You era near the end. That same year, El had chart success on the R&B charts with a collaboration with Fourplay on their version of Gaye's 'After the Dance'. DeBarge's next album, 1994's Heart, Mind and Soul, co-produced with Babyface, yielded modest charted singles such as 'Slide' and 'Where is My Love' (which featured Babyface on duet vocals).
While DeBarge continued to collaborate on other artists' projects, including those of his brother Chico and rapper DJ Quik (with whom El collaborated on Quik's hit 'Hand in Hand'), he didn't release any more albums between 1994 and 2009. In 2010, he finally emerged from a 16-year delay with the appropriately titled Second Chance, released after a series of comeback performances and appearances, including a well received performance at the 2010 BET Awards. The album yielded two singles, 'Second Chance' and the Faith Evans duet 'Lay With You', and later resulted in three Grammy Award nominations: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album.[2] El remains the only member of the DeBarges to have Grammy nominations both outside of the group and in the family.
Personal life[edit]
DeBarge was raised in Detroit and Grand Rapids as a child. His parents had a tumultuous marriage that involved domestic abuse and child abuse on the part of DeBarge's father Robert. DeBarge has remained mum on his relationship with his father and many other elements of his family life, later documented in books written by his mother Etterlene, sister Bunny, and brother Tommy. In 1978, DeBarge became a father to his first child, a daughter named Adris. He eventually went on to father 12 children altogether. DeBarge was close to his siblings, particularly his brothers Bobby and Chico. Bobby's death in 1995 had a profound effect on DeBarge; family members later said he has never fully recovered from it. Since Bobby's death, he has performed several of Bobby's songs with Switch onstage, sometimes with Chico singing along. DeBarge and several DeBarge brothers reunited in 1998 performing several DeBarge classics.
Legal problems and drug addiction[edit]
In 2001, DeBarge was arrested for cocaine possession and was given probation. In 2006, he was arrested again for possession of a controlled substance and was once again given probation. In 2007, he was arrested in a domestic dispute and was held without bail; the charges were later dropped. Later that year he was arrested yet again, charged with cocaine possession, and given probation. However, he was once again arrested in 2008 for possession of crack and drug paraphernalia, breaking the terms of his probation. For this violation he was immediately sentenced to two years in state prison in California.
DeBarge has had a history of drug abuse. He stated that his addiction started after he began receiving prescription medication for toothache pain after having a tooth pulled by a dentist. Up until then, DeBarge had not used drugs, unlike his siblings who began to abuse drugs during the tenure of the group. By the mid-1990s, DeBarge had become addicted, and his addiction resulted in his career faltering after its peaks in the 1980s. Following a prison sentence for which he served 13 months, DeBarge announced that he had found sobriety after an addiction that he said had lasted nearly 25 years, stating he had also acknowledged his problems with the law in the past. In February 2011, while promoting his 2010 album Second Chance, DeBarge's label announced that the singer was canceling all public dates and appearances as he went back to rehab following a relapse.[4] DeBarge later returned to work and made an appearance at the 54th Grammy Awards in February 2012.
Discography[edit]
- Solo albums
- El DeBarge (1986)
- Gemini (1989)
- In the Storm (1992)
- Heart, Mind and Soul (1994)
- Second Chance (2010)
- with DeBarge
- The DeBarges (1981)
- All This Love (1982)
- In a Special Way (1983)
- Rhythm of the Night (1985)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'El DeBarge'. allmusic.com.
- ^ ab'EL Debarge'. grammy.com.
- ^'Robert David Louis DeBarge, Sr. (1932–2009) – Genealogy'. Geni.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^'El Debarge Enters Rehabilitation, Cancels Tour – Celebrity Circuit'. CBS News. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
External links[edit]
- 'El DeBarge Official Twitter'.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=El_DeBarge&oldid=933422189'
DeBarge in 1983. (From left to right) Mark DeBarge, James DeBarge, El DeBarge, Bunny DeBarge, Randy DeBarge | |
Background information | |
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Also known as | The DeBarges The DeBarge Family |
Origin | Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active | 1980–1989 |
Labels |
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Associated acts | |
Past members | Bunny DeBarge El DeBarge Marty DeBarge Randy DeBarge James DeBarge Bobby DeBarge (deceased) |
DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family, a family of musical talent often compared to the Jackson family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1980 and 1989. The group originally consisted of Mark, Randy, and El. Bunny, James, and Bobby joined later.
DeBarge released six studio albums, four of them with Motown's Gordy Records: The DeBarges (1981), All This Love (1982), In a Special Way (1983), and Rhythm of the Night (1985). The latter became the group's best-selling album and garnered the single 'Rhythm of the Night', which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their highest charting single in the United States. DeBarge entered its decline in 1986, when Bunny and El were offered solo deals with Motown and departed the group, and DeBarge was dropped from Motown soon afterward.The remaining members signed with Stripe Horse Records, an independent label, in 1987, which released their final studio album, Bad Boys. The group continued to perform for an additional two years, with Chico DeBarge joining the group in 1988. A member of the group, Bobby, along with his other brother Chico were arrested for drug trafficking in 1989. Legal issues, compounded with the ever changing musical tastes of the public led to the group's dispersion in 1989, 10 years after its inception.
- 1History
History[edit]
Family background[edit]
The DeBarge family are the children of Robert DeBarge, Sr. (died 2009), a white man of French descent, and Etterlene DeBarge (née Abney), a black woman born in Michigan in 1935.[1][2] They married when Etterlene was 17, a year after the death of her father James Abney, a church choir leader and peanut retailer.[2] They separated in the mid-1970s and divorced in 1974.[2][3] Etterlene remembers Robert DeBarge, Sr. as physically and emotionallyabusive to her and the children, and said he used her youth, the absence of her father, and continuous pregnancy to control her.[2] DeBarge, Sr. has been characterized as 'domineering and physically abusive to his wife,' and some of the DeBarge children have accused him of having sexually abused them.[1]Bunny Debarge, the eldest, recalls being sexually abused by him between the ages of seven to 13.[citation needed]
The group, named for their shared surname, hailed from the East Side of Detroit, Michigan, United States, where the siblings were born and raised; they later relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Members included sister Bunny and brothers Mark (or 'Marty'), William (or 'Randy'), Eldra (or 'El'), and James (younger siblings Chico, Darell, and Carol 'Peaches' DeBarge are also singers though not with the group).[4]
Early years of the group and Switch[edit]
The siblings who became DeBarge started performing in various groups together in the Detroit, Michigan area in the mid 1970s. In 1979, brothers Randy, Mark, and El were part of the SMASH band, which was a release on Source Records/MCA in the USA/Canada before it was released as Pall Mall Groove HOT ICE in Germany by Polydor. Bernd Lichters, who rented a home in Cerritos, CA, bought them instruments, and they were mentored by members of the Motown group Switch, including their elder brothers Tommy and Bobby and co-founding member and family friend Gregory Williams. Bunny DeBarge had joined her younger brothers in 1979 as well, and they formed as The DeBarges in 1980. That year, because of Bobby's success with Switch, younger brother El was able to perform live on the piano and sing for Motown CEO and founder Berry Gordy, who was impressed by the group and agreed to sign them that year.[4] For a year the group worked alongside members of Switch, helping to add background vocals, instrumentation, arranging, and musical and lyrical composition to the band's works, most prominently in 'I Call Your Name', 'My Friend in the Sky', and 'Love Over and Over Again'.
By 1981, Bobby and Tommy had left Switch and returned the favor to their siblings working with them on their debut album, which was released that year with Bobby, Bunny, and El as main producers.[4] The only single, the Bobby-led ballad 'What's Your Name', failed to chart.
Success[edit]
In 1982, they added their 18-year-old brother James to the lineup and worked on their second album, All This Love, produced by El and Iris Gordy. The album launched them into R&B stardom with the records 'I Like It' and 'All This Love'.[4] Both songs also became crossover pop hits with 'All This Love' later going to number one on Billboard's adult contemporary chart. In 1983, the group made an impression after appearing on Motown 25, where they performed alongside High Inergy. Later in 1983, the group issued their third album, In a Special Way, which spawned two further hit singles, 'Time Will Reveal' and 'Love Me in a Special Way'.[4] Like All This Love before it, the album reached gold status in the United States.
Following that album's success, DeBarge were handpicked by Luther Vandross to open for him on his 'Busy Body Tour' to support his album of the same name.[4] Also in 1984, James DeBarge made headlines when he secretly eloped with Janet Jackson of the famed Jackson family, but their marriage was quickly annulled the following year.[4]
When the tour ended in late 1984, the group recorded the Diane Warren composition, 'Rhythm of the Night', for the soundtrack to the Motown-produced film, Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon from 1985.[4] The song was released in early 1985 and became a hit single, eventually reaching the top five in several countries, mainly in the US and UK, becoming the band's biggest-selling and their best-known hit.[4]
Siblings leave and the end of the group[edit]
Sensing that El DeBarge was emerging as the 'star' of the group, Motown had El working on the group's next album primarily by himself, with the label failing to call on the other siblings' help. It's hinted Motown was fearful of the other members' growing dependencies to drug addiction, only trusting El as he seemed to be the most reliable.
The Rhythm of the Night album became the band's best-selling work, going platinum and featuring further hits such as 'Who's Holding Donna Now' and 'You Wear It Well'.[4] Following the end of its successful promotion, however, both El and Bunny DeBarge departed from the group after Motown offered them lucrative solo deals. Without the powerful harmonies of the brother and sister duo, the rest of the DeBarges were not considered commercial enough to keep going, and they were dropped from the Motown label in 1986.[4]
In 1987, Bobby joined the group, and failing to find deals with major labels, the group (still known as DeBarge) signed with the independent label Striped Horse Records, later releasing what turned out to be their final studio album, Bad Boys.[4] Since Striped Horse had financial problems promoting the album and without the help of Motown, and although two singles were released – 'Dance All Night', which peaked at number 33, and the ballad 'I Got You Babe', which only reached number 73 – the album itself failed to chart.
DeBarge continued their career into 1988, even bringing along younger brother Chico (who had a successful hit 'Talk to Me') with them as their opening act. The brothers made a guest appearance on the television show Punky Brewster in 1988.
Later in 1988 Bobby and Chico were arrested for drug trafficking in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They were eventually convicted of the charges and sentenced to two different prisons to serve their sentences. The arrests and subsequent convictions brought an end to the group as a musical entity and it was disbanded in 1989.[4]
In the end the group DeBarge released nine Top 40 R&B singles, five top 40 pop singles, two Pop top ten hits, five top ten R&B singles, two number-one R&B singles, one number-one single on the dance chart, and three number-one hits on the adult contemporary chart.
Setbacks, solo projects, and some success[edit]
Despite the group's highly publicized drug addictions and several members serving jail time for drug offenses, the siblings have continued to perform together occasionally.
In 1991, Randy and James contributed to a gospel album featuring their mother Etterlene and younger siblings Darryl (Young DeBarge) and Carol (Peaches DeBarge), billed as 'the DeBarge Family.'
Several members of the family made several solo albums during the 1990s and 2000s, but never reached the fame and popularity of their original group.
The DeBarges' story of their rise and fall was documented in late 2008 as the debut episode of the TV One show, Unsung.
In 2010 El, after a six-year sabbatical of releasing solo albums, and following a period of drug addiction and several arrests, released the well-received Grammy-nominated album, Second Chance and went on tour in support of R&B singer Mary J. Blige in 2011, but relapsed and went back to drug rehab to address his continuing issues.
In 2011, James, Randy and Bunny appeared on Dr. Drew's Lifechangers to discuss their troubles with drug addiction, later agreeing to attend a rehabilitation facility. While Randy and James left the facility on a follow-up episode, Bunny still attended and told Dr. Drew of her recovery, even performing a gospel song on the show.
Drug abuse has also brought various group members several tragedies and setbacks over the years: Bobby DeBarge died at a hospice in Grand Rapids after contracting AIDS following years of heroin addiction; Tommy DeBarge, who also suffered drug addiction, is on kidney dialysis but has nonetheless continued to perform, sometimes with surviving members of Switch and with his family members; Randy DeBarge and Mark DeBarge are said to have 'incurable diseases,' according to their mother. James DeBarge was sentenced to prison for drug offenses.[citation needed]
Musical legacy[edit]
Though the band was together for only several years, the group's material has been either frequently sampled or covered:
- Their collaborations with Switch on their recordings, 'I Call Your Name' and 'My Friend in the Sky' have been sampled as well as their own material, including 'I Like It', 'Stay with Me' and 'A Dream'.
- RapperThe Notorious B.I.G.'s remix of 'One More Chance', which sampled 'Stay With Me'.
- Mary J. Blige, a fan of DeBarge, also sampled and covered their work, including 'Share My World' (adding the group's intro ad-libs from that song on her song of the same name), 'A Dream' and 'Don't Go' (which interpolated the ending of 'Stay With Me').
- Rapper Tupac Shakur interpolated the melody of 'A Dream' for his posthumous hit, 'I Ain't Mad at Cha'.
- R&B group Blackstreet sampled the music of 'A Dream' for their hit, 'Don't Leave Me', and have said they were big fans of DeBarge (Teddy Riley calling El DeBarge 'a living legend' in the liner notes of their 1994 debut album) and had covered 'I Like It'. On their platinum album Another Level the group did a gospel version of DeBarge's hit 'Time Will Reveal'. In 1998 Riley also sampled parts of Switch's 'My Friend in the Sky' (co-composed by Bobby, Bunny and El) for rapper Queen Pen's album track, 'No Hooks' off her My Melody album. (The same song would be sampled in 2005 for Raheem DeVaughn's title track off The Love Experience.)
- The melody of 'Stay With Me' was revisited by Ashanti on her single, 'Foolish' and later by Mariah Carey on her single I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time from E=MC².
- In 2007 rapper Rich Boy's hit 'Throw Some D's' sampled Switch's 'I Call Your Name', which was co-written by Bobby and arranged by Bobby and El.
- 'I Like It' is their most sampled, with several acts sampling the music or interpolating the song's popular bridge (sung by El and written by Bunny), and 'All This Love' has also been covered and sampled frequently by other artists.
Re-release of their classic albums and usage of their music in film[edit]
- In 2011, Motown Records/Hip-O Select released the three-disc set Time Will Reveal: The Complete Motown Albums. This collection presents all four Motown/Gordy albums, spread out over the first two discs, and offers a third disc containing remixes, rarities and unreleased material.
- In 2016 'Rhythm of the Night' appeared in Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. The track also appears on the official 2016 soundtrack.
Personnel[edit]
- Etterlene 'Bunny' DeBarge – vocals (1979–1986)
- Eldra 'El' DeBarge – vocals, piano/keyboards (1979–1986)
- Mark 'Marty' DeBarge – vocals, trumpet, saxophone (1979–1989)
- William 'Randy' DeBarge – vocals, bass guitar (1979–1989)
- James DeBarge – vocals, piano/keyboards (1982–1989)
- Robert 'Bobby' DeBarge, Jr. – vocals, piano/keyboards, drums (1987–1989)
- Jonathan 'Chico' DeBarge – vocals, piano/keyboards (1988–1989)
Discography[edit]
- The DeBarges (1981)
- All This Love (1982)
- In a Special Way (1983)
- Rhythm of the Night (1985)
- Bad Boys (1987)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abHolsey, Steve. 'The continuous rise and fall of the DeBarge family'. The Michigan Chronicle. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ^ abcd'Profile: Musical family matriarch Etterlene DeBarge'. MLive.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ^'Chance : Bobby and the Debarge Family Legacy'. Chancellorfiles.typepad.com. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
- ^ abcdefghijklmColin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 355. ISBN1-85227-745-9.
External links[edit]
- DeBarge at AllMusic
- Vibe article 'The Rise and Fall of the DeBarge Family' from the October 2007 issue: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
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