DeBarge family
| The DeBarge Family | |
|---|---|
| Origin |
Detroit, Michigan Grand Rapids, Michigan (United States) |
| Genres | R&B, soul, quiet storm, neo soul, gospel |
| Years active | 1974 - present |
| Labels | Motown |
The DeBarge family is a family of rhythm and blues artists from Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Robert Louis DeBarge, Sr. (1932–2009) was a soldier who served for the United States Armed forces and was of French descent. He met Etterlene Abney, who is African American, in Detroit, Michigan in the early 1950s. They married in 1953, with Robert being 21 and Etterlene going on 18. They stayed together for 21 years before divorcing in 1974. The children claimed that their father sexually abused several of them, which the father denied.
Robert and Etterlene have 10 children:
She has recorded major label releases, Etterlene has recorded gospel material mostly with members of her family with her own independent gospel releases. She is known by the name, "Mama DeBarge" or "Mama D" for short.
Brothers Bobby and Tommy rose to fame in the late 1970s as members of the R & B group Switch, which recorded exclusively for the Motown label. Earlier, Bobby had joined a group as background members for Barry White called White Heat. Tommy was included in Bobby's new band Switch and the group would have success in 1978 with the top ten R&B single, "There'll Never Be". The group's first two albums became million-selling successes and the band's success would influence a generation of self-contained R&B bands such as Tony, Toni, Tone and Mint Condition.
Forming in 1979 as The DeBarges, the band originally included four members - Bunny, Randy, Mark and El - moved to Los Angeles and signed with Motown where they went under a two-year training process by Motown's staff before releasing their first album in 1981. With the inclusion of 18-year-old James in early 1982, the group changed their name to DeBarge and released their first million-selling album, All This Love, later that year. From 1982 to 1985, DeBarge released three gold-certified albums and released more than ten hit singles. After disbanding shortly in 1986, a reinvented version of the group now featuring Bobby DeBarge and excluding El and Bunny, released a record in 1988 before disbanding the following year due to Bobby's conviction of drug offenses.
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