The Debarge Family, envisioned as Motown’s successor to the Jackson 5, initially comprised El, Marty, Randy, Bunny, and James, with later additions Thomas, Bobby, and Chico. They were poised for superstardom in the 1980s, delivering a string of captivating hits. However, the glitz and glamour were shadowed by internal strife and external pressures, threatening to dismantle the family’s empire. From romantic entanglements with the Jackson sisters, La Toya and Janet, to harrowing allegations of abuse and battles with addiction, the DeBarge family story encompasses both dazzling highs and devastating lows, including prison sentences and the shadow of AIDS. Despite these challenges, their music continues to resonate, sampled by contemporary artists like Diddy and Polow Da Don, and some members are endeavoring to reignite their musical careers. But the question remains: can they truly rebuild after so much turmoil? This is the second part of a four-part exploration into their saga.
Bobby DeBarge was resolute in overcoming his addiction before venturing to Hollywood, enduring the arduous process of withdrawal during a Greyhound bus journey from Grand Rapids. By the time he met with Motown representatives, Bobby had achieved sobriety. Switch, the group he was part of, alongside Tommy DeBarge, vocalist Phillip Ingram, Williams, Eddie Fluellen, and Jody Simms, secured a recording contract.
Switch’s eponymous debut album, released in 1978, featured the standout track “There’ll Never Be.” The song dominated the Billboard R&B charts for 26 weeks, reaching No. 6. The album achieved platinum status, selling over a million copies and laying the sonic groundwork for future R&B groups like Jodeci and Mint Condition.
“The night we penned ‘I Call Your Name’ was quite peculiar,” Williams recalls about the ballad that was later sampled in 2006 by Polow Da Don for Rich Boy’s hit “Throw Some D’s.” He elaborated, “Bobby was dating LaToya Jackson at the time, and she was constantly on his mind. One evening, he started improvising on the Fender Rhodes piano. I joined in with vocals, and before we knew it, we had a song. While I can’t definitively say it was written specifically for LaToya, their romance was certainly the inspiration; Bobby was eager to play her the finished track.”
During Bobby’s work on Switch’s second album, Mark and Randy DeBarge journeyed to Los Angeles to visit their brothers and witness their progress. Soon after, Bunny, Mark, Randy, El, and James also relocated west. Lichters, presumably a Motown affiliate, facilitated their move by leasing a five-bedroom house and providing them with musical instruments. “Motown placed us on a payroll, as we were struggling financially,” Bunny recounted in a phone interview from Grand Rapids. “Having lost the Jacksons, we became Berry Gordy’s new focus.” Motown further advised the DeBarges to dismiss their managers and align with DePassse and Jones management, a firm connected to Motown, which they eventually did.
While sibling musical groups like the Osmonds and the Sylvers had waned in popularity after the Jackson 5’s departure from Motown in 1975, the critical and commercial triumph of DeBarge’s 1982 sophomore album, All This Love, ignited a resurgence of family bands, inspiring groups like Five Starr and The Jets to emerge onto the music scene. However, DeBarge distinguished themselves as frontrunners. Their blend of romantic, pop-infused R&B hits such as “All This Love,” “I Like It,” “Who’s Holding Donna Now,” “Love Me in a Special Way,” and their chart-topping pop hit, “Rhythm of the Night,” featured in the 1985 Motown film The Last Dragon, propelled them to crossover fame.
However, the DeBarge family was ill-equipped to navigate the complexities of fame. In the 1960s, during Motown’s early days, the label operated more like a family business, renowned for comprehensive artist development that encompassed everything from dance instruction to etiquette training. Motown’s relocation to Los Angeles in 1972 marked the decline of this nurturing approach. “Coaching? What coaching? I haven’t been fortunate enough to have mentors to guide me. I wish I had,” El DeBarge lamented in a 1984 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Essentially, I’m navigating this path alone.”
In that same year, James DeBarge, the second youngest member of the group, entered into a marriage with Janet Jackson. She was 18, and he was 21. James was a rising star at Motown, while Janet was striving for independence from her famously private family. Their initial connection was through James’ brother Bobby’s relationship with La Toya Jackson. “James and Janet began seeing each other discreetly,” Bunny DeBarge revealed. “Subsequently, they came to Grand Rapids and eloped. For the Jackson family, it was a crisis. No one grasped the seriousness of it, considering their youth.” The marriage was annulled after a few months, amidst swirling rumors of James’s substance abuse. Persistent rumors have circulated for years alleging that Janet secretly gave birth to a daughter, who was then raised by her sister Rebbie. All involved parties have consistently denied these claims. “They speculate the child is in Europe or being raised by one of my siblings,” Janet addressed in a May 2001 VIBE interview. “But no, I have never had a child.”
The year 1984 also marked a turning point in DeBarge’s public perception during their four-month stint as the opening act for Luther Vandross’s sold-out “Busy Body” tour. This period coincided with the zenith of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Prince’s Purple Rain, and The Police’s Synchronicity, yet DeBarge’s popularity rivaled these iconic acts. “Girls would storm the stage, pulling our hair, tearing our clothes, and sometimes scratching our skin,” James recounted in a phone conversation from California. “It escalated further when we made a promotional stop in Detroit at a record store. The crowd overwhelmed the barriers and shattered the windows. We had to be airlifted from the roof by helicopter. There were numerous moments reminiscent of Beatlemania.”
However, in a pattern reminiscent of Motown’s history of promoting lead singers as solo acts—Diana Ross from the Supremes, Smokey Robinson from the Miracles, Michael Jackson from the Jacksons, Lionel Richie from the Commodores—similar strategies appeared to be employed with DeBarge, potentially creating divisions within the family group. “They manipulated El into believing he was superior to his siblings,” asserted El’s mother, Etterlene DeBarge, aged 71. “Michael might have been the star of the Jacksons, but in my view, my children outshone them,” continued Mama DeBarge, as she refers to herself, including on her MySpace page. Speaking from her Grand Rapids home, Mama DeBarge, whose voice is described as soothing, still harbors resentment towards Motown, which she channels into her book project, The Other Side of The Pain. “Everything revolved around Motown’s desires, not the children’s aspirations,” she stated. “My children were fighting amongst themselves like adversaries.”
Bunny DeBarge offers a different perspective on the factors that undermined the family’s aspirations for enduring success. “Our childhood experiences hindered our ability to sustain our success,” she explained. Publicly, they projected an image of an ideal family, but behind the scenes, their parents’ relationship was fraught with tension. “Interracial marriage was still a contentious issue, and we were subject to widespread scrutiny,” Bunny recalled. Compounding these external pressures, Bunny disclosed that her father was frequently “combative” with her mother. “Mom came from a nurturing, church-going family,” Bunny elaborated. “She was unaccustomed to environments with violence.”
Even those outside the immediate family circle sensed the underlying turmoil. “Simply put,” stated Williams, who has maintained a long-standing association with the DeBarges, “their father was psychologically unstable.”
