El DeBarge
El DeBarge was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States on June 4th, 1961 and is the R&B Singer. At the age of 63, El DeBarge biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, songs, and networth are available.
At 63 years old, El DeBarge has this physical status:
Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge, born June 4, 1961, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer.
He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the family band DeBarge.
"Time Will Reveal," "All This Love," and "Rhythm of the Night" are among El Debarge's most popular songs.
He is best known for his tenor register, strong falsetto, and hits such as "Who's Johnny" and "Love Always" as a solo artist.
He has also worked with musicians such as Dionne Warwick, Al Green, Lalah Hathaway, Babyface, Faith Evans, Fourplay, and DJ Quik.
DeBarge is a five-time Grammy Award winner.
Early life
El was the sixth of Robert Louis DeBarge Sr. (1932–2009) and Etterlene (née Abney) DeBarge, a native of Detroit, Michigan. DeBarge performed in his local church choir and as a child, and learned piano. Later, after his family's move to Grand Rapids, Michigan, he and the majority of his family began to worship at their uncle's Pentecostal church. After a lengthy and turbulent marriage, El's parents divorced when El was 13 years old. El Salvador, an African American and French descent, is a national treasure. He grew up to his eldest brother Bobby and began imitating his brother's vocal style.
El spent time in private study with music educator Ricky Callier for many years. El had already expressed an ambition to be a performer by 1975. At 16 years old, he became a father for the first time, and 11 more children were born. He dropped out of high school and began performing with his elder brothers in clubs and venues in Michigan in 1977. Bernd Lichters was able to secure a deal with Source Records/MCA to record the Pall Mall Groove – Hot Ice album as SMASH for the USA/Canada market by 1979, moving El from Michigan to Los Angeles with him, their cousin Andre Abney, Elliot Townsend, and Stanley Hood, as the SMASH band. Bunny, the eldest brother of his siblings, was born in California. El performed live on the piano and sing in front of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, who had already signed the company under the name The DeBarges, in 1980, due to the success of their brothers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge with the hit group Switch.
They were mentored by Motown, and members later performed with and contributed to Switch's success, which included the 1980 albums This Is My Dream and Reaching for Tomorrow. El's first professional recording appeared as background vocalist on 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 Bunny and Bobby wrote. This song will be sampled later by Queen Pen and Raheem DeVaughn.
Personal life
As an infant, Debarge was raised in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan. On the part of DeBarge's father Robert, his parents had a tumultuous marriage that involved domestic violence and child abuse. DeBarge has remained silent on his father's friendship and several other aspects of his family life, which was later chronicled 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 back to father 12 children as a whole. DeBarge was close to his children, especially his brothers Bobby and Chico. Bobby's death in 1995 had a major effect on DeBarge, although family members later said he had never completely recovered from it. Since Bobby's death, he has appeared on stage many of Bobby's songs with Switch, often with Chico accompanying him. In 1998, DeBarge and several DeBarge brothers reunited, delivering several DeBarge hits.
DeBarge has a history of heroin use and court problems. Since losing a tooth pulled by a dentist, he has admitted to starting prescription medications for toothache pain.
DeBarge's drug use by the mid-1990s resulted in his work falling apart after its 1980s peak. DeBarge was arrested in 2001 for cocaine use and was given probation. He was arrested again in 2006 for unlawful drug possession and was later released on probation. He was arrested in a domestic conflict and was detained without bail in 2007; the charges were later dropped. He was arrested once more later this year, convicted of cocaine use and given probation. However, he was arrested in 2008 for smoking crack and heroin paraphernalia, in breach of his probation. He was sentenced to two years in state prison in California for this offense right away.
Following a prison term for which he completed 13 months, DeBarge declared that he had recovered sobriety after a lengthy heroin use, while also mentioning his legal issues in the past. In February 2011, while promoting his 2010 album Second Chance, DeBarge's record announced that he would cancel all public dates and appearances as he returned to rehab following a relapse. DeBarge returned to work and made a brief appearance at the 54th Grammy Awards in February 2012.
Career
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, Bad Boys, although El and Bunny were not on the album.
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 did not 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. El remains the only member of the DeBarges to have Grammy nominations both outside of the group and in the family.
In 2020, DeBarge made an unexpected return to pop culture after RuPaul referenced his signature mullet on the television show RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 12 contestant Crystal Methyd appeared sporting an identical mullet, much to the enjoyment of RuPaul.
On February 4, 2022, DeBarge performed a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music at his home, playing keyboards and singing. The concert was part of a celebration of Black History Month.