His name was Robert Louis Debarge Sr-Bobby Debarge was named after him. Apparently he had been sick for some time.

I'm so sorry he has died.

In the documentary on TV-One, none of the children seemed to have liked their father much.

daPrettyman said:

http://www.vibe.com/news/...rge_epi_3/

Etterlene Abney was 17 when she met the 21-year-old Army soldier Robert DeBarge at a Detroit skating rink. "At first I didn't think he would like me, because I was so dark," Etterlene recalls. "A white man with a black woman…we were a freak show." They were married in 1953, two weeks before he was shipped out overseas. Etterlene says she'd never known brutality in her life — until she wed. "Robert was very jealous," she said with a sigh, "and an extremely abusive father." They stayed together 21 years before divorcing in 1974.

"Bobby went through a lot of pain," says Chico DeBarge of his oldest brother. "My father sexually molested a lot of my brothers and sisters. You could hear that anguish in Bobby's music."

Robert DeBarge Sr. has a voice as dry as sandpaper. At 75, he's had three surgeries and breathes with the help of an oxygen tank. "She has the right to her opinion," he says of his wife's allegations of abuse. "I don't think that I was at all . . . I don't speak a lot against her becasue she's the mother of my children. There are a lot of things, for the sake of the children, some things are best for them not to even know." Now remarried, with one son who died in a car accident, he firmly denies abusing his children sexually or otherwise. "Ohh no, no no," he says, sounding shocked at the idea.

"That may be our fault," says Bunny, unsurprised to hear her father's denials. "We never made daddy stand up. I don't hate my father, but he has a way of blocking things out of his mind."

daPrettyman said:

You mean the father that was beating the hell of them and their mother, the one who allegedly molested his daughter Bunny? Hopefully he came to some kind of peace about the things that transpired in his life and will be in a better place now. Nothing sadder than witnessing old people age with bitterness and denial until they rot themselves into death with no one to turn to.

Ottensen said:

May he rot in pieces. He treated his first wife and children like dogs.

Timmy84 said:

I have no sympathy for wife beaters and child molesters. Fuck him and his spirit.

okay that was mean but....

he was just wrong in so many ways and that family has paid for it over and over.

DesireeNevermind said:

Well, none of us were there, so we should not judge him. He may have loved his family and may have sought forgiveness before he left the earth. We just don't know.

I would say RIP.....but I wouldn't mean it.

Graycap23 said:

Well, think about this. If he hadn't gotten married and had his children, we would never have had Eldra or the rest of them. So, regardless of how he was in his younger years, he did bless us with some talented children.

daPrettyman said:

That may be true, I mean, he was in the hospital the day Bobby, Jr. died from AIDS. But who knows how close he was to his children and his grandchildren, great grandchildren. I doubt he was even in the family get-together's tho.

Regardless of how a person treats another, I don't wish any ill when they are leaving this earth. May he find peace and forgiveness, because that is what I would want for myself when I leave.
Judge not, lest ye be judged....

dang, I knew he physically abused them, but molested them too?? sick.

daPrettyman said:

I was trying not to say anything but now I must.

Several family members are on record saying that he abused those talented children in the worst, most vile way possible.

I would have preferred to have never heard of them, if it meant, they would have been spared from walking around with the curse and demons of what he did to them for the rest of their lives!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

We also must remember that whippings and spankings were common during that time. I'm not trying to justify anything or anyone's actions, but that was popular during that time.

I, too, would rather not hear about the abuse.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

DAYUM!!

Seriously, our love of their music is not worth them having been violated the way they were. Okay...I can say it and not feel bad....fuck Robert Debarge Sr. and his spirit.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Agreed.

daPrettyman said:

Wonder why you're so keen on defending this man with your, 'he might have beens...'...and yes you are trying to justify his actions...daPrettyman.

In fact, he sounds exactly like how a common slave holder would treat his 'property'.

So, it's a shame the mother felt so little of herself and internalised other people's negative connotations around her 'dark' skin colour that she dated outside of her race and stayed with this abusive man for 21 years...rather.
[Edited 8/31/09 15:49pm]
[Edited 8/31/09 15:53pm]
[Edited 9/1/09 1:39am]

From the timeline according to Unsung, the DeBarges (Robert & Etterlene) divorced BEFORE they moved to Grand Rapids in 1971. Robert DeBarge lived in Detroit.

Timmy84 said:

...and so?...are u suggesting this debunks everything?

funkyandy said:

No. I'm just saying we never got a year on when they divorced. Apparently Etterlene had separated from Robert several times. She almost divorced him in 1967, a year after Chico was born.

But after Robert reportedly apologized to her, she actually moved back with Robert (not the other DeBarges, they were at their uncle's house in Detroit) and she had twin children with him.

"Bunny" claimed after her uncles attacked Robert, Etterlene finally divorced him and that's when they moved to Grand Rapids.
[Edited 8/31/09 16:03pm]

daPrettyman said:

Hanging Black people from trees was "popular" at one time too, so the fuck what!

That man amd I use that term very loosely was said to have been SEXUALLY abusing HIS children, males and females! I wouldn't give a damn if it became the national pastime, I'd put a bullet in the head of ANY motherfucker that tried that shit with one of mine!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Say that! Hope he rots in Hell and yeah I'ma judge and can do so because I'd NEVER do any of the things that all of his children and ex-wife say he did.

So, two fingaz, see ya, and I wouldn't wanna be ya Mr. Debarge.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Co-signed like a mutha...

daPrettyman said:

For good reason. Their father child-molested Bunny DeBarge.

Well at least Papa Joe Jackson can say "I aint no muthafuckin' Robert Debarge!"

TonyVanDam said:

He molested the boys too.

DesireeNevermind said:

Damn. For real.

DesireeNevermind said:

Amen to that.Anyway its two main things you dont mess with.1.Someones mother and someones kids.Can i get an amen.....Ok in keeping it real even though he abused the kids and mother i bet in my heart they forgave him but are having mixed feelings right now i bet.All i know is that he has god to answer to now.This is why i always treat my kids with love and respect When you get older you start thinking about your past childhood and all and you think about who loved you and who did you wrong and maybe this is why they had all the problems they had/have....if you notice the next generation hasn't eemed to of gotten into any trouble correct.So to end it you get out of it what you put in it.