Why didn't Eldra DeBarge of the DeBarge family blow up as a solo artist. He had the voice and the moves, he could write and produce. He could have been up their with the Michael's, Prince, Lionel's and Luther's in the 80's.

So what happened.

This album from 1992 has some strong cuts .
It was in the newjack/swingbeat-era , and has some good productions of Maurice White .
Newjack along with the tight EW&F horns , surprisingly swaying .



El did a live-appearance on the Sinbad Oldschool Festival in 1998




Appeared on this sampler with " Sexual Healing " , in 1999 .
I believe that re-version is actually from a few years before 1999 ,
and which he performed with the Jazz-combo : Fourplay .




This is the last time i saw him on screen ( 2002 ) .
El did some studio-work for Dj-Quik .
They also mention on the dvd , the Debarge-piano/bass-loop-sample " Stay With Me "( 1983 ) .
It was sampled by later artists like Notorious B.I.G. (" One More Chance ") and Ashanti (" Foolish ") .
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[Edited 11/28/05 2:07am]

I always wondered about this too.El is an amazing vocalist and when he went solo in 1986,I thought that he would become a major superstar ala Prince and Michael Jackson.There were a few hits ("Who's Johnny","Love Always","Real Love"),but by the 90s,his popularity had faded away.


Does anyone know what he's up to these days? Does he still release new music?

too skinny, fey.. and nothing really unique about him other than his high voice when michael was the high voice king at the time..

Liked him also.
Besides the obious hits his '94 album Heart,Mind & Soul was a solid album.(Where are you,Can't get enough,I'll be there)
Maybe a bit 2 mellow,2 much slow tracks.
I think sometimes he sounded like all those others who
got better promotion(Boys2men,Usher)
His brother Chico also had some great hits(Talk 2 me,Let's kiss)

100MPH said:

I have this CD.It contains a Prince-written track called "Tip O My Tongue".The first single "My Heart Belongs To You" is also very Prince-like.

MARKETING WAS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I THINK. PLUS THE FIRST ALBUM WAS TO WATERED DOWN "GEMINI""IN THE STORM" & HEART, MIND & SOUL ARE CLEARLY THE DEBARGE SOUND. WHILE HIS DEBUT ALBUM IS SOME POP PRODUCERS IDEA OF WHAT THE DEBARGE SOUND WAS AS WELL AS TRYING TO CAPITALZE ON THE RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT SUCCESS( CROSS OVER) EL DEBARGE IS AT HIS BEST WHEN HE'S SINGING A SONG HE HAS WRITTEN/PRODUCED OR A SONG PRODUCED BY OTHER R&B OR JAZZ ARTIST (BABYFACE, MAURICE WHITE)

AN INTERESTING COMBO I BELEIVE WOULD BE EL PRODUCED BY R KELLY I COULD REALLY HEAR EL KILLING THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY HE'S A FAR SUPERIOR VOCALIST THAN KELLY IN MY OPINION

DavidEye said:

And a very cool sleeve too!!

They (DeBarge) should plan a comeback! I liked El's voice.

I loved him on Quincy's Secret Garden track...

I had a MAD CRUSH on ELDRIDGE. That band was Really Good. Miss him...

El's best work was with Debarge. And I think he sang on some of Switch's tracks too. But he just couldn't transform that into solo success. He's a very gifted singer. I just think that had he been given better material. He would've made that break through. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis would've been perfect for him. It's too bad they never got to work together.

I think Eldra started smoking the meat pole and had better things on his mind.

I wanted me a DeBarge boy....damn those drugs....

100MPH said:

If El ever wore Marvin Gaye on his sleeve, it was with this album. I used to hear little bits of Marvin that he borrowed in tracks like "I Like It" (i.e. Say you really love me baby, cuz I really love you darling... etc) But from his dialogue even down to the artwork of this album, you can tell that his admiration for Marvin was genuine and he studied the hell out of his catalogue.

psykosoul said:

interesting take..

ThePunisher said:

I agree,Motown should have paired him up with Jam and Lewis,or maybe even Quincy Jones.He definitely needed stronger,more soulful material.Remember that awful pop single he did "Who's Johnny"? That's pop fluff,which is NOT the kinda stuff a great singer would build a career on.

DavidEye said:

Gaa!

But he did team up with Quincy on the Back on the Block disc...
this one:



Having done that, yes... they should have continued working together.

Bobby Debarge passed away from aids on the 16th of August , 1995

I don't have the excact dates of these :





www.justlounge.com + http://potpourrimusicworks.com





http://djself.net






www.slowhand.net
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[Edited 11/29/05 11:22am]

The ones on this link under look very recent ( scroll down ) :
http://starfileonline.com...s+RnB+Live
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[Edited 11/29/05 11:32am]

psykosoul said:

El originally wrote, "All this love", for Marvin to sing, but as we all know, Marvin was killed before he had the chance. This would have been Marvin's comeback record, had he lived.
[Edited 11/29/05 11:35am]

shorttrini said:

That definitely would have been interesting.. but considering how Marvin left Motown and the whole "In Our Lifetime" fiasco, I don't think Marvin would have accepted the song.

psykosoul said:

He had all ready agreed to it....But, he died before they made it to the studio.

I remember reading a El interview in USA Today (back in 85) that he really wanted to play the role of Marvin in a movie that Motown was working on. But looking at him physically I'm kind of glad he didn't do it. But he does have a spritual connection with him vocally. (Peter Gabriel too)

El was okay. But he lacked that certain something to push him over the top. He came across as sorta soft and relied too heavily on ballads. His voice was nice, but not that exceptional to become a fulltime balladeer. Moreover, El appeared somewhat bourgeiosie. I'm all but certain that he wasn't. But appearances are everything in the business. The man was too cute! Prince, Cymone and Day were all nice looking guys...but they had an edge to them that didn't alienate their male audience. El wasn't quite as fortunate...And that Who's Loving Donna song was the most emasculating piece of drivel I ever heard...

I always wonder what happened to El. I know this does not have anything to do with his music is El bi racial?

El... is black and latin descent.

El DeBarge
AKA Eldra DeBarge

Born: 4-Jun-1961
Birthplace: Grand Rapids, MI


Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Black/(Puerto Rican) Ancestry
Occupation: Musician

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Member of the band Debarge

Sister: Bunny DeBarge
Brother: Randy DeBarge
Brother: Mark DeBarge
Brother: James DeBarge
Brother: Tommy DeBarge
Brother: Bobby DeBarge (d. 1995 of AIDS)
Brother: Chico DeBarge


DeBarge
Puerto Rican Ancestry
[Edited 12/1/05 9:48am]

NPD313 said:

Thanks for the info. I thought he had some sort of Hispanic ancestry.