I know I am late by a year, but I just finished reading that Vibe article on Debarge. I do not get how in the hell a family that talented and I think they were more talented than the Jacksons (Debarge to me were more musicians and the Jacksons entertainers) just threw themselves away on drugs. I mean every last one of them kids was doing drugs. That article raised a lot of questions:

1) I was a huge debarge fan when i was a little kid in the 80s. I never heard anything about El having 10 kids back then. No rumors, nothing. How in the hell did they cover that up? Plus he never struck me as a "family man" anyway.

2) Their mama seems real self promoting and stage momish-selling Chico's stuff on Ebay

3) I read in a previous post on here that El allegedly raped a girl in 86-anyone know if this is true? And someone else said something about him having a horrific divorce-anyone know about that? El always seemed really soft spoken and mild mannered. I can't imagine him being violent

4) Also, it's odd that they are pretty much forgotten today. Debarge was pretty huge, at least in rnb circles and they made some good music. I don't understand how they fell through the cracks like that.

5) Also, is it true that Berry Gordy took all their publishing royalties from them?

5)P org member JJHunsecker said he used to deal with the Debarges when he worked in the industry and they were all crazy. J, I wanna hear the dirt!
[Edited 9/27/08 18:53pm]

and im damn confused

which one did janet marry. some people say james, some say El...is it the same person? I dont know nothin

Nvncible1 said:

James.

Janet married James, who I always got a weird vibe from. He always struck me as creepy.

Mama Debarge now says thag Vibe article is a pack of lies. But, yet she and Bunny and Chico allowed themselves to be interviewed. I don't think that article was full of lies at all

Yeah,the Debarge story is so tragic.So much potential,so much talent and they just threw it all away.A few of the brothers served time in prison.

I don't get it, I really don't. That family could have had everything and it all went up in flames. Still, I get the feeling that that Vibe article only touched the tip of the iceberg.

filmnoirdame said:

"Mama" Etterlene Abney (DeBarge) shouldn't have agreed to do it then. "A pack of lies..." she was probably pushing those kids to go secular without them realizing what going there entailed. Before the success of Switch (Bobby and Tommy), the DeBarge family were just happy to be singing in church!
[Edited 9/27/08 20:12pm]

I just think there are a lot of unsaid things going on with the Debarges in general. Too many conflicting stories-a lot of things don't add up. I think Mama Debarge is trying to trade in on the success of her kids. Honestly, how did she not know her hubby was molesting her kids? Why would you put up with that?

I heard that EL Debarge has 16 kids

More like 11. Them Debarges seem to love 3 things-drugs, makin' music and makin' babies.

filmnoirdame said:

I heard this morning that experts have released new info on the Titanic, saying that the ship's hull didn't break so much as the rivets came off when it touched up against the tip of the iceberg.

So first,
the Titanic
& then Debarge.

Is it any wonder that I've developed a life-long hatred towards icebergs?
(Though, I do resent anyone insinuating that it might be because of any kind of anti-semitism. Just because a word ends in "berg", doesn't necessarily mean it's a jewish surname.)
[Edited 9/27/08 20:23pm]

That was seriously OT

im curious, what exactly made debarge more talented then the jacksons? it seem like whenever somebody start a thread about them they always start with...'debarge had talent, even more then the jacksons'...what is that about.

For one thing, all of Debarge could really, really sang. Except for James. Also, they were true musicians. Bobby, El, Bunny-all of them could arrange and write music like no one's business. Think about how timeless All This Love, I Like It, Love me in a Special Way and Stay with Me are. The Jacksons to me were just entertainers and not true, pure musicians.

filmnoirdame said:

Oh, I've done worse.
Alot worse.

filmnoirdame said:

i wasn't impressed with the Punky Brewster appearance, though.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...A_nLntWtos

Neither was I. Terrible acting all. Like I said, Debarge were musicians. Although I love to hear El talk

lowkey said:

I hear where you're coming from because me myself I hate the Jackson/Debarge who's better comparison. Both are great musicial families and I don't put one above the other, just like I wouldn't put the Isleys over the Gap Band or After 7 over Levert. But people say that the Debarges were more talented sometimes out of spite because the Jacksons received more publicity and recognition instead of them. But you can look at that two ways, more fame equals more money I guess but money can't solve all problems and also every family has problems and issues but because the Jacksons received more publicity their personal business is now out there for everybody to read and talk about.
[Edited 9/27/08 23:08pm]

Well thanks to that Vibe article and that upcoming show on TV One, Debarge's bidness is gonna be out in the street. Everyone I know that read that Vibe article was truly shocked. That alone tells you that Debarge had a squeaky clean image.

You did not hear about El having 10 kids back in the 80' because he did not have 10 kids back in the 80's.
[Edited 9/27/08 23:28pm]

He may not have had 10 kids, but he was well on his way. Like I said, it beats me how it was hushed up about El having any kids, period.

filmnoirdame said:

Destiny and Triumph shits over anything the Debarge Family ever did. Michael is more talented than any of them. He was a better singer, dancer and songwriter than any of them.
No need to elevate the debarge family just because they have a tragic story.
[Edited 9/28/08 5:22am]

filmnoirdame said:

Hello, my friend. Check out this recent interview with Bunny DeBarge about that VIBE article:

http://www.sobomag.com/#/...4530566684

Why is anyone shocked over drug use in the 80s??? I mean lets not start believing that ALL or 99% of the days acts did something or tried something at least, it was human nature. Even Prince who can say he never did, and yet everyone around him did, all of his bands did, his proteges, and road crews did. I mean the Debarge abuse doesnt surprise, and its sad in terms of talent, but look at Rick James, he had so much further to go, and he threw it all away.

I swear that the first time I heard about them was a few years ago when I saw a documentary about janet jackson!

Here in Portugal, radios did not play 80's pop/funk.

Thank the lords of kobol for the org
[Edited 9/28/08 6:34am]

It's a shame that El never really became a huge solo superstar.When he left the group in the mid-80s,people were predicting that he would become as big as Michael Jackson and Prince,lol.I don't know what went wrong.His first solo album is very good.

No one is elevating the Debarges because of tragedy, but the fact is, there are and were extradinarily talented. I don't think the Jacksons were like that-they were entertainers, not pure musicians.

Bobby Debarge could outsing MJ anyday.

El wasn't really a crossover artist like MJ or at least he didn't get the promo to have that happen and I really think it wasn't his time to have done that. If he had waited till the early 90s, maybe. I think Motown basically split up Debarge because they wanted to get more money off of El and the money wouldn't have had to have been split 5 ways. On youtube, there is an interesting el interview with donnie simpson about how El said-after he left Motown for Warner Brothers-that Motown was trying to make him into MJ.

filmnoirdame said:

Like I said Motown did not know what to do with the DeBarges, why try to make El another Michael when he's mainly a singer and keyboardist. He's a decent dancer but he's no Michael. Motown was foolish in believing they could make him like that. Plus El didn't have the confidence to be a solo artist, he was always shining brightly around his family.

I don't know if it was a confidence thing, but I think I remember reading years ago that El had a very mercurial temperament. Drugs wouldn't have helped with that and neither would Motown. El said once when asked if Motown was putting him and Debarge through their legendary "charm" school that the label was not. He said he wished he had someone doing that for them, he was on his own. This was back in '84 when the group was still intact. That goes against what Bunny said in that linked article upthread about how Motown did indeed do that for them.

lowkey said:

I don't know why people always do that. It's like they can't appreciate Debarge without putting down the Jacksons. The Jacksons weren't purely entertainers either though, most of them played instruments, Jermaine and Tito particularly. I look at those two as musicians first before anything else. The group the Jacksons also wrote and helped produced their albums after they left Motown and finally got creative control, so I don't understand when some like to make it seem like all they did was get up there and dance & sing and that was it. I don't think that either El or Bobby are as good a singer as MJ is tho, so i'd have to disagree there. Now, El has one of the prettiest voices i've ever heard, but he's limited to me. He can only really sing in that high pitched, falsetto. Michael on the other hand can do a lot more with his voice which is why he can pretty much sing any genre of music. I mean I can't see El ever pulling off a song like "Beat It" whereas I can see Michael pulling off a number of Debarge songs. Michael's voice is more powerful, rich and soulful to me.

Nonetheless, The Debarge family is VERY talented. El especially should have been much bigger than he is. He sings very well and was a pretty good songwriter too. I definitely think he had the charisma and looks as well (I thought he was so cute! I used to have a major crush on him when I was younger lol). Personal problems have got in the way I guess and they probably were not promoted the way they should have been, but their music has stood the test of time and they have GOT TO BE one of the most sampled artists ever. I mean how many times has "Stay With Me" been sampled already? Debarge is great, definitely one of the most talented groups around. I heard they were touring a while ago though but haven't heard anything since. I'd love to see them live.
[Edited 9/28/08 11:43am]