Chico, Bobby and their cousin were trafficking drugs. But the courts made it seem as though Chico was a kingpin and it was his idea and operation. That's why he was sent to a maximum security penitentiary while the others were at FCPs

Chico said they were, but Chico strikes me as kind of shady, however a lot of people were shocked that Bobby was involved

thatruth said:

AH! I gotcha now, damn.

filmnoirdame said:

Knowing Bobby, he probably tried to stop it but got caught up in the middle plus he was a drug addict to the nth degree too (Bobby).

Um, Chico doesn't really strike me as having the brains to be a kingpin in anything

filmnoirdame said:

The courts was fuckin with him, mainly because he was on of those artist involved in the Nancy Reagan Just Say No/Stop the Madness campaign yet he was addicted to quaaludes and caught trafficking a kilo of coke. They gave him 5 years plus 6 months for obstruction of justice.

Where were his lawyers? Didn't his record label step in to get him a good lawyer? How do you know he was involved in that just say no campaign?

thatruth said:

DAMN! I didn't know Chico was addicted to Quaalude's...

filmnoirdame said:

uhhhhh.....u mean SMOKE!!!!!

woogiebear said:

From what I can figure, I think Motown themselves had a huge role in destroying Debarge, that and their own personal demons. Only Marty seems to hve gotten away unscathed.

filmnoirdame said:

Actually, in the Vibe article Chico says, "My father sexually molested a lot of my brothers and sisters. You could hear the anguish in Bobby's music."

It does not say that Bobby was singled out for sexual abuse. Regardless it is sad and tragic. Typically when people abuse drugs there is a deeper spiritual chasm that they are trying to feel. They are trying to divorce themselves from their emotions because there are emotional dragons that they have yet to slay. I really blame their mother for this. Why she stayed with a man who abused her children is beyond me. From reading the article she obviously has some psychological issues herself. I peeped that when she stated regarding their father, "I didn't think he would like me because I was so dark." Also, what's up with the book and selling Chico's stuff on eBay? She's definitely questionable.

Anyway, this is indeed a tragedy because the DeBarge family, particularly El and Bobby were immensely gifted. They wrote and produced timeless songs and both had extraordinary voices. I just wish for emotional and spiritual deliverance/healing for them all.

bellanoche said:

EDIT: Wait how do you know Etterlene is selling Chico's stuff on eBay?
[Edited 9/29/08 0:14am]

curioso said:

Not just Michael. Randy and Jackie were amazing songwriters too. Those three were pure gold together.

I blame Mama Debarge for a lot of that family's issues as well. She doesn't come off too well to me. She is also trying to have some sort of gospel career and set herself as some kind of guru, calling herself Mama D. She needs to look at the part she has played in her kids being effed up.

Here is a clip ofEl doing Bob Marley songs. I can't get over how youthful he seems-this was 5 years ago.

filmnoirdame said:

You can't judge if you havent heard that music. That's the music that proves how talented they were as musicians, songwriters and producers.

Is Heartbreak Hotel one of the songs they did on Epic? I love that song.

In Randy Tarroborelli's book on Diana Ross, he writes that Bobby had a crush on LaToya when MJ was doing the Wiz and that before Switch made it, some of the Debarges were writing fan letters to the Jacksons.

Here are El and Chico singing "There'll Never Be." El leaves Chico in the dust. This was 5 years ago

[Edited 9/28/08 21:43pm]

I think we posted the same video, lol

filmnoirdame said:

YOURS don't work. You posted the same video twice, lol. They won't play either.
[Edited 9/28/08 22:10pm]

hmm. they play when you to youtube directly.

Bunny said in that article linked upthread that the family hid their father from the limelight for years, which kind of makes sense, cause now that I think about it, you only heard about their mamma and never their daddy.

filmnoirdame said:

Yeah I got it to play, lol.

@ El jumping around and shit, lol...

Here is Bobby performing with Debarge after El left the group. It is eerie how much he and El look alike.

From what I have heard, El's family was or is in denial about Bobby's death from AIDS. They just prefer to think of him dying from drugs.

bellanoche said:

Where did you get the information that she stayed with her husband even after she found out that he raped her/his daughter? Please get your facts straight. She took her kids and went back to Grand Rapids to stay near her family. Robert Debarge Sr was a nut. He beat his wife, ridiculed his son, raped his daughter, terrorized his family and her family after she left him.

I read it in an article a few days ago-it wasn't the Vibe article, though. Sorry if I am wrong.

thatruth said:

I skipped that part. Etterlene did say that Robert Sr. was a terror.

What is this about the wife of one of the Debarge brothers dying at the hands of a serial killer? At least that is what Mama D said. That woman sure is one for putting her family's biz in the street

filmnoirdame said:

Why would you assert that this old woman is trying to "pimp herself out"? This idea is based on what?

From everything I've read in this thread so far, I see is a bunch of uninformed opinions, subjective views, and pandering to to ignorance. The fact that you don't even knoe what okayplayer is, 10+ years after the fact, is a clear demonstration to me that not only are you behind the times in what is going on in recent music media, but it appears you don't have much information about the subject you're blindly throwing out all these judgements about

filmnoirdame said:

What the fuck?

Ottensen said:

OH SHIT!