The continuous rise and fall of the DeBarge family

[marv2]

https://michronicleonline.com/2015/10/27/the-continuous-rise-and-fall-of-the-debarge-family/

[RanRan79]

That article sucked. Bobby died of complications of an "std" he got in prison? Hasn't the family always said it was HIV? And I've never heard them say they know he caught it while in prison. The premise of the article is that this large family has had more than the usual tragedy and bad luck, but it only talks about four members. If I were reading this not knowing anything about the family I would assume they didn't have too much more bad luck than most of the other large families I know.

Anyway, the Debarge bad luck started with their parents. Clearly neither one of the parents was worth anything and it's hard for worthless people to raise successful human beings. I'm glad Bunny, El and Chico are doing better these days.

[Circa 1824]

"The Debarge bad luck started with their parents. Clearly neither one of the parents was worth anything and it's hard for worthless people to raise successful human beings."

Truer words were never said. The breakdown of the family leads to so much disfunction and anger.

[marv2]

There are many things that the individual members of this family have done that would make anyone's jaw drop and eyes pop out! LOL! Still they were a very talented bunch.

[RanRan79]

There are many things that the individual members of this family have done that would make anyone's jaw drop and eyes pop out! LOL! Still they were a very talented bunch.

For sure. People crack on the Jacksons, who definitely are no strangers to dysfunction, but I think the Debarges got them beat by a million miles. They were/are still very talented though.

[marv2]

For sure. People crack on the Jacksons, who definitely are no strangers to dysfunction, but I think the Debarges got them beat by a million miles. They were/are still very talented though.

I can say this partly from first hand knowledge. The DeBarges make the Jackson's look like the Brady Bunch!

[jbpintus]

Truth is they were raised ...in a special way!

Now El is one of, if not THE one, I’d like to spend some time with just to listen to his acoustic piano renditions of so called oldies.

As far as voice is concerned, beyond El DeBarge, only Smokey still has it the same way as at his beginnings.

There’s a video of El doing « time will reveal » on the Brian McKnight show. Just knocks me off every time I’m watching and listening to this.

If Genius had another name in the 80s it could have used many names. But El DeBarge would definitely have fit perfectly

JB

[marv2]

Truth is they were raised ...in a special way!

Now El is one of, if not THE one, I’d like to spend some time with just to listen to his acoustic piano renditions of so called oldies.

As far as voice is concerned, beyond El DeBarge, only Smokey still has it the same way as at his beginnings.

There’s a video of El doing « time will reveal » on the Brian McKnight show. Just knocks me off every time I’m watching and listening to this.

If Genius had another name in the 80s it could have used many names. But El DeBarge would definitely have fit perfectly

JB

I like that posting JB! My brother saw EL in concert a few months ago and said he still sounded great.

[lockhartgary]

Truth is they were raised ...in a special way!

Literally made me laugh out loud!

[blackguy69]

Refresh my memory but what exactly did their mother do wrong in raising them other than Marty an a-hole

[blackguy69]

I meant marry.

[RanRan79]

Refresh my memory but what exactly did their mother do wrong in raising them other than Marty an a-hole

I'm judging based on the fact that in recent times Mama Debarge been on some bullshit. Even Bunny had to call her out. I figure if she on stupid shit at 70/80 she probably was on some mess at 20/30/40.

[blackguy69]

I was more asking about their upbringing. If their mom was pulling some crap while they were little then I’m with you. If her bull is more in line with their adult lives then that’s a different story

[luke]

Sounds like Mama didn’t protect the kids from Papa...

[blackguy69]

Sounds like Mama didn’t protect the kids from Papa...i would agree with you but you also have to take into account when all of this happened.

[jboy88]

To me Bobby was the best singer out of all of them, better than El. He was the countertenor equivalent to Melvin Franklin. Just check out his lead on “You & I”, you’ll see what I mean.