Robert Louis DeBarge, Jr. (March 5, 1956 – August 16, 1995) was an American singer and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
, releasing hit records on the Motown label from 1977 to 1980. He has been noted for his
falsetto
Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ...
style of singing. Bobby DeBarge was both mentor and a co-producer of
DeBarge, his siblings’ band, joining them in 1987.
Substance abuse as a young adult lead to a drug trafficking charge in 1988. After a five-year prison sentence, he returned to performing and recording.
Early life
DeBarge was born to
Etterlene (née Abney) and Army soldier Robert DeBarge Sr. in Detroit, Michigan. He had an unhappy childhood because of his father's abuse.
At 15, DeBarge was introduced to heroin, which became his lifelong addiction. After his parents separated and divorced in the early 1970s, Bobby DeBarge and his family relocated to
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...
. A talented instrumentalist and vocalist, he began playing in local bands, along with his younger brother Tommy.
Career
In 1975, after teaming up with fellow Grand Rapids musician Gregory Williams, the duo began a group with several other
Midwest
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
ern musicians and successfully auditioned for
Barry White
Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...
's background group, White Heat, helping to produce and release their
debut album that year. The following year, White dropped all but one musician from the band due to tax issues. The group – which consisted of DeBarge, Williams,
Phillip Ingram, Tommy DeBarge, TC Brown, Stanley Brown, Jody Sims, Arnett Hayes, Adam Frye, Darnell Wyrick, MC Clark and Stanley Hood – then recorded an album in 1976 under the name Hot Ice, entitled ''
Pall Mall Groove'', which included DeBarge's incredible singing and piano performance on his composition "Please Don't Let Me Go", released in 1977 on Polydor/Germany, in 1979 in the USA/Canada as SMASH on Source Records/MCA, and in 2005 on Burndsman Records worldwide.
That year, DeBarge returned to Grand Rapids, despondent that his career hadn't progressed; he ventured deeper into a heroin addiction. After the break up of White Heat, Gregory Williams remained in
Akron, and sought out new musicians
ncluding Tommy DeBarge, Phillip Ingram, Jody Sims, Eddie Fluellen, MC Clark and Arnett Hayesto start a new band. After completing a demo tape, he took it to
Motown Records
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
; the label wanted to sign the group, who were now calling themselves Switch, because of their ability to "switch" instruments. At Williams' invitation, DeBarge, seeking a chance to find musical stardom, vowed to get clean from his heroin addiction. Motown soon signed the act, which now included Bobby's brother Tommy.
A year after their signing, the band released their
debut album in 1978. The album, which featured production from
Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine LaJuane Jacksun (né Jackson; born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter and bassist. He is known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of the ...
, reached
gold status thanks to "There'll Never Be," which was solely written by DeBarge, and also featured a favorite ballad of theirs, "I Want to Be Closer", on which Phillip Ingram and DeBarge shared lead. The following year, the group hit gold again with ''
Switch II
''Switch II'' is the second album by the R&B group Switch, released in 1979. Included on the album is one of the band's biggest and most often-sampled hits "I Call Your Name".
Track listing
#"You're the One For Me" - ( Bobby DeBarge, Elaine ...
'', another Jermaine Jackson-produced album, which included another DeBarge-penned hit, "I Call Your Name." Switch became a recording and performing attraction, not only due to the band's overall musicianship but also due to DeBarge's multi-octave vocal range. In 1980, Switch released their third album Reaching for Tomorrow. In 1980, the group had their fourth gold-selling album, ''
This Is My Dream'', which was the group's first album to not include input from Jackson and which the band's founding members – DeBarge, Jody Sims and Gregory Williams – co-produced. The album included the hit "Love Over and Over Again". By then, DeBarge had returned to using heroin after several years of sobriety and also began using
cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
, which caused tension between DeBarge and Switch group members.
Things came to a head in 1981 when, following the release of Switch's fifth album ''
Switch V'', Bobby DeBarge suddenly left the group after Motown offered him a solo recording deal, later finalized in 1983. By then, DeBarge was overseeing the production of
his siblings' albums. Bobby co-produced their
debut album, and co-wrote with younger brother
El the song "Queen of My Heart", in which he performed falsetto ad-libs near the end of the recording. The track later re-appeared on DeBarge's third album, ''
In A Special Way'', on which El himself produced, creating a more polished version.
By 1987, perhaps taking their cue from Bobby splitting from his own group, El and their sister Bunny had left DeBarge to pursue solo careers, with El finding the most success. Bobby had troubles producing his solo debut, and his solo career failed to pick up, so he curtailed his aspirations and joined his siblings' group, forming a revamped DeBarge
quartet
In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...
that recorded the album ''Bad Boys''. Bobby and younger brother
James split vocal leads on the project. However, Bobby's career halted in 1988 after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in Grand Rapids and was sentenced to five years in prison. Following his release, he returned to performing and recording, all the while struggling with AIDS, which he contracted sometime in the late 1980s prior to his prison sentence. He finished his last musical work, ''It's Not Over'', shortly before his death but was not alive when the album was distributed independently.
Personal life
For several years, he pursued
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, ''The Jacksons (TV ...
of the
Jackson family.
[''Unsung'', Episode 124: "The Story of Switch". Aired July 23, 2017.] He mentioned Jackson's song "
Night Time Lover" in the Switch ballad "You & I", a song he wrote in response to Jackson's single. By 1984, DeBarge had split from Jackson and later married Teri, with whom he had two children, Christian and Bobby III.
DeBarge's heroin addiction started in the early 1970s and, later, he developed addictions to
cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
and
crack.
Prison sentence, illness, and death
In 1988, he was sentenced to five years in a
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
prison for drug trafficking charges. Following his release in 1993, he vowed to stay clean, signing a management agreement with Bernd Lichters (for whom DeBarge, with Hot Ice, recorded the ''Pall Mall Groove'' album years earlier, as well as signing a management agreement as partnership with Ed Wright in 1985), who guided him during 1994 to record songs he wrote in prison. The resulting album, released in August 1995 on A&E Records just before his death, was entitled ''It's Not Over''. Throughout that year, he was lying low in Gregory Williams' California home, before he returned to Michigan for his final days.
While in prison, DeBarge confided to his family that he had contracted HIV. When he became gravely ill, his family sent him to a
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...
in Grand Rapids. He died of AIDS complications there on August 16, 1995, at the age of 39. He is buried in Garfield Park Cemetery in Grand Rapids.
In popular culture
In June 2019, nearly two years after TV One had first aired Switch's installment of the ''Unsung'' series, the network released a biopic about Bobby DeBarge. He was portrayed by Disney alum
Roshon Fegan in this film.
Discography
;with Switch
* ''
White Heat'' (1975)
* ''
Pall Mall Groove'' (1977)
* ''
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
'' (1978)
* ''
Switch II
''Switch II'' is the second album by the R&B group Switch, released in 1979. Included on the album is one of the band's biggest and most often-sampled hits "I Call Your Name".
Track listing
#"You're the One For Me" - ( Bobby DeBarge, Elaine ...
'' (1979)
* ''
Reaching for Tomorrow
''Reaching for Tomorrow'' is the third album by R&B/funk band Switch (band), Switch, released in 1980 by Gordy Records. The album reached No. 23 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Soul Albums chart.
Overview
...
'' (1980)
* ''
This Is My Dream'' (1980)
;with DeBarge
* ''Bad Boys'' (1987)
;Solo
* ''It's Not Over'' (1995)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debarge, Bobby
1956 births
1995 deaths
20th-century American LGBTQ people
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American singers
African-American male singers
African-American pianists
AIDS-related deaths in Michigan
American funk keyboardists
American funk singers
American male pianists
20th-century male pianists
American people convicted of drug offenses
American rhythm and blues keyboardists
American rhythm and blues singers
American soul keyboardists
American tenors
DeBarge family
DeBarge members
LGBTQ people from Michigan
Musicians from Grand Rapids, Michigan
Singers from Detroit
Singers with a three-octave vocal range
African-American LGBTQ people