Sunday, October 14, 2012

What Happened to Singing Group Debarge


I have seen  biographies of stars and singing groups that declined because of money, affairs, alcoholism and etc.   But nothing has been more painful to watch than the show UNSUNG which featured the family musical group Debarge.   The brother and sister group came from Grand Rapids, Michigan with the dream of being the best  R&B act of the 80’s and then after a while everything turned for the worst.  El, Bunny,Mark,Randy,James,Chico, Bobby and Tommy all told there story of what happened to them and why they turned to drugs.  The eldest Bobby was with the group SWITCH in the late 70’s and had success on his own within that time he had a serious heroine addiction that later claimed his life with complications of AIDS.   Debarge had a string of hits in the early 1980’s with songs like” Love Me in a Special Way, Rhythm of the Night, I Like It and etc.”

The group has gone through publicized drug addictions with serving jail time for drug offenses and James, Randy and Bunny appeared on Dr. Drews’s Life changers show where they discussed their troubles with drug addiction and asking for help from Dr. Drew but later on left the facility. Bunny Debarge is still there in the facility with Dr. Drew trying her best to get clean and still sings gospel songs.

 According to outsiders and the Debarges themselves allegedly said that there mother Etterlene Abney married a white man who was an Army veteran named Robert DeBarge, Sr. from Cicero, Illinois( who has now passed away) and  According to James, Randy and Bunny they gave their  own story of physical and sexual abuse committed by their father Robert Debarge Sr .  Bunny stated that her father sexually molested her at the age of 7 and it ended when she was 13.  The question on everyone’s mind was, why didn’t  she stop the abuse of her children.  Could  that  have been the cause of all her children succumbing to drugs and jail. 

Make sure you check out the 2009 show on UNSUNG on TvONE.tv on cable.

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