El DeBarge

Eldra "El" Patrick DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include "Time Will Reveal", "Who's Holding Donna Now", "Stay with Me", "All This Love", and "Rhythm of the Night". As a solo artist, he is best known for his unique high tenor register, strong falsetto and hits like "Who's Johnny" and "Love Always". He has also collaborated with artists such as Dionne Warwick, Al Green, Lalah Hathaway, Tone Loc, Babyface, Faith Evans, Quincy Jones, Fourplay, and DJ Quik.

DeBarge is a five-time Grammy Award nominee. Eldra remains the only member of the DeBarges to have Grammy nominations both outside of the group and in the family. In 2023, Rolling Stone included Eldra on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. It described his voice as "lean and elastic, zooming into falsetto with apparent breath-taking ease. The ribbons of notes he lets loose during the finish of the group's 'All This Love' are like caramel; nearly three decades later, he sang the solo 'Second Chance' with such lithe grace that when his voice broke a little at the end, it took the listener with it."

Early life A native of Detroit, Michigan, Eldra was the sixth of the children born to Robert Louis DeBarge Sr. (July 9, 1932 – August 30, 2009) and Etterlene DeBarge née Abney (October 13, 1935 – February 16, 2024). According to Etterlene, Robert was "insanely jealous" and "an extremely abusive father." His parents divorced when DeBarge was 13. DeBarge sang in his local church choir and played piano as a child. Later, after his family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, he and the rest of his family began performing at their uncle's Pentecostal church. DeBarge is of African-American and White American descent.

Growing up, he was closest to his eldest brother Bobby and began imitating his brother's vocal styling. For several years, DeBarge spent time in private study with music educator Ricky Callier. By 1975, he had begun to express a desire to become a performer. He became a father for the first time at 16 and eventually fathered eleven more children. In 1977, he dropped out of high school and began performing with his elder brothers in clubs and venues in Michigan.

In 1979, Bernd Lichters was able to secure a deal with Source Records/MCA to release the Pall Mall Groove – Hot Ice album as SMASH for the USA/Canada market and moved Eldra from Michigan to Los Angeles, to have him, his brothers Mark and Randy DeBarge, in addition to their cousin Andre Abney, Elliot Townsend, and Stanley Hood, to back up the release as the SMASH band. His eldest sister Bunny joined her brothers in California. In 1980, because of the success of their brothers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge with the hit group Switch, Eldra was able to perform live at the piano and sing in front of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, who immediately signed the group, then known as The DeBarges, to the label.

Motown mentored them, and members later worked with and contributed songwriting, arrangements, and production to the recordings of Switch, among them the 1980 albums This Is My Dream and Reaching for Tomorrow. Eldra's first professional recording was as background vocalist to Switch's 1979 hit "I Call Your Name". He later helped to arrange music for several Switch songs including "Love Over and Over Again" and "My Friend in the Sky", which he, Bunny, and Bobby wrote. This song would later be sampled by the likes of Queen Pen and Raheem DeVaughn. The album yielded two singles, "Second Chance" and the Faith Evans duet "Lay With You", and later resulted in three Grammy Award nominations: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album.

Personal life DeBarge served 13 months of his two-year prison sentence in 2008 for drug-related convictions. In February 2011, while promoting his 2010 album Second Chance, DeBarge's label announced that the singer was canceling all public dates and appearances as he went back to rehab following a relapse. He has 12 children by different women.

Discography

Solo albums El DeBarge (1986) Gemini (1989) In the Storm (1992) Heart, Mind and Soul (1994) Second Chance (2010)

with DeBarge The DeBarges (1981) All This Love (1982) In a Special Way (1983) Rhythm of the Night (1985)