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Singer El DeBarge Gets A 'Second Chance' After a 16-year absence, El DeBarge is back with a new album and a new lease on life. For more than two decades, the lead vocalist with the 1980s hit group DeBarge battled drug addiction and a spell in prison before re-launching his music career.

Music Interviews

Singer El DeBarge Gets A 'Second Chance'

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NPR Staff

Singer El DeBarge Gets A 'Second Chance'

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El DeBarge. Cory Schwartz/Getty Images hide caption

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Cory Schwartz/Getty Images

El DeBarge.

Cory Schwartz/Getty Images

After a 16-year absence, singer El DeBarge is back with a new album and a new lease on life. For more than two decades, the lead vocalist with the 1980s hit group DeBarge battled drug addiction and a spell in prison.

"I hit rock bottom before I even went [to prison]," El DeBarge says in an interview with NPR's Michel Martin. "Actually, prison was the rescue mission that God had put on me. He sent out his angels to rescue me. In prison, he protected me the whole time I was in there. It was just for me to get my willpower back, get my strength back, get my focus together."

El DeBarge recently re-launched his music career with Second Chance and a June performance at the 2010 BET Awards.