FARAI CHIDEYA, host:
I'm Farai Chideya and this is News & Notes. As part of our Listener Favorite series, we're taking another listen to our December 2nd piece on the R&B group DeBarge.
(Soundbite of 'Rhythm of the Night' by DeBarge)
You'll be doin' fine once the music starts
Oh, to the beat of the rhythm of the night Dance until the mornin' light Forget about the worries on your mind You can leave them all behind To the beat of the rhythm of the night...
CHIDEYA: In the early '80s, the singing group DeBarge became one of the last big R&B acts of the original Motown label. Mark, James, Randy and Eldra, plus their sister Bunny, were the original line-up of the band DeBarge. But these hit-makers were only a fraction of a large and troubled music-making family. Motown made another group of siblings, the Jackson Five, legends. But even with the Motown touch, DeBarge struggled with fame. As the members were singing feel good hits, they were also dealing with drug addiction, sexual abuse, prison and HIV. A new television documentary on the DeBarge family airs later this month on TV One as part of a series called "Unsung." Bunny DeBarge agreed to tell us her part of the story, and why she wants to share it with the world.
Ms. BUNNY DEBARGE (Member, DeBarge Band): Because I believe there's a lot of people out there that might have been through the same thing that I've been through. I also believe that secrets keep you sick. My family is in need of healing, and I feel that it has caused a lot of hurt and pain and has been part of our drug problems, things that have happened in our childhood. And there were things that I thought I had to face, and I feel this is the time. It was a lot of healing for me, and I want my father to be healed and my mother to be healed as well as my brothers to be healed. And I also want the next generation to understand why we went through what we went through in life, period.
CHIDEYA: I am such a fan of your songs, and they really were for me a form of escapism. And they're about love and they're very - love and having fun and they're very lighthearted in a lot of ways, and tender. What was it like to do songs that were so tender, and yet at the same time you were going through, like you mentioned, addiction, and your brothers and sisters were fighting, there was jockeying for power? What was it like to have this one world of music that really made so many people happy, and at the same time you were struggling?
Ms. DEBARGE: We weren't struggling then. When we were writing our love songs - we weren't struggling. We were very much together as a family. We learned in church about God, and God is love. And it was like those songs were true for us. So I can't say, you know, when we were writing those songs that we were struggling with our drug problems. No, it came after that.
CHIDEYA: So when you were writing songs like "All This Love," which was a huge hit in 1982, "In A Special Way," "Rhythm of the Night," these were all in the early mid-'80s, you were happy then?
Ms. DEBARGE: Pretty much as a family we were happy. I think we were hiding our pain back then. You weren't supposed to tell your mother and father's business. I think that those songs were very much a part of us. We wanted to feel love, we wanted to be in love and we wanted to love. We very much loved one another. We didn't realize that we were dysfunctional in our love at all. In fact, I didn't start realizing how dysfunctional it was until recently actually, in going back in my life and seeing, you know, looking at what I felt love was. So no, we weren't bitter with one another. All we had was one another, so we, you know, we were very close-knit. The bitterness came after being with Motown and the group breaking up.
CHIDEYA: You know, you guys really did work together on these songs. And did you think it was unusual that you were all interested and talented in music?
Ms. DEBARGE: It was so natural for us. As kids, we thought that everybody could sing, we didn't know it was a gift. We thought that that was something that everybody did, and that everybody knew how to do harmonies and all that. I think also because of abuse in our childhood that it was something that we just naturally did. We came together to sing, you know. When we were sad we sung. When we were scared we sung and we would write little songs together as children. So it just came natural for us and we thought that everybody could do it. We were shocked when we saw that, you know, it was gift that we had, because we started very early singing. And my mom, she is coming from a big family herself and her father taught her how to sing. She was very much into teaching us.
CHIDEYA: Now you wrote a lot of these songs, or wrote part of a lot the hit songs that you had. What is your favorite DeBarge song?
Ms. DEBARGE: I would think "Love Me In A Special Way."
CHIDEYA: Yeah, that's a beautiful song. Can you sing just a little bit of it?
Ms. DEBARGE: (Singing)
I'm special Not the average kind who'd accept any line That sounds good. So reach into your chain of thoughts. Try to find something new 'Cause what worked so well for you before for me it just won't do.
Love me in a special way What more can I say Love me now.
(Soundbite of "Love Me In A Special Way" by DeBarge: )
Ms. DEBARGE: (Singing)
Love me now. Love me in a special way. What more can I say Just love me now
Love me.
CHIDEYA: That brings back a lot of memories for me. You know, how does that make you feel to hear your songs now?
Ms. DEBARGE: It makes me feel good. It's healing for me. And then it makes feel sad, on the other hand, that we're not there anymore. But I know we did Chicago. El was in Chicago not to long ago and we surprised him and went down. And it was such a joy for us to be on stage together and singing together, and again, it came so naturally. Our parts, you know, just fell in place. But it felt like home.
CHIDEYA: How do you feel about being a part of "Unsung," because "Unsung" is really about people who - great musicians who struggled and some of them lost their lives. Did you feel ever vulnerable being specifically on a TV show that dealt with people who had had so much pain in their life and so much struggle? And of course, you lost one of your brothers , Bobby, from AIDS that was something that he got from IV drug use. But, you know, did you have any trepidations about doing the show?
Ms. DEBARGE: No, I didn't. I have written a book called "The Kept Ones," and it's about our childhood. It talks about the drug abuse and the music business. So I was ready, you know. When they asked me - we did a Vibe magazine thing too - and when they wanted to do the "Unsung," I was ready, you know, to talk about it. So then I had finished the book, so it's like right on time for me. And what they don't get from looking at the documentary they can read the book. You know, my book that I've written that will also be out on the same day, Thanksgiving Day. So I was ready to talk about it.
CHIDEYA: That's Bunny DeBarge talking about the triumphs and trials of DeBarge, a band led by her and several of her brothers. As Bunny and I were talking, I got a surprise. Her brother Chico was there listening outside of the studio, and I ask Bunny if he wanted to come in and talk to us.
Ms. DEBARGE: I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
CHIDEYA: Can you ask him?
Mr. CHICO DEBARGE (Singer): OK, ok. All right.
Ms. DEBARGE: OK. So let me introduce you. This is my brother, Chico, my little brother.
Mr. DEBARGE: Bunny's little brother. There you go.
CHIDEYA: We should note that Chico was never a part of DeBarge proper. Chico was solo. This is his hit 'Talk To Me' from 1986.
(Soundbite of "Talk To Me" by Chico DeBarge)
Mr. DEBARGE: (Singing)
Talk to me baby, talk to me girl. You know, I really think you oughta
CHIDEYA: In 1988, Chico and his older brother Bobby were convicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The conviction put a quick end to a promising career. Each of the brothers served years in prison. Bobby later died from complications of AIDS. Like his sister, Chico was willing to open up about some of the pain of the road they've traveled. But he is also gearing up to release a new album. I ask how he felt about this next stage of his career.
Mr. DEBARGE: I'm excited, but I'm - it was kind of new for me with the mission I have before me. Because of course, as you know, all of us are talking about, you know, a lot of things we've been through that a lot of people didn't know in the family. And the name of my album is "Addiction." Because I ended up wearing those shoes. I never thought in my life that I would be - you know, I'd actually knocked people, you know, for having that. And I got stabbed, you know.
I got caught addicted to some little pain killers, I thought. And it progress and it progress and stayed, until last year. You know, I really was out there. You know, really had a hard time fighting that because it was much more than just a physical addiction, you know? And I had the propensity to, you know, to be an addicted because, of course, it runs in the family. You know, this is a disease.
So I'll be dealing with that a little bit now this time, out on the road talking about it. I sung about it. And you know, it's kind of a mission for all of us. Me and brothers and sister, I think we kind of count our healing on that, you know? Just counted on telling people, helping people, speaking about it. You know, negative consequences of , you know, using drugs. How easy it is to get caught up in that world.
CHIDEYA: You spent years in jail associated with the issue of drugs. And to find out that your brother had AIDS as a result of drug use must have been a huge blow to you because you were, you know, in prison and dealing with that, dealing with your own issues, and then thinking about what your brother was going through. How did you deal with that kind of pressure?
Mr. DEBARGE: Oh, I was very angry. Because I got the most time on my case, and I was sent to a higher level than anybody else. I felt like the government was picking on me, and then when I finally get out, he dies. We weren't allowed to be lock up together, so I never get to see him. So I was very angry. It was hard for me to tell what is was like. Now, he dies on me, you know. And I was in denial in a lot of ways. I didn't want to face that he was gone. I didn't want to face a lot of things, you know?
It took me a while to face responsibility from my actions period, you know? And it was a heavy blow to the whole family, but I think I just was in denial. It was just, ooh, it was terrible. It was like the worst nightmare you can have. I can't be lock up with my brother. Here I am, I have to be locked up. I can't be lock up with him so we can't watch out for each other, check on each other. And then, you know, finds out he has AIDS while I am prison, and I am like, oh no, now what? Is he going to die before he gets out? And then when he gets out, you know, I get out. At first - by the time I get out, he dies. So that was very dramatic for me, hard to deal with.
CHIDEYA: It's hard to believe that you have made your way back into the music industry after everything that you've been through. I mean, are you surprised yourself by that?
Mr. DEBARGE: God wanted me to be in this position. I think that I can make it very, very, very much mean more, be more significant than just success.
CHIDEYA: You guys work with some of the best of the best, including, you know, being signed by Barry Gordy. But the music business seems like it really drove a wedge into your family with, you know, El being chosen or working to do solo stuff which, you know, at least according to this show seemed to really drive a wedge between you. Did the music - do you think that the industry - the industry part of the music industry - hurt your family?
Mr. DEBARGE: I feel like - and Bunny talks about this in her book too a lot, which is a great read. Bunny, she shocked me. She actually really did. The thing about the music industry that it did to my family is we were unprepared for what was out there. And nobody was interested in preparing us for our lives being saved, us staying healthy, us staying away from addiction and drugs. All they were interested in is molding us and grooming us to be artists, to do interviews, posture, standing, interviewing (unintelligible), how to hold a fork right. Those type of things that would sell CDs, album, that would make you TV-ready but not life-ready. And so I feel like there was a moral responsibility. Barry Gordy and every one of the record companies and still even so now. Everyone in the records owes their artist to, you know, give them precaution. You know, serve them properly. To treat them not just as a product but as a person, you know? And that's one thing I regret, is that we were treated as product and not persons. You know, not people.
CHIDEYA: Well this, the documentary, you know, the show which is really is a documentary with, you know, all the voices that they have in it, it's very moving. And I appreciate you guys opening up about your journey.
Mr. DEBARGE: Right. And I appreciate you guys for doing us a good service. I hear that it's very well done, very classy. I just - I thank you and I look forward to doing - sorry I wasn't as available as I should have been, but I will be in the future. Peace and love.
CHIDEYA: OK. Back at you.
CHIDEYA: That was our conversation with Chico and Bunny DeBarge from the R&B group DeBarge.
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