AccuRadio Song Of The Day-DeBarge

Artist:DeBarge
Song:Rhythm Of The Night
Album:The Definitive Collection





DeBarge was a reasonably successful attempt by Motown to recreate the magic of The Jackson 5 in the 80s. Rhythm Of The Night was their biggest chart hit. Personnel changes shortly afterwards led to their decline. Like the Jacksons, DeBarge was a family group. The DeBarge family are from Grand Rapids, MI. There were a lot of kids around that house. Brothers Marty DeBarge, Randy DeBarge, El DeBarge, James DeBarge and sister Bunny DeBarge were the members of DeBarge. Younger siblings Chico, Darell and Peaches are singers but were not in the group. Older brothers Bobby DeBarge and Tommy DeBarge were part of the group Switch. They were discovered by Jermaine Jackson and signed with Motown. The band's management knew about the other DeBarge siblings and arranged an audition with Jackson. They signed with Motown in 1979. They were originally a quartet called The DeBarges. James joined after the 1981 debut album The DeBarges didn't sell. The second album All This Love concentrated more on the vocal talents of El DeBarge. The album did very well on the R & B charts and so did several singles. All This Love topped the R & B Singles chart. DeBarge had become known mostly for R & B ballads. This all changed when the uptempo song Rhythm Of The Night crossed over to the pop charts in a big way. It topped the R & B Singles chart and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rhythm Of The Night was recorded for the 1985 Motown produced chopsocky movie The Last Dragon and was on the soundtrack. The song was written by Diane Warren early in her songwriting career and Richard Perry was brought in to produce. So now DeBarge were big stars. But as he did in the 60s, Motown owner Berry Gordy couldn't leave well enough alone and started billing the group as DeBarge featuring El DeBarge. According to Etterlene "Mama" DeBarge, this led to El believing he was bigger than the group. He left for a solo career and so did Bunny. She recorded one album and quit the music business. El had a big hit with the single Who's Johnny. He left Motown in 1989 and his solo career has been marred by substance abuse and other personal problems. The rest of the group struggled after El's departure. They left Motown in 1987 and signed with Warner Bros. in 1992. Bobby joined and led DeBarge in those days. Several of the group members seemed to have drug abuse problems. This comp is a good intro to DeBarge's music. Did Berry Gordy kill the Golden Goose? As Mama DeBarge said "Berry Gordy thought he was dividing a music group but he was really dividing a family". That says it all. Here's the video for Rhythm Of The Night by DeBarge.