| Net Worth: | $500 thousand |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Singer |
| Date of Birth: | March 15, 1955 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.7 m |
About Bunny Debarge
In 1979, after spending a couple of years observing her brothers Bobby and Tommy ride to musical stardom as members of the band Switch, Bunny joined forces with her three other brothers, Randy, Mark, and El, to form DeBarge. This was after spending the previous couple of years watching her brothers Switch. They became signed to Motown when their demo tape was given to Motown CEO Berry Gordy by Switch’s Gregory Williams. Berry Gordy, who had been left pleased by the siblings, quickly put the band on a contract after listening to the demo tape.
Etterlene “Bunny” DeBarge is the oldest of ten children that were born to Etterlene (née) Abney and Robert DeBarge, Sr. Etterlene “Bunny” DeBarge is the eldest of her siblings. Her early years as a child were spent in Detroit; however, when she was 16 years old, her family relocated to Grand Rapids. Later in life, Bunny would recollect that her father had subjected her to years of physical and sexual abuse. She claimed that her father had first molested her when she was seven years old, and that the torture continued until she was 13 years old.
Bunny also highlighted the difficulties she faced throughout her time in public school, where she and her siblings were subjected to continual bullying and taunting by black classmates on account of their mixed-race background.
The singer has gone through two marriages. Etterlene Jordan is the name that appears on numerous of DeBarge’s albums; however, she is also occasionally referred to as Etterlene Jordan-Knight or Etterlene DeBarge Knight. Etterlene Jordan is the name that appears on several of DeBarge’s albums. After spending many years in California, Bunny has made her way back to Grand Rapids, her hometown in Michigan, where she currently resides with her husband, their four children, and their fifteen grandchildren.
Since she was a youngster, Bunny DeBarge has struggled with substance misuse, first with marijuana and then, throughout her time as a member of DeBarge, advancing to prescription medicines from what she had been using previously (marijuana). These difficulties are comparable to the ones that her brothers went through. They did not delay in beginning their cocaine use for very long.
Between the years 1979 and 1981, Bunny and her brothers worked primarily behind the scenes on the works of Switch. Bunny collaborated with her brother Bobby on a number of Switch songs, including “Hold On to My Love” “Love Over and Over Again” and “My Friend in the Sky” The self-titled first album by the DeBarges was released in 1981, and Bunny was featured on lead vocals alongside brother El on the song “Share My World” which the brothers had written together.
A year later, in 1982, the duo took along their adolescent brother James, and simplified their name to just DeBarge. This was the year that they released their second album, which was titled All This Love. It was with this album that the siblings found success in the music industry, particularly with the song “I Like It” for which Bunny, along with her brothers Randy and El, contributed to the song’s lyrical content.
In 1983, the band released their third studio album, titled “In A Special Way,” in response to their popularity. The gospel-influenced song “Time Will Reveal” became another hit out of the album, and Bunny was credited as the song’s lyricist. The album also had several other standout tracks, including two other ballads composed by Bunny: “Stay with Me” and “A Dream” the latter of which was the final track on which Bunny sang lead vocals. In a Special Way was certified gold, just like its predecessor, All This Love, which helped pave the way for the group’s greatest success in 1985 with the release of the Rhythm of the Night album, from which the title single became a top five crossover smash.
Bunny went to treatment multiple times in an effort to break her drug problem. She finally broke her silence in 2008 when she published her autobiography titled The Kept Ones. In it, she discussed the abuse that her father had committed against her and her siblings as well as her own struggles with substance misuse. In that year, she made an appearance on the first edition of the series Unsung, which aired on TV One. In that show, she discussed her childhood as well as her time while performing with DeBarge alongside her brothers Randy and James.
In September 2011, the three of them made their next appearance on television, this time on the show Lifechangers, which also starred Bunny’s daughter Janae. James checked himself into the treatment facility but decided to leave a few hours later. After a few days, Randy finally left. Bunny checked herself into a recovery facility and saw the program through to its conclusion. After completing her treatment at the facility in West Hollywood, California, Bunny has been travelling and concentrating on the recording of her upcoming album.
Summing-Up
She was the main vocalist on the R&B ballad “A Dream” from the group’s In a Special Way album, and she is also the co-writer of the group’s 1982 breakout smash, “I Like It” and the number-one single, “Time Will Reveal” DeBarge was the only female sibling in the Motown family group DeBarge.
