the debarge name has held major weight in the music industry for decades
bobby and tommy rose to fame as members of the r b group's switch while bunny randy marty l and james
made their mark with debarge chico debarge however decided to take the solo route
in his quest for fame and success but the very same demons that his older siblings struggled with
popped up in his life as well and threatened to not only ruin his career but also his entire
life r b singer and musician jonathan arthur debarge known to the world as chico
is one of 10 children born to robert debarge an army veteran and etterlene abney a minister and
gospel singer from grand rapids michigan he's the younger brother of the motown family act debarge
the family home was full of church and music while the siblings were growing up
of course largely influenced by their mother while most other children spent their free time doing
things like playing outside the debarges were focused and hard at work perfecting their singing
and musicianship skills it was probably also a great distraction from the torment that
most of them were dealing with at the hands of their father chico told vibe magazine in 2007
my father said a lot of my brothers and sisters you could hear that anguish in bobby's music
then the home dynamic changed drastically when chico's parents divorced after more than 20
years of marriage even with their father now out of the house things still didn't get better for
the debarge kids their mother went on to remarry a convicted felon heroin addict and abuser that
would wreak havoc on his life in a similar fashion to that of their biological father
while his older siblings were climbing the r b charts chico was still hitting the books
in high school even though he wasn't even in the group some kids still made his school days
difficult by taking out their jealous frustrations over his family's success
on him and chico got into many fights as a result the drama was actually nothing new for him since
he'd already been used to dealing with years of harassment and prejudice because of his race
chico as well as all his siblings had to endure racial slurs and insults being hurled at them
continuously all because they had a white father and a black mother in a 1987 interview with the
los angeles times chico spoke about how he wanted to navigate his own music career saying at one
time long ago i wanted to be in the group but i changed my mind i preferred to make it on my own
i didn't want to be in their shadow and i didn't want it to look like i made it because of them
well chico may have wanted things to work out that way but just the opposite happened the same record
label that his siblings were signed to took notice of him after he co-wrote one of debarge's hit
songs you wear it well eventually chico did follow behind his brothers and sisters and also signed a
solo deal with motown his self-titled debut album dropped in 1986 and featured the hit single talk
to me he's admitted that he's not the best singer in the family that honor would go to his older
brother l but he did have other strengths that he played up on like his good looks and physique
of course there's no denying that having an already famous last name surely helped two
years later he released his second album kiss sirius that included the hit single rainy night
things however would come to a grinding halt when chico was arrested at detroit
metropolitan airport after a routine screening revealed a kilo of cocaine in his luggage
his brother bobby was indicted as an accomplice
both were convicted on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to six years apiece
years and eight months later upon his release in the mid 90s chico married his longtime girlfriend
andrea bordenave and his comeback album long time no see was released in 1997 to critical acclaim
the lead single igne was well received and got a considerable amount of airplay
he also drew from his real life experience behind bars for the music video which takes place inside
of a prison the album also included the epic collaboration with fellow r b artist joe on no
guarantee his fourth album the game came two years later the lead single give you what you want for
sure gave him one of his biggest hits to date and had a remix featuring rapper trina released
unfortunately things went downhill again in 2003. even though his fifth album titled free dropped
that year the accomplishment was completely overshadowed when chico was stabbed inside a
philadelphia nightclub by italian mobster johnny casa santo while recuperating he was prescribed
oxycontin and quickly started abusing them before moving on to heroin the pills not only helped him
deal with the physical pain from the attack but also years of mental and emotional pain built
up from past trauma not all the personal issues chico experienced in his life were drug related
in 2005 he separated from his wife with whom he had four children he has five in total his eldest
is from a previous relationship in his teens it's unclear if they were trying to work things out or
just reluctant to pull the trigger since it wasn't until 2012 that he officially filed for divorce
the court documents also showed that chico apparently wasn't convinced that he fathered
all of their children by requesting a dna test of the two that were born prior to the marriage
chico's demons had a tremendous hold on him and more arrests were on the horizon
in the years to come one in 2007 for another drug-related offense he later went to rehab
as well as one in 2019 for possession of meth he was approached by police as they observed
him trying to jimmy open a car door the drugs were found on him after a search it turned out that the
car was chicos he'd locked his keys inside in an interview with jet magazine in 2008 erleen debarge
spoke about what she saw as someone with a front row seat to how her children's journey to success
ended up heavily intertwined with debauchery she said i believe my kids were lured into something
they didn't know anything about all they knew was church you pay the price for fame but you
don't realize it they had everything that money could buy but they didn't have peace of mind the
following year chico would publicly admit his addictions to heroin cocaine and prescription
medication and base his last album to date aptly titled addiction on his drug usage
the next decade would go by pretty quietly then by the start of 2020 he was touring and back in
the studio recording with his brother l but more tragedy was awaiting him and his family on april
2nd 2020 chico's eldest child dante was murdered in the van nuys area of los angeles california
the 35 year old was found lying in the street with multiple stab wounds he was
also apparently homeless at the time new year's same drama on january 13 2021 chico was arrested
in burbank california when he was pulled over for driving without his headlights on at night
and missing license plates as if that wasn't bad enough he didn't have any id on him so naturally
the police asked him his name and he opted to give a fake one his brothers james debarge
then during a search of the vehicle methamphetamines and heroin were found
after the arrest and booking process his true identity was revealed
he was charged with drug possession dui and of course false impersonation he also
strangely spent 10 days in jail before being bailed out which seems like a long time for
someone who's assumingly made quite a bit of money from his profession not to mention
also having a large number of family members to turn to in a time of need thanks for watching
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