[Music] foreign
as the primary vocalist of his family's singing group El debarge's distinctive falsetto can be
heard up front and center on many of their heads such as I like it all this love Time Will Reveal
love me in a special way and their biggest one ever Rhythm of the Night even though he had his
siblings to lean on for support as they navigated the crazy world of entertainment together Elle's
personal issues that plagued him for several decades and still due to this day were up to
him to battle on his own singer songwriter and musician eldra Patrick DeBarge was born
on June 4th 1961 in Detroit Michigan the six of ten children to a black American gospel singer
mother and a white American Soldier of French and English descent he along with his nine
siblings were raised in Detroit and Grand Rapids Michigan his parents had a tumultuous marriage
that involved domestic abuse and child abuse on the part of his father over the years Elle
has chosen to remain silent on his relationship with his father and many other elements of his
family life as opposed to his mother sister Bunny and brother Tommy who have written about their
experience in various books later after his family moved to Grand Rapids he and the rest
of them began performing at their uncle's Church growing up Elle was closest to his eldest brother
Bobby and began imitating his brother's vocal styling when Elle had just entered his teens
his parents divorced it was also around this time that he had begun to express a desire to become a
performer while Elle was honing his singing and musicianship skills he was clearly also gaining
the attention of the young ladies as he would soon become a father for the first time at the
age of 16. eventually he would go on to Father 12 children in total with at least half a dozen women
after a few more years passed L would move from Michigan to La along with his brothers Mark and
Randy to serve as the backup band for his other brothers Tommy and Bobby's group called smash
they were brought out at the request of the producer of the project that smash was about
to drop smash actually went through several name changes such as hot eyes and white heat
the group would ultimately achieve the success they were after with one final name change to
switch As a result of the success of his brothers in switch L was given the opportunity to perform
live at the piano and sing in front of Motown CEO Barry Gordy who immediately signed him and
his siblings then known as the debargeos the group originally consisted of L bunny Mark and
Randy and was later joined by James and Bobby the debarges would release their self-titled
debut album in 1981. it saw limited success and stalled on the charts the reason the group felt
was because it wasn't properly promoted their next effort 1982's all this love fine finally gave them
the success they were craving going gold with the help of hits I like it as well as the title track
the group was on a roll and kept the momentum going with in a special way released the very
next year it spawned the hits Time Will Reveal and love me in a special way the project gave
the group their first Grammy Award nomination for best r b performance by a duo or group with vocal
though the debarges appeared to be a family unit there were growing tensions between Elle and his
siblings mainly because of motown's push to have L become the primary star of the groove that kinda
sounds like what another family act signed to the same label went through the Jackson 5 were
also successful Motown artists and had to contend with the member in the Forefront getting all the
attention by extension that makes Elle the Michael Jackson of the debarges and as the Michael of the
group L received special treatment from Barry who saw him as a budding solo artist in the end Elle
was called to handle the production of debarge's next album Rhythm of the a night without much help
from the others it became the group's best-selling album with the title track becoming a top five hit
in several countries including the US and UK and the last DeBarge project L would be featured on
now with L as well as bunny out the remaining members called on Bobby to join the lineup and
produce their next album it would end up being the group's last titled Bad Boys released in 1987
the year prior L began his solo career with the release of his self-titled debut album the project
surprisingly didn't feature any writing input from him in a 2022 interview with halftime chat
L revealed that it certainly wasn't his idea for things to go down that way he says Motown didn't
want him to write and according to the contract that he as well as his siblings signed he had
to do whatever the label wanted him to do the album did Spawn Two Hits with who's Johnny and
love always the year before he made a startling confession in an interview with the LA Times
I'm a nice guy but not all the time there are these Personalities in me so many of them they
come out at strange times I can be one way then five minutes later I'm another way [Music] so
maybe it was one of those multiple personalities and not the real L that ended up having to plead
no contest to causing a misdemeanor disturbance after a Michigan woman accused him of attacking
her as the report goes He allegedly pulled her hair dragged her to the floor and hit her when
she refused his advances at a hotel L received just a slap on the wrist to the tune of a 200
fine plus 200 hours of community service three years later he released his second album titled
Gemini the project produced two successful tracks real love and somebody loves you little did L know
that while he was shining in his prime growing his fan base and continuing to pump out hit after hit
the rug had been pulled out from under him Barry Gordy was selling Motown to add insult to injury
just before the transaction happened the founder went on a month-long vacation couldn't be reached
and left Elle wondering what was happening with his money in an emotional interview with rolling
out in 2022 L painfully recalled the moment I wasn't getting checks anymore I got a hold of one
of the executives at Motown who told me Mr Gordy was thinking of selling Motown so I asked what's
happening with my money how will I pay my bills he said I can't answer that you will have to wait
until Mr Gordy gets back you can probably imagine how that ended no more albums no more going to the
studio you can imagine how that impacted me all of a sudden nothing L did manage to move on and
sign with Warner Brothers where his third album in the storm was released in 1992. it didn't put up
very good numbers on the charts as neither did his next project 1994's heart mind and soul while he
continued to collaborate on other artist projects L didn't release any more albums of his own for
the next 16 years one of the main reasons would become public knowledge soon enough L was close
to his siblings particularly his brothers Bobby and Chico Bobby's death during this time period
in 1995 had a profound effect on Al family members later said he's never fully recovered from it for
many years else had a history of drug abuse and legal problems he stated in future interviews that
no one talked him into it he was just curious and decided to give it a try in 2001 he was
arrested for cocaine possession and was given probation five years later he was again arrested
for possession and once again given probation in 2007 he was arrested in a domestic dispute and was
held without bail the charges were eventually dropped later that year more drug charges and
more probation would follow another arrest Elle's next brush with the law though would not result
in probation but a much more serious consequence he was arrested in 2008 for possession of crack
and drug paraphernalia breaking the terms of his last probation for this violation he was
immediately sentenced to two years in state prison in California he would ultimately serve 13 months
in 2010 he emerged from his musical Hiatus with the appropriately titled second chance
as a lead up to the release Elle put on a series of comeback performances and appearances including
one that really brought the house down at that Year's BET Awards during a medley of some of
the biggest hits of DeBarge Elle's Voice still resembled the same signature falsetto everyone
remembers from the 80s and no one was more humbled by the standing ovation he received that evening
than Elle himself in an interview with Vibe he expressed what was going through his mind during
the performance the awesome responsibility that God had placed in my hands to bring love again
to the world through music I felt so privileged and honored that God has given me a second chance
here I am 22 years later given a second chance after all of my struggles and obstacles I just
felt so blessed that night to be able to do that the project yielded two singles second
chance and the Faith Evans duet lay with you and later resulted in three Grammy Award nominations
L has credited his children with helping him get through tough times but he hasn't
always been there for them in 2010 he met with his teenage daughter Kendall
for the first time he admitted to the Houston Chronicle that he was
there for her birth even held her in his arms and then never saw her again
Elle and Kendall's mother were married for several years in the 90s and also share a son
their reunion went well but Elle has struggled to connect with some of his other children
including one that was put into the system as a toddler and he believes later adopted
L was in such good spirits at this time that he even told Essence that he was in no danger
of relapsing since the taste for drugs was out of his system sadly that wouldn't end up being
the case in February 2011 while promoting his latest work an announcement was made that L
was canceling all public dates and appearances as he went back to rehab following a relapse
that stint apparently didn't take either since by March 2012 he would be arrested yet again
for drug possession in La according to reports police officials believe that this time around
he was actually attempting to deal the illegal substance he was eventually released on thirty
thousand dollars bail L took matters into his own hands literally in 2018 when he took a wrench
to some guy's windshield he reportedly got into an argument in a home located in the San Fernando
Valley with a man that he then chased out of a house forcing him to retreat to a nearby RV
L followed after him with the tool allegedly smashing the RV's windshield the man called
the police and upon arrival arrested L for felony vandalism he did spend one night in
jail before posting the twenty thousand dollar bail so if you believe with L now being in his
60s he would have surely gotten a handle on his Demons by this time in his life you'd be wrong
El DeBarge was arrested at 3 40 in the morning and booked for possession of a
controlled substance drug paraphernalia and having an expandable metal baton in plain
sight in his vehicle in Burbank California according to a report by TMZ he was already
stopped at a gas station when police noticed he had expired tags when they approached they
viewed the Baton which happens to be an illegal weapon that Discovery then prompted the cops to
further search the vehicle which is when they allegedly found pepper spray and suspected
narcotics they also found out that he didn't have a valid driver's license Elle posted the 25
000 Bond and is due back in court in March his fans and loved ones can only
hope that Elle will be able to find a way to overcome his addiction once and for all
thank you