Randy DeBarge is an American singer and bass guitarist who shot into widespread fame as a member of the popular Motown singing family group DeBarge. The Debarge family consists of children who are all talented musicians. They became popular in the 1980s after the success of several of their R n B singles.
As a member of the singing group, Randy DeBarge often led many of their songs with his brother El due to their higher vocals. The group found a lot of success with some of their songs reaching number one on Billboard’s adult contemporary chart.
Who is Randy DeBarge?
Randy DeBarge, whose full name is William Randall DeBarge, was born in Michigan, the USA on the 6th of August 1958. He is the 4th of his parents’ ten children and like all of his siblings, he sang in church and high school, joining the local band.
Randy DeBarge learned how to play the bass guitar from his elder brother (Tommy). By the time he turned 20, he was signed alongside some of his siblings to Motown.
The DeBarge Family
The parents of this large family are Robert DeBarge Snr. And Etterlene DeBarge. They met in the early 1950s and got married in 1953 while Robert was 21 and Etterlene going on 18. They went ahead to have 10 children Etherlene ‘Bunny’, Robert Louis ‘Bobby’, Thomas Keith ‘Tommy’, William Randall ‘Randy’, Mark ‘Marty’, Elda Patrick ‘El’, James, Jonathan Arthur ‘Chico’, Carol ‘Peaches’, and Darrell ‘Young’.
The patriarch and matriarch of the family finally went their separate ways in 1974. Robert later died in 2009. According to their mother who has also recorded and released some major albums, music was in the blood of her children.
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Bobby and Tommy were the first to rise to fame in the 1970s in the group ‘Switch’. They recorded exclusively for the Motown label. They left the group in 1981 and began to mentor their younger siblings in the group they later came to call ‘DeBarges’.
The group initially included four members (Bunny, Randy, Mark, and El). They moved to Los Angeles to sign with Motown and went through a 2-years training before releasing their first album in 1981. In 1982, 18-year-old James joined the group and they released their first million-selling album titled All This Love. They released three gold-certified albums and ten hit singles between 1982 to 1985. They disbanded in 1986.
Randy DeBarge’s Net Worth
With the success he had with his siblings in their musical career, Randy DeBarge has made a tidy amount for himself. It’s unknown whether he has another source of income so it is assumed that all his money comes from being a musician. He is said to be worth about $1. 5 million.
How Drug Use Has Affected Him
Randy DeBarge’s case isn’t much different from his brothers and sisters. Like them, he heavily abused drugs and alcohol and soon became addicted. According to his sister, Bunny, most of them did drugs to feel ‘among’ when they were much younger.
They also did drugs because they felt it was a coping mechanism for the callous self-interest of the cut-throat tactics of the music industry. In the mid-1990s, Randy DeBarge was fortunate to be able to find partial sobriety.
His mother later revealed that he suffers from an incurable disease which must have been one of his major motivations to sober up. In 2011, he appeared alongside James, Bunny, and her daughter on the show Lifechangers recounting his experience with substance abuse and the break down of his health.
He entered a rehabilitation program but left a few days later. He currently resides in California.
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5 Facts about him,
- Aside from his fantastic voice, Randy is also a fantastic songwriter. He is credited for penning the lyrics of their group’s first hit song ‘I Like It’ alongside his brother.
- Even though it’s uncertain who the woman in his life was/is or if all his children are from the same woman, Randy has fathered 5 children.
- It has been alleged by the DeBarge children that they all suffered one form of sexual abuse from their father which has left all of them scarred. Bunny blames the personal struggles and professional woes of her siblings on the ugliness they had to endure as children. Their father on the other hand denied all these allegations before his death.
- According to Etterlene (their mother’s) memoir, life in the fast lane has finally caught up with her children. She revealed that Randy has contracted an incurable illness. She has refused to specify but admits that it wasn’t AIDS.
- When the DeBarges weren’t doing drugs, they were doing time for drugs. Fortunately for him, Randy is one of the few Debarge that was never convicted on any drug-related charge. But he did suffer for a long time from alcohol and drug addiction.
