In 1986, El DeBarge made the transition from the group to being a solo artist. He released his first self titled album, which strangely had no production or writing credits from the artist himself.
When's the last time you heard of a debut solo album by a singer known for producing and writing that was not produced and written by the singer? The songs, however, are fine. So is the album...But that personal touch is missing. There's no question that DeBarge's vocals on songs he writes and produces are lustier and more heartfelt. Has DeBarge sworn off composing and producing? He smiled at the question. "I'm the same El DeBarge," he insisted. "I still produce and write. I just didn't do it on this album." When he began the project, he planned to write and produce extensively. "I wrote a lot of songs for this album," he explained. "But I just put my stuff on the shelf and used these other songs." He never really explained why. (D.Hunt, LA Times)The album did however produce the hits "Who's Johnny?" and "Love Always."
Listen to :::Love Always:::
El took his time before releasing his next effort, Gemini, three years later. After Gemini hit the stores, DeBarge's professional life took a sharp turn into turmoil. He went through a bankruptcy hearing that resulted in his release from his Motown contract and was forced to start on a new path. "It's like the beginning of a new era for me," he told David Nathan in Billboard, "and like one of the songs on the album [Gemini] says, it's all about turning the page. The storyline of that song 'Turn the Page' is actually more about a relationship. But you know what that song really means to me? It means that I am turning the page in my life. All that has passed is behind me."(S.Shelton, Source)
Listen to :::Turn the Page:::
DeBarge returned to Michigan and spent the early 1990s working on other artists' music. He performed on industry mogul Quincy Jones's "Secret Garden" with Barry White, James Ingram, and Al B. Sure! He also added guest performances to Fourplay's hit "After the Dance" and Tone Loc's Cool Hand Loc.
In 1991 DeBarge signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. He admitted that Motown had stifled some of his creativity. "I was made to feel insecure," he said in Billboard, "because every time I would do something [musically], it would end up being changed.... It kinda made me shell up, made me to the point where I didn't want to create anymore." The following year he released In the Storm on Warner Bros., which he coproduced with Earth, Wind and Fire producer Maurice White.(S.Shelton)
Obviously showing much appreciation for his idol Marvin Gaye, El DeBarge created this album in a vein similar to that of Gaye's 1977 LP I Want You. Beginning with the album cover, El DeBarge seeks to reproduce the same atmosphere that Gaye's pictorial illustration did. His eye-catching depiction is both '60s and '70s retro, but also offers a '90s urban feel with some of the cultural images. But on the other hand, there are also angelic and demonic figures on the album, which leaves one wondering. From the funky bass-driven tracks to the serenity of the string-propelled ballads, Gaye's influence and spiritual presence is felt throughout. "After the Dance," recorded by Fourplay and featuring El DeBarge, is the only bona fide Gaye remake on the album. With that exception, El DeBarge makes a genuine effort to intertwine his homegrown style with that of Gaye's classic arrangements. In spite of his efforts, only three singles were released from this collection, with "You Know What I Like" being the highest charted single, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard R&B charts after only 15 weeks. The other two singles, the bouncy "My Heart Belongs to You" and the pleading ballad "Another Chance" did not survive half as long on the charts. Aside from the Marvin Gaye undertones, this collection of songs is well written and produced. It is free of the typical and predictable rhythms of the day.(C. Lytle)The creative spark he felt he had lost at Motown came back with a vengeance. Rolling Stone said of the album: "…defies all expectations…you surrender to the sheer wash of sound…The thread running through it all is El’s falsetto, still God’s gift, yet older and wiser…"(5/28/92, p.55)
Listen to :::In The Storm:::
El went on tour and eventually began recording his next solo album in 1993. A year later, Heart, Mind & Soul--with its first single, "Can't Get Enough"--arrived in stores. DeBarge coproduced the album with luminaries Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Jermaine Dupri, and Tony Dofat. Edmonds and DeBarge combined their talents with a duet on the track "Where Is My Love?"."When I first began the album, I wanted to do some really hip music, music that was current, stylish," El DeBarge said in his Warner Bros. biography. "There's a whole new generation out there that I want to introduce to my music." DeBarge said of Heart, Mind & Soul, "Musically, it's where I am today. And everything on here is me speaking from my heart." (S.Shelton)
Listen to :::Can't Get Enough:::
Heart, Mind, & Soul had moderate success, but seemingly career was becoming more and more of an after thought for El and he eventually dissappeared from the music scene for two decades. In 2010 El re-emerged in to the spot light and revealed that like many of his siblings, he too, had been battling an addicition for the last 20+ years. During his hiatus, he accumulated a list of legal troubles, including arrests on cocaine possession and domestic violence charges. His dependence on heroin and crack ultimately landed the singer in prison, where he spent 13 months and was released in 2009. (LA Times)
El DeBarge desired another chance at his life and his career. He immediately began working on a new album and doing live shows under new management. Novemeber 2010, he released the appropriately titled CD Second Chance to rave reviews. Seemingly El had not missed a beat, looking great, and sounding amazing. “Making this album, I felt like I was seeing a flower or feeling the sun shine for the first time,” says El DeBarge. “I feel like a brand new artist, like I just came out to Hollywood from Grand Rapids, Michigan and I’m looking for a record contract—and I’m just as hungry as I was when I started out.”(source) El had comeback in a way that many artists can only dream of and in January of 2010 his song "Second Chance" was nominated for two Grammy's. Yet, the night of Grammy ceremony El noticably was not in attendance. The next day his record company (Interscope/Geffen) released a statement that El decided to take time to re-focus by entering himself into a rehab facility. The next step for El DeBarge is not known to the public at this point, but it is hoped that his star only rises here on out. (last updated 4/15/2011)
Listen to :::Second Chance:::
Buy El Debarge Music:
« Buy El's Ultimate Collection CD on Amazon.com
« Buy El's Self titled Debut CD on Amazon.com
« Buy El's CD Gemini on Amazon.com
« Buy El's In the Storm on Amazon.com
« Buy El's Heart, Mind & Soul on Amazon.com
« Buy El's CD Second Chance on Amazon.com
El Debarge Music Videos:
1986 Love Always
1986 Who's Johnny
1989 Real Love
1989 Sercret Garden (w/ Quincy Jones, AlB Sure, James Ingram, and Barry White)
1991 You Know What I Like (w/ Chante Moore)
1991 After the Dance (w/ Fourplay)
199? All through the night (Tone Loc feat El Debarge)
1994 Where Is My Love
1994 Can't Get Enough
2010 Second Chance
2010 Lay With You feat. Faith Evans
Other songs El DeBarge has contributed to through vocals, writing, and/or production:
(links provided lead to the video or audio of the song)
•Switch - Reach For Tomorrow, 1980 Gordy Records.
El created Rythmn & Vocal Arrangements along side Bobby DeBarge.
As well as played Keyboards onthe following songs:
Power to Dance
My Friend in the Sky
Don't Take Your Love Away
•King Dream Chorus & Holiday Crew, 1986
Song: King Holiday Song (chorus vocals)
•Kenny Rodgers - They Don't Make Them Like They Used To (1986)(Background vocals)
•Music & Songs From Starlight Express, 1987 MCA Records
Track 1 - Starlight Express (writer & vocals)
•Various Artists - Rock, Rhythm & Blues, 5/2/1989 Released, Warner Bros.
Track 10 - Good Night My love (Vocals & Piano)
•Quincy Jones - Back on the Block, 1989 Quest Records
Track 14 - The Secret Garden (El wrote the verse for himself and Barry White)
•Al Green - Love is Reality, 1993 Word Records
Track 1 - I Can Feel it (Background vocals)
Track 9 - Why (Background vocals)
•Patti Austin - That Secret Place, 1994 MCA Records
Track 4 - Broken Dreams (Co-writer & vocals)
•Various Artists - Jason's Lyric Sound track, 1994 Mercury Records
Track 1 - Black Men United - U Will Know (co-lead and background vocals)
•Lala Hathaway - A Moment, May 1994 Virgin Records(background vocals)
•Andre Crouch - Mercy, 1994 Qwest/Warner Bros. Records
Track 3 - The Lord is My Light (vocal soloist)
•A Twist of Jobin, Recorded 1996, Released 1997
Track 3 - Dindi (El DeBarge on Vocals & Art Porter on sax)
•Chico DeBarge - Long Time No See, 1997 Universal Records
Track 3 - Iggin Me (co-writer, co-producer, background vocals, organ, et.al. Instruments)
Track 5 - No Guarantee (additional production)
Track 8 - Physical Train (background vocals)
Track 12 - One Love (co-writer)
•L.A. Nash - Make Me or Break Me, 8/19/97(participation unknown)
•Dionne Warwick - Dionne Sings Dionne, 1998 River North Records
Track 3 - Reach Out For Me (Featured artist,lead vocals & background vocals along with the Emotions)
•Fourplay - 4, 1998 Warner Bros.
Track 03 - Sexual Healing (Lead Vocal)
•DJ Quik - Rhythm-al-ism 11/10/1998 Arista records
Track 04 - Hand in Hand (co-composer & co-performer)
Track 12 - El's Interlude (co-composer & co-performer)
Track 13 - Medley for a V (co-composer)
Track 16 - Medley for a V - Reprise (co-composer)
•Eddie M - Ward Street 1998 Victor Entertainment, Inc.
Track 10 - Inner City Blues (featured lead & background vocals)
•Quincy Jones - From Q With Love, Released 2/9/1999
Track 2 - The Secret Garden (Seduction Suite)
Track 3 - I'm Yours (duet w/ Siedah Garrett)
•Chico DeBarge - The Game, 1999 Motown
Track 05 - Everybody Knew But Me (co-writer, co-producer, instrumentaion)
Track 07 - Till Tomorrow* (co-producer, keyboards, background vocals)
Track 12 - Heart, Mind & Soul (co-writer, co producer,instrumentation)
•Various Artists - Marvin is 60, 1999 Motown Records
Track 09 - Sexual Healing (co-producer, lead vocal, background vocals and keyboards)
Track 11 - Til Tomorrow* (co-producer, background vocals and keyboards)
•Warren G - The Return of the Regulator, 1999 Universal Records
Track 16 - Keepin' It Strong (featured vocals)
•Grenique - Black Butterfly, 6/22/1999, Motown/Universal
Track 3 - remake of Heatwave's "Star of A Story" (Keyboards & String Arrangements)
•Warren G - I Want It All, Released 10/12/1999
Track 9 - G-Spot - (featuring El DeBarge/Val Young)
•Tone Loc - Cool Hand Loc, Released 3/20/2001, Delicious Vinyl Records
Track 4 - All through the Night - (music video,featured vocals)
•Warren G - The Return of the Regulator 2001, Universal Records
Track 16 - Keepin' It Strong (un-edited version). (Featured vocals and co-writer)
•Rozelly Presents A Day in A Life(Participation unknown)
•The DeBarge Family - Release date unknown, Light Records
Track 1 - We Need Your Love (Background Vocals)
•Shawn Pen - Welcome Home, Vol.1
Track 9 - Debarge Interlude
Track 10 - Thug Like Me ft. El Debarge
•Urban Mystic - Ghetto Revelation 2000
Track - Mystic Spot (Background Vocals & Production).
(text/list source)
