Another DeBarge Soars to Stardom
He’s born to be different. He’s a DeBarge, yet he’s an individual. On our Right On! Cover, he looks like James, but during our coversation he converses like El. And like his singing brothers and sisters, DeBarge, he already has hits on his first LP, Chico DeBarge.
It’s actually very thrilling to be on the ground floor of someone’s career and it’s even more thrilling to greet the latest in the long line of talented DeBarges. “It’s thrilling for me to be in Right On! also,” Chico smiles. He covers up yawn and stretches out on the sofa during out early morning chat.
Just then the telephone rings. “Hello? El? Hi. I’m talking to one of your good friends, Cynthia Horner. We’re doing an interview right now. Can I call you back later? Okay, bye.” Chico directs his attention back to me. “El said to tell you hi.”
The mention of Chico’s pop star brother’s name reminds me of a question I’ve badly wanted to ask. “What’s he like? Whenever I interview him he pretends he’s not popular with girls. Of course it’s not true. Why does he do that to me?” Chico gives me a shy smile and explains. “He’s just modest. My older brother is a very very humble person. He doesn’t see himself the way others see him.”
“Does he give you a lot of advice since he’s been in the business so much longer?” “Yes, he gives me advice…sometimes even before I ask for it. We talk about music, the business, love, all kinds of things.”
As Chico is the third youngest in a family of 10 children, I decide to coax him into telling me what that was like. Unhesitatingly he burst out, “It was a lot of fun. Bunny was like a mother to me. She used to baby sit for me, change my diapers and everything. Since she was the oldest, we all looked up to her as being a mother figure.”
“Did your have a lot of girlfriends when you were younger?” Chico smiles again. “Not at first. I was really shy as you can probably tell. They would keep after me, though, and try to get me to talk. Eventually I would open up.”
Chico, you look completely different in every photo we have of you. Which is the real you?”
“The real me, “ he repeats “Probably the photo you see on the cover of my album. That’s my favorite hairstyle, anyway. But I do go through different looks. My favorite outfit is a pair of jeans and a black jacket. That’s how I like to dress when I go out.”
“How do you cope with the pressures of being a celebrity?” Chico doesn’t have to think long before answering that questions. “I just stay to myself. I play three instruments, so I stay at home working on my music. I don’t live in the fast lane.”
The telephone interrupts our conversation again and this is just as good a time as any to let you readers know that we are going to have to continue this interview in our next issue. Don’t miss it. He’s going to talk about what attracts him to the opposite sex, his feelings on love, and a lot of other interesting things…
Originally written by Cynthia Horner for Right On! Magazine
Transcribed for the web by www.thedebarges.blogspot.com
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