A MOTOWN deal in their teens, a string of hit records---'All This Love', 'I Like It', 'In A Special Way', 'Rhythm Of The Night' -- by the mid-eighties, and a popular, distinctive lead vocalist set fair for a soaraway solo career: DeBarge could have been another Jacksons.
But, by 1984, they had disbanded, brother James securing for himself a dubious reputation courtesy some unfortunate extra-curricular activities (see former spouse, Janet Jackson for details), and frontman, El, saw out the decade along, his two solo albums for Barry Gordy reflecting the decline in the great entrepreneur's business fortunes. The kind of loose ends that take some re-weaving.
1992 finds El DeBarge signed to Warner Bros, not so much newly signed, since the deal was struck back in '89, but, one the evidence of 'In The Storm', inspired afresh. He's now 30 years old, still baby-faced, but no longer the innocent startled by his own teen sex symbol image. In short, he's grown up:
