In 1975, musician Bobby DeBarge left Grand Rapids to start the funk-soul band Switch, which first went by the name First Class.
Eventually signing with Motown Records in 1978, the group's debut album, yielding the hit "There'll Never Be", sold over one million copies and started the DeBarge musical dynasty.
El DeBarge also found solo fame in the 1980s with singles such as "Who's Johnny" and "Love Always", and with collaborations on hits by Quincy Jones, Tone Loc, and Fourplay.
Robert Louis DeBarge, Sr. (1932–2009) from Cicero, Illinois, served in the U.S. Armed Forces and was of French and English descent.
In 1972, the DeBarges moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan where Etterlene's brother, Bishop William Charles Abney, Jr., pastored Bethel Pentecostal Church.
Brothers Bobby and Tommy rose to fame in the late 1970s as members of the R&B group Switch, which recorded exclusively for the Motown label.
Forming in 1979 as The DeBarges, the band initially included four members – Bunny, Randy, Mark and El – who moved to Los Angeles and signed with Motown.
After leaving DeBarge for a solo career in 1986, El had modest success peaking with the song "Who's Johnny" and finding fame as a featured vocalist on several hip-hop and quiet storm-leaning R&B productions.
In 1986, Motown released Bunny's only solo project, In Love, which flopped due to the label's failure to promote it despite her first single, "Save The Best For Me".
Though he has not had any solo success since DeBarge's breakup, James is most notable for his personal relationship and short marriage to R&B and pop singer Janet Jackson during the early 1980s.