About Bunny DeBarge

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  THE MUSIC ARTIST: In 1979, following the success of her brothers Bobby and Tommy, who achieved fame as members of the band Switch, Bunny teamed up with her three brothers Randy, Mark and El and later, her brother James was added to the group to form DeBarge. CEO of Motown Records, Barry Gordy soon signed them and they went on to become Grammy nominated music recording artists. The eldest of the ten DeBarge children, Bunny's unique high and soulful soprano vocal style and love of writing began at a tender young age and ultimately lead to her world debut as a songwriter for the famous R&b band, Switch, which starred her brother's Bobby & Tommy DeBarge. Later, she became writer, lead vocalist and co-producer behind the classic R&B ballad, A Dream, from her own group's 1983 breakout, certified GOLD album, In A Special Way. Produced by her brother El DeBarge, the album also included hits Bunny co-wrote like, Time Will Reveal, I Like It and Stay With Me. Her famed song, A Dream was covered by various exemplary artists like Tupac Shakur, Blackstreet and Mary J. Blige, just to name a few. To date music artists of all statues continue to use her songs in samples and in social media tributes. 

Her 1985 Rhythm of the Night album became the band's best-selling work, going platinum and featuring further hits such as Who's Holding Donna Now and You Wear It Well. The music video for their hit song, Rhythm of the Night, which was featured in the 80’s hit film, “The Last Dragon” was DeBarge’s first and last music video as a group. Following the end of its successful promotion, both El and Bunny DeBarge departed from the group after Motown offered them lucrative solo deals. 

SOLO ALBUM: Bunny DeBarge had a Top 20 R&B hit first time out as a solo artist with her hit song, Save the Best for Me. She also co-wrote Let's Spend the Night and I Still Believe for her In Love LP. 

TV APPEARANCES: During her music career, Bunny DeBarge has been featured on several television broadcasts and commercials including: McDonalds commercial, Soul Train, American Bandstand, Unsung, Inside Edition, Motown 25 and more. Additionally there have been numerous television shows, including reality shows and interviews about her family. In fact a made for tv movie about her brother Bobby DeBarge called “The Bobby DeBarge Story” was released a few years ago, however Bunny DeBarge is pursuing her own bio pic, which will be based off her 2023 book, “The Kept Ones”. 

RECENT YEARS: During the late 90's Bunny co-wrote, recorded and co-produced a number of unreleased songs with her former manager, Daniel Richardson. Unedited and raw versions of those songs were released from her audio vault as a premiere to share with her fans from her YouTube and social media brand accounts during 2022 and 2023. In 2011, after previously appearing on the Dr. Drew show with her brothers to discuss her battle with drug addiction, Bunny returned for a show update to share that she was clean after receiving help. During the show she performed her original song, All That I Am. In 2016 Bunny DeBarge, in collaboration with Shamar Star & Stephen Knight released a single, "God Is Good". 

THE AUTHOR: Bunny DeBarge first self-published her memoir, "The Kept Ones" in 2008. The book was originally published as a two part series with the first book titled, "The Kept Ones - The Beginning Years” and the second one being "The Kept Ones - The Fame Years". Her deeply insightful and complete true story takes us from the first book, themed with admissions of early childhood trauma stemming from the abuse that she and her siblings suffered at the hands of trusted family members, to their rise to fame, in the second book, and ultimately, their tragic losses resulting from drug abuse. Though pieces of her family's story have been published in other forms and through other sources, including a made for tv biopic about her brother Bobby DeBarge, Bunny believes that because she is eldest of all of the DeBarge siblings, that there is nobody that is alive today that is more knowledgeable about the events that actually occurred. Her brother El was too young to recall the tumultuous details. Unfortunately, rumors began to circulate after the initial subsidy publisher mis-printed in the copyright page of her book stating that her story was fiction. Then, allegedly, sources claimed that her brother El defamed her work publicly in a Twitter post adding fuel to the fire. 

Bunny found a new subsidy publisher to help her with getting her new book cover revised. As the release date approached in late August of 2022, her manager pointed out that the publisher wasn't meeting deadlines that were advertised to her fans. The company then misprinted her book cover and released unauthorized copies from their personal Amazon account. Later it was learned that the subsidy publishing company, also known as a Vanity Press publisher, appeared to be scammers. They're currently being investigated. 

Disappointed, and again at a financial loss and setback, she refused to give up. Bunny has since taken back her power and republished her books under her own Amazon account. On Juneteenth (June 19, 2023) she released the revised edition of The Kept Ones: DeBarge, The Fame Years and The Beginning Years on Amazon and she’s also preparing for the release of the third and final book of The Kept Ones trilogy. The new publications included photos to help tell her story. As she continues to work with Amazon to remove the unauthorized copies of her book from previous years, she has added a gold bow to the latest editions so that her readers can easily identify her books. The Kept Ones has received five star reviews and is currently in the top 10 ranking for memoirs about R&B music artists. 

Burned several times by Vanity Press companies, Bunny is accepting media opportunities to bring awareness and to warn other new indie authors about book publishing scams. Recently she has been approached by a few film companies to get her story to the big screen. Stay tuned for more on that as her journey continues. 

CURRENT DAY: Today Bunny DeBarge is very active on social media and is building her brand. She's got a new team, led by her new manager and publicist, Sally B. Waller of VocalzMusic & Publishing. She enjoys uplifting her fans with humorous and motivational posts and spreading the word of God to help save souls within her reach. Her dream is to bring her family together someday, in some form, for a DeBarge tour and to use her voice to help and free others that are still held hostage to painful family secrets. Until then 

she'll continue to write and produce music and books and maybe even try her hand at acting and executive film production. The sky's the limit.