DeBarge and Switch

Well, here’s a fun mashing together of groups!

Switch and DeBarge were two Motown acts from the Midwest that never quite reached their full potential. Or maybe I just have high expectations. Too high expectations.

The common thread between the two bands was Bobby DeBarge. The songwriter and singer was a longtime member of Switch and briefly a member of DeBarge. However, it was Bobby’s success with Switch that partially galvanized his younger siblings to create the family group DeBarge. It took Switch a minute to find their footing, though.

The band began life as White Heat in the mid-1970s under the tutelage of Barry White. After a single, eponymous album in 1975, they switched their name to Hot-Ice and released Pall Mall Groove in 1977. Both of those early albums flopped, but are decent listening. Finally, the changed their name to Switch and released another eponymous album on Motown (thanks to the helping hand of Jermaine Jackson) that was a hit.

The band’s lineup for that first Motown release was:

• Bobby DeBarge — lead vocals, keyboards

• Tommy DeBarge — bass

• Eddie Fluellen — keyboards, trombone

• Phillip Ingram — lead vocals, keyboards, percussion

• Jody Sims — drums

• Gregory Williams — keyboards, trumpet

From that Motown debut in 1978 through This is My Dream in late 1980, the band released four albums total. By the end of that little streak, Bobby’s and Tommy’s older sister, Bunny DeBarge, was co-writing two or three songs per album.

With that foot in the door of Motown, Bunny got some of her other brothers together and secured a deal of their own with the label. The quartet of Bunny, Mark, Randy, and El DeBarge released The DeBarges in 1981 just as Switch ran out of favor with Motown. Their Switch V album, also released in 1981, sucked and they were basically done with recording new music. (A VERY forgettable 1984 album was released by a zombie Switch, but the less said about that album the better.)

The DeBarges album was good, but it didn’t sell. The family group decided to change their nae from “The DeBarges” to simply “DeBarge” at that point. They also added younger brother James to the fold. Now a quintet, they released the AMAZING All This Love in 1982 a smash album with two classic singles (“All This Love” and “I Like It”), the LP easily went gold and spent over 70 weeks on the R&B albums chart.

Ridiculous.

Then in 1983, the band released its masterpiece, In A Special Way. Another gold album, it is a hallmark of early ‘80s soul music. However, good times never last. Their next album, 1985’s Rhythm of the Night, was another gold hit on the strength of the pop smash “Rhythm of the Night”, but it was nowhere near the levels of their first three albums. The fact that most of the albums songs were written by outsiders instead of by DeBarge themselves was probably the telling sign that things were going sideways.

The family group released a final album in 1987 (Bad Boys) on an independent label, but Motown did invest in solo projects from Bunny, yet another DeBarge sibling (Chico), and most notably El. Bunny’s album dropped without a trace. Chico’s was a minor hit, but he was soon locked up on drug charges.

Meanwhile, El’s first solo album in 1986 actually suuuucked. Largely because it wasn’t his music. Outside songwriters didn’t just dominate that album, they controlled it. El didn’t have a single (co-)write.

His second solo album, Gemini, saw El back in control and it was pretty damn good, especially for an LP released in 1989. But it had no hits, so Motown let him go too. His two other albums from the 1990s were still good stuff, but he went on a long hiatus becuase of (surprise) drugs. A final album in 2010 was unremarkable, but it had a couple decent songs.

Some members of Switch still tour these days, but without their former members Bobby and Tommy DeBarge. Bobby died of AIDS in the mid-1990s, while Tommy passed away rather recently. As for the family group DeBarge, there have been no official reunions, but El is the most public member doing shows every now and then.

Playlists on Tidal

• Switch

• DeBarge

• El DeBarge solo

SWITCH ALBUM REVIEWS

• White Heat: C+

• Pall Mall Groove: C+

• Switch: C+

• Switch II: C+

• Reaching for Tomorrow: B

• This Is My Dream: B-

• Switch V: D+

• Am I Still Your Boyfriend?: D-

DeBARGE and EL DeBARGE ALBUM REVIEWS

• The DeBarges: B

• All This Love: B+

• In A Special Way: A

• Rhythm of the Night: C+

• El DeBarge: D

• Bunny DeBarge: C

• Bad Boys: C

• Gemini: B

• In The Storm: B

• Heart, Mind and Soul: B-

• Second Chance: C-