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Grand Rapids’ Legendary R&B Groups: Switch and Debarge
All month long, the Grand Rapids Historical Society and I will be sharing Black History facts that have taken place right here in Grand Rapids.
If you missed the last one, you can learn about the icon, Al Green – legendary R&B singer, songwriter, and pastor.
Today's Blackity Black History Fact is all about Switch and Debarge, the legendary R&B groups.
The first child of the DeBarges was Etterlene “Bunny” DeBarge, born in 1955 in Detroit. Bobby was born the next year, followed by Tommy, Randy, Marty, El, James, and Jonathan “Chico.” Twins Darrell and Carol, aka “Peaches,” were born in 1971.
Extensions of the legendary Abneys by way of their mother Etterlene or Mama D, the Debarge Family relocated to Grand Rapids from Detroit in the mid-1970s. Mama D believes her father’s musical gifts were not only passed down through her to her talented children but to their entire family.
“Every one of them has musical ability,” she said. “There is a link between my dad and every last one of my children.”
The DeBarges attended Ottawa Hills High School. With the help of Social Services, Mama D set up housekeeping on Fuller Avenue, then Giddings Street, and Griswold Street. She bought an upright piano, which she paid for in installments. The family thrived in the rich gospel music tradition at Bethel, where Mama D’s brother Bishop William C. Abney officiated and directed the choir.
Bethel was the family’s sanctuary where the Abneys mentored and loved the DeBarge children. James Abney taught El how to play chords and Bishop Abney fathered them.
“He chastised them like they were his own, and he invested and deposited into them many qualities. To this day, they remember his wisdom.”
Tommy and Bobby were the f Welcome to our archive of audio interviews. Stretching back to the late 1960s, these were conducted by RBP contributors and subsequently transcribed to produce Q&As or quotes for magazine and newspaper features. Usually recorded on a portable device such as a cassette recorder – and often in a restaurant or backstage area before a live performance – the conversations offer candid reflections, plus personal insights into the lives of popular music's biggest stars. Such recordings are rarely heard by the wider public, but we believe they provide a fascinating insight into the thoughts of musicians, songwriters and producers. We work with our writers to digitise their tapes and make them available for RBP subscribers. In many cases, the resulting article is available to read on the site. Our audio archive has become a rich seam of material for documentarians and filmmakers. Projects have included Spike Lee’s 2016 documentary about the making of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Spotify’s 2019 podcast about the Clash. For further details about licensing RBPs audio content, please visit our licensing page. To facilitate the use of interviews for research and documentary purposes, we’ve begun transcribing them in full with time stamps, making them fully searchable and easy to use. The full list of existing transcriptions can be seen using the search function via the piece type dropdown. We add one new audio interview to the archive every week, which currently features over 800 interviews. These include remarkable conversations with (in chronological order): Quality ratings range from one to five stars. Hear an example of each rating below: *****broadcast****good***average**poor*grotty ***** broadcast Joan Armatrading to John Tobler in 1990 **** good Etta James to Cliff White 1978 *** average David Crosby to Ted Alvy in 1967 ** poor Bill Withers to Carl Wiser in 2004 * grotty Gil Scott-Heron African History Isn’t A One Off, But A Continuation Kwame P Aboagye This month Africans in Britain will be celebrating thirty-one days of honouring our achievements. But we ought to know that our history, whilst we should acknowledge it, doesn’t mean we just celebrate for one month in October every year, because history teaches us how to remember the facts and to never forget them. Africans have been celebrating our history in Britain for twenty-five years; because we only assumed that we were enslaved, and apart from that we were seen as savages in the jungle and unfortunately we didn’t understand the real truths of our achievements as African people. One of our great scholars, Baba John Henrik Clarke told us that history is like a clock that teaches the political and the cultural time of day amongst a people. It also teaches us where a people must go and where they must be and history is relationship like a mother to her child. History teaches us that it is related to Africans and what we have set out to do as a people and as human beings and it doesn’t stop at all. We know that there those who are using our history for their so-called multi-corporate programmes – our history isn’t designed in that way, never has and never will. When it comes to the history of any human being on this earth, it isn’t only about those who left their survival on to them, but continue with what they left off for them to continue. Africans should know or ought to know that our history is sacred amongst us and only for us. It shouldn’t used to so-called be integrated with non-Africans. These so-called local British councils are using our history to integrate with Asians and Jews and there is evidence of them doing it. African history isn’t a multi-coloured swap shop for anyone to take advantage in dogmatising our achievements. It doesn’t only represent or defy us, but it is only about us and defiantly so. They come List of Unsung episodes
Title Original airdate Short summary Notable guest appearances Notes Episode 83 – "The Story of Ike Turner" June 3, 2015 (2015-06-03) Documenting the trials and tribulations of rock and roll pioneer Ike Turner. Interviews with Claudia Lennear, Linda Williams, Alesia Butler (of The Ikettes), Margena Christian, John Hornyak, Leon Blue, Sidney Miller, Holle Thee Maxwell (as Holle Maxwell), Dennis Rubenstein, Paul Smith, Bill Ray, and Kevin Cooper (of Kings of Rhythm). Episode 84 – "The Story of Otis Redding" June 10, 2015 (2015-06-10) Documenting the trials and tribulations of Soul/R&B recording artist Otis Redding. Interviews with Hamp Swain, Rob Bowman, David Porter, Steve Cropper (of Booker T. & the M.G.'s), James Alexander (of The Bar-Kays), Deanie Parker, Newt Collier, Alan Walden, Wayne Jackson, Floyd Newman (of The Memphis Horns), Earl "Speedo" Sims, and Anthony Hamilton. Episode 85 – "The Story of DJ Quik" June 17, 2015 (2015-06-17) Documenting the rise and career of Hip Hop artist & record producer DJ Quik. Interviews with DJ Quik, Hi-C, "Playa Hamm" & Tweed Cadillac (of Penthouse Players Clique), "Peter Gunz" (of Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz), Doctah B. Sirius, Cory Robbins, Billy Johnson, Jr., Big Boy, Nautica de la Cruz, Fabian "Fade" Duvernay, Robert Bacon, Erick Sermon, Dr. Scot Brown, Mack 10, El DeBarge (of DeBarge), Donna Torrence, Suga Free, and Dom Kennedy. Episode 86 -"Chuck Brown and the Story of Go-Go" June 24, 2015 (2015-06-24) Documenting the career, trials, and tribulations of funk pioneer Chuck Brown and the subgenre Go-Go he helped craft. Interviews with John "J.B." Buchanan, Lloyd Pinchback, Donald Tillery (of The Soul Searchers), Marion Barry, Charles Stephenson, Nekos Brown, Wiley Brown, Chucky Thompson, Kip Lornell, Kevin Kato Hammond (as Kevin "Kato" Hammond), Vincent C. Gray, Konan (DJ), Big Rock's Backpages audio interviews
African History Month Discussion Paper 5