Bobby Brown

This article is about the R&B singer. For other uses, see Bobby Brown (disambiguation).

Bobby Brown
Birth name	Robert Barisford Brown
Born	February 5, 1969 (1969-02-05)
Origin	Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres	R&B New jack swing Hip hop Dance-pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter Dancer
Years active	1978–present
Labels	MCA (1986-1998) Bronx Bridge Entertainment (2011-present)
Associated acts	New Edition Heads of State Whitney Houston Damian Marley
Website	www.bobbybrownonline.com

Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a fusion of hip hop and R&B. His second album, Don't Be Cruel, included popular songs such as "My Prerogative". Brown is the ex-husband of pop singer Whitney Houston and starred in the reality show Being Bobby Brown.

Music career

New Edition

Bobby Brown began his music career as a member of the R&B boy band New Edition which he founded along with childhood friend Michael Bivins. He is the youngest member of the group since the inception.^{[citation needed]} The group's hits with Brown included "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now", and "Mr. Telephone Man". Brown was voted out of New Edition in 1986 when the other four members felt that their careers would be jeopardized by Bobby's lewd, line-crossing on-stage antics. Throughout the All for Love tour, he feuded with Ralph Tresvant and cut in on Tresvant's lead vocals. In 1996, Brown rejoined the group for New Edition's comeback album, Home Again. In the middle of the tour, he engaged in further racy on-stage antics. He extended his solo set and cut into Bell Biv Devoe's time. Once again, he left New Edition. In the fall of 2005, New Edition performed at BET's 25th Anniversary Special. The group performed a medley of its greatest hits, and even brought Bobby Brown on stage for a rendition of "Mr. Telephone Man". It was later announced on BET and Inside Hollywood that Bobby had rejoined the group and would be on the next group album. In January 2006, New Edition announced that the group would launch a new album and tour in 2008. Bobby also appeared at a concert in Columbia, South Carolina that New Edition had filmed for a future DVD release.

Solo career

After leaving New Edition in 1985, Brown stayed with the group manager Steven Machat and Machat secured from MCA, the groups record label, a record deal guaranteed for Browns solo career if Brown agreed to leave the New Edition. MCA released his first solo album, King of Stage, in 1986. This album included "Girlfriend", a minor hit which went to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than that, King of Stage did not garner much attention. However, Brown's next album, 1988's Don't Be Cruel with Machat overseeing the entire production and styling of Brown with Louil Silas, MCA's rep, rocketed him to super stardom. Working with the writing/producing team of L.A. Reid and Babyface, as well as Teddy Riley, Don't Be Cruel spawned five Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Don't Be Cruel" (#8), "Every Little Step" (#3), "Rock Wit' Cha" (#7), "My Prerogative" (#1), and "Roni" (#3). The album would eventually be certified 8x platinum (8,000,000 units sold).

In 1989, he contributed two songs (including "On Our Own", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100) to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, in addition to making a cameo in the film. Brown has subsequently dabbled in acting.

In between the "On Our Own" single and the release of Brown's next album, a remix album, Dance! Ya Know It! was released to capitalise on Brown's huge success at the time. A non-album "megamix" single was released to promote the project. The European dance-oriented version (sampling beats by Snap!) was titled "The Freestyle Megamix" and was a hit in the UK, reaching #14 on the Gallup charts. A more R'n'B oriented version called "Every Little Hit Mix" (b/w "Roni) was released in Australia.

Brown's third album, Bobby, did not arrive until 1992. It reached #2 on the Billboard album charts and produced the hit singles "Humpin' Around" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Good Enough" (#7) as well as a smaller hit in "Get Away" (#14). The album was eventually certified 1x platinum (1,000,000 units sold). However, it did not come close to matching the album sales or singles chart success of its predecessor.

Brown waited until late 1997 to release his next (and to date, last) album of original material, Forever. The album was originally titled Bobby II and was supposed to be produced by such luminaries as R.Kelly, Teddy Riley, Sean Combs and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. However, Brown negotiated 100% creative control of the album^{[citation needed]} and decided to write all the songs himself. It only managed to climb to #61 on the Billboard Hot 200 album charts and produced no charting singles.

In 2006 Brown appeared on "Beautiful", the third single from Damian Marley's album Welcome to Jamrock.

2010 Bobby Brown surprised his fans by dueting with American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress Macy Gray on her new album titled The Sellout. Together they did a song "Real Love". Macy Gray divulged the pleasure of working with Bobby Brown to Essence magazine on the project, saying that "actually he came to the studio, since he doesn't live far, and knocked out his recording in two hours. We're friends and his one-year-old son is my godson. His fiance is one of my best friends in the whole world. I met Bobby a long time ago, but we really got to know each other through her."

Heads of State

As of September 27, 2008, Brown began touring with fellow New Edition members Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill in a new group named Heads of State. The group continues to tour worldwide. They are currently recording an album.

Film and television career

While always maintaining his focus on music, Brown has also been venturing into the movie side of showbiz. In 1996, Brown co-starred in the hit movie, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, along with Martin Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield. and in more recent years he has appeared in the films Two Can Play That Game, along with Vivica A. Fox and Morris Chestnut; Go for Broke; and Gang of Roses starring Lil' Kim, Lisa Raye, Stacey Dash, and Marie Matiko. After those he was in Nora's Hair Salon.

Bobby Brown has had cameo guest appearances in many movies. Panther (1995) starring Courtney B. Vance and Chris Rock. Earlier, he played all three characters of Three Blind Mice in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990). In 1989 was Brown's first solo guest cameo appearance in Ghostbusters II playing the Mayor's Doorman.

In June 2007, Brown took part in the ITV television series "24 hours with...", a chat show format as celebrity and interviewer spend an intense 24 hours locked in a room together. The show's host, Jamie Campbell, asked Brown questions about his career and private life, and infamously joked about making "sexual moves" towards the singer. Brown was furious and threatened to beat Campbell up live on air.

He has been appearing on cable-televised reality T.V. shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and his own show entitled Being Bobby Brown.

Personal life

Family

Brown has five children—Landon, who appeared on the MTV show Rock the Cradle, La'princia, Robert Jr. "Bobby", Bobbi Kristina, and Cassius. In July 1992, Brown married singer Whitney Houston, with whom he had daughter Bobbi Kristina the following year. Brown and Houston separated in September 2006 and divorced on April 24, 2007, with Houston receiving custody of their then-14-year-old daughter. On May 30, 2009, Brown had son Cassius with his partner of two years, manager Alicia Etheridge. Brown and Etheridge became engaged in May 2010, when Brown proposed during a performance at the Funk Fest in Jacksonville, Florida.

Substance abuse and legal problems

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Brown's legal and substance abuse troubles threatened to overshadow his music. Whitney Houston publicly stated that Brown's choice of drug was marijuana laced with cocaine.

In late 2003, Brown was arrested for misdemeanor battery, allegedly for striking Houston while shouting epithets. In February 2004, Brown was arrested and jailed in Georgia on a parole violation related to a previous drunk driving conviction. In June 2004, Brown was sentenced to 90 days in prison for missing three months of child support payments. That sentence was immediately suspended after Brown made back payments totaling about $15,000.

Discography

Main article: Bobby Brown discography

• King of Stage (1986)
• Don't Be Cruel (1988)
• Bobby (1992)
• Forever (1997)

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
1985	Krush Groove	Himself
1989	Ghostbusters II	Mayor's Doorman
1990	Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme	Three Blind Mice
1995	Panther	Rose
1996	A Thin Line Between Love and Hate	Tee
2001	Two Can Play That Game	Michael
2002	Go for Broke	Jive
2003	Gang of Roses	Left Eye Watkins
2004	Nora's Hair Salon	Bennie
2008	Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above	Old Man Butter

External links

• Bobby Brown Online
• Bobby Brown at the Internet Movie Database
• NEW Bobby Brown HD interview April 2010