Bunny DeBarge

Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge (born March 15, 1955) is an American soul singer-songwriter, best known as the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She is also best known as the lead vocalist behind the classic R&B ballad, "A Dream" from the group's In a Special Way album and is also the co-writer of the group's 1982 breakthrough hit, "I Like It" and the number-one hit, "Time Will Reveal".

Overview

Born in Detroit, Michigan to Robert DeBarge, Sr. and Etterlene Abney and raised later on in Grand Rapids, Bunny is the eldest of the ten DeBarge children, which included brothers Bobby and El. Singing in church from an early age, Bunny sings in the high soprano vocal style.

In Love
Studio album by Bunny DeBarge
Released	1987
Genre	Synth-pop, disco
Label	Motown Records
Producer	Aaron Zigman, Jerry Knight, Diane Warren, Guy Roche, Barney Perkins, Reggie Lucas, Jay Graydon, Robbie Buchanan, Galen Senogles, Ralph Benatar
Singles from In Love
"Save the Best For Me"

In 1979, Bunny and her three brothers El, Mark and Randy held an impromptu audition for Motown Records outside Berry Gordy's offices. Gordy signed the group and shortly thereafter, Bunny began writing songs with her brother Bobby for other Motown acts. She and Bobby co-wrote "Hold On to My Love" which was recorded by High Inergy and "Love Over and Over Again," which was a Top 10 R&B hit for Bobby's group, Switch.

Gordy released DeBarge's first album in 1981. Within a year, the group began to find success with songs such as "I Like It" and "All This Love", all the while Bunny stayed in the background.

Bunny began to break out in the group's third album, In a Special Way. Bunny sung on the last song of the album, a song she wrote titled "A Dream."

Bunny would later say that the demanding schedules of a successful music career pushed her to do hard drugs. After splitting from the group in 1986, Bunny released her first and only solo album, In Love, which included the single, "Save the Best for Me (Best of Your Lovin')". Despite this success, both she and her brother Chico were abruptly dropped from their contracts soon after. She then retired from show business shortly after to deal with a prescription drug addiction, which she eventually overcame in the mid-nineties.

Within those years, Bunny became a born-again Christian and began to rebuild her life as a member of the church back at her home in Grand Rapids. In recent years, she has recorded mainly gospel music and has penned the autobiography The Kept Ones about her life and career, released in 2008.

On September 21, 2011, Bunny, Bunny's daughter, James and Randy appeared on Lifechangers, a half-hour daytime show hosted by Drew Pinsky on The CW Television Network. Bunny is currently in a rehabiliation program in West Hollywood, California. James entered the rehabilitation program but left few hours later. Randy left few days later.