Bobby Brown

Bobby Brown

For other uses, see the R&B singer.

Bobby Brown (born Robert Barisford Brown, on February 5 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1986 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 R&B singer Whitney Houston and starred in the reality show Being Bobby Brown. He is noted for having his hair cut into a fade.

Music career

New Edition

Bobby Brown began his music career as a member of the R&B boy band New Edition. 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 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 on-stage antics. He extended his solo set and cut into Bell Biv Devoe's time. During an interview, he admitted that he was intoxicated during the tour. 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 1986, Brown 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 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, subsequently covered by Britney Spears in 2004), 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 2 soundtrack, in addition to making a cameo in the film. Brown has subsequently dabbled in acting.

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 1998 to release his next (and thus far, last) album of original material, Forever. The album was originally titled Bobby II and was supposed to 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 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. There were hopes for a Brown comeback in 2002 when he appeared on the lead single "Thug Lovin'" from rapper Ja Rule's third studio album The Last Temptation. There were even talks that Brown had signed with Murder Inc records. In 2006 Brown appeared on the third single "Beautiful" from Damian Marley's album Welcome to Jamrock.

Personal life

Brown's eldest son, Landon Brown, will be appearing on the new MTV show, Rock the Cradle. Brown married Whitney Houston in July 1992. Together they have one daughter, Bobbi Kristina Houston-Brown, born on March 4, 1993. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Brown's legal and substance abuse troubles threatened to overshadow his music. 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.

On September 13, 2006, Houston's publicist announced that after 14 years of marriage, Houston had filed for a legal separation from Brown. One month later, Houston officially filed for a divorce from Brown. It was ruled by a judge on April 4, 2007 that their marriage would be definitively dissolved on April 24, 2007 and that Whitney would receive custody of their 14-year-old daughter. On October 9, 2007, he suffered a mild heart attack in Los Angeles, California. Brown complained of severe chest pains the night before and was taken to two different hospitals. Brown later announced that the story was not true and that he was actually in good health.

Being Bobby Brown

On June 30, 2005, Brown launched his own reality series, Being Bobby Brown, on Bravo. Running for thirteen episodes, the reality show focused on the personal lives of Brown, his wife Houston and their accompanying family over the course of six months. On December 1 2007, Bobby Brown was inducted into the Boston Hall Of Fame.

Gone Country

In 2008, Brown appears as a contestant on the CMT reality show Gone Country.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Label	RIAA Certification
1986	King Of Stage	MCA	N/A
1988	Don't Be Cruel	MCA	7x Multi-Platinum
1989	Dance!...Ya Know It!	MCA	Gold
1992	Bobby	MCA	3x Multi-Platinum
1993	B.Brown Posse	MCA	N/A
1993	Remixes N the Key of B	MCA	N/A
1997	Forever	MCA	N/A
2008	The Masterpiece	The Inc.

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions				RIAA Certification	Album
		US Hot 100	US R&B	US Dance	UK
1986	"Girlfriend"	57	1	-	-	-	King of Stage
1987	"Girl Next Door"	-	31	-	-	-	King of Stage
1988	"Don't Be Cruel"	8	1	-	42	Gold	Don't Be Cruel
1988	"My Prerogative"	1	1	7	6	Gold	Don't Be Cruel
1989	"Don't Be Cruel" (re-issue)	-	-	-	13	-	Don't Be Cruel
1989	"Roni"	3	2	-	21		Don't Be Cruel
1989	"Every Little Step"	3	1	17	6	Gold	Don't Be Cruel
1989	"On Our Own"	2	1	15	4	Platinum	Ghostbusters 2 soundtrack
1989	"Rock Wit'cha"	7	3	-	33	Gold	Don't Be Cruel
1990	"She Ain't Worth It" (with Glenn Medeiros)	1	43	-	12	-	Glenn Medeiros
1992	"Humpin' Around"	3	1	15	19	Gold	Bobby
1992	"Good Enough"	7	5	-	41	Gold	Bobby
1993	"Get Away"	14	3	3	-	-	Bobby
1993	"That's the Way Love Is"	57	9	31	56	-	Bobby
1993	"Something in Common" (with Whitney Houston)	-	-	-	16	-	Bobby
1995	"Two Can Play That Game"	-	-	-	3	-	Remixes N the Key of B
1995	"Humpin' Around" (re-mix)	-	-	-	8	-	-
1995	"My Prerogative" (re-mix)	-	-	-	17	-	-
1996	"Every Little Step" (re-mix)	-	-	-	25	-	-
1997	"Feelin' Inside"	-	-	-	40	-	Forever
2002	"Thug Lovin'" (Ja Rule featuring Bobby Brown)	42	16	10	15	-	The Last Temptation
2006	"Beautiful'" (Damian Marley featuring Bobby Brown)	-	-	-	39	-	Welcome to Jamrock

External links

• Being Bobby Brown Official Website
• Bobby Brown at IMDb
• Whitney's Comeback by Urban Celebrity News