Bobby Brown

1969–

Singer, actor

Entertainer Bobby Brown shot to stardom in the early 1980s as one among five teen idols in the boy-band New Edition. Promoted as a modern-day Jackson 5, New Edition—which included Brown as well as Ralph Tresvant, Michael Bivens, Ricky Bell, and Ronnie De-Voe—rocketed to fame with sweet, teen-oriented pop songs, such as "Candy Girl," "Cool It Now," and "Mr. Telephone Man." New Edition heralded a new wave of teen celebrities and innocent, pop music.

As Brown matured, he and other members of the group gravitated away from the "bubblegum" pop sound of their early years. They were among the first pioneers of a new sound called new jack swing. New jack swing overlaid pop music with a heavy dose of hip-hop beats, R&B rhythms, and samplings of rap, and had lyrics with more mature romantic themes. New jack swing served as an edgy bridge between the innocent teenage fare of New Edition's early years and the overtly mature themes and hard edge of rap music. The shift in New Edition's sound also revealed shifts in the band: the members were growing apart. In 1986 Brown was the first to leave the group. Brown became the first of the group to use new jack swing music to attain success as a solo artist with his 1988 hit album Don't Be Cruel.

Brown enjoyed phenomenal success as a solo artist in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with his albums reaching platinum-level sales and numbers of his singles regularly reaching into the Top 10 and Top 40, and several peaking at number one, on the charts. With his music stardom confirmed, Brown ventured into other aspects of the entertainment industry. He explained his aspirations to Rob Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone: "I'm not just a singer, or a dancer, or a performer. I want to be a lot of different things. People don't know what Bobby Brown is. I want to be mysterious. I don't want people to be able to label me. I just wanna be Bobby, the Man Who Does Everything." To this end, Brown took occasional parts in feature films, starting with Ghostbusters II in 1989; collaborated with other musicians; and made appearances on television. Yet despite Brown's continued creation of new music and ability to land appearances in film and television into the 2000s, his personal life began to overshadow his professional success. By 2006, Brown had become a controversial public figure due to his more-than-a-decade-long struggle with the law over such issues as driving violations, drug-possession, and domestic violence.

Formed Group with Elementary School Friends

Bobby Baresford Brown was born on February 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was raised by his parents Herbert, a construction worker, and Carole Brown, a grade school teacher, in the Roxbury area of the city. Brown had a religious upbringing, singing with his parents in church and enjoying R&B and blues at home. From an early age, Brown had a clear talent. His mother finagled a way to show it off by putting her three-year-old son on stage to dance with James Brown at Boston's Sugar Shack. The audience loved it, and so did young Brown. As a youth Brown developed an interest in hip-hop and DJ-ing.

Life in Roxbury was not easy, however. It was a high crime area, and Brown found himself tempted by crime's promise of easy money. After witnessing the death of his friend in a fight at age eleven, Brown determined a different path for himself. To earn money, he and his friends from elementary school, Ricky Bell and Michael Bivins, formed a singing group called New Edition in 1978. In 1980 they added Ralph Tresvant and Robbie DeVoe before making their professional debut in a Boston talent contest. There they were spotted by producer Maurice Starr, who signed them to his Streetwise label.

Brown shared lead vocals in the group with Ralph Tresvant and developed a harmonious style much like the famed Jackson 5. New Edition's first single, "Candy Girl," was released in 1983 and became a chart-topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the course of the next two years the group became stars of the teen music scene. While the group's music accounted for much of its fame, Ebony credited the members' "unpretentious clean-cut image" for part as well. Major record labels had refused to sign New Edition at first, but the success of "Candy Girl" was enough to win New Edition a contract with MCA in 1984.

Outgrew Group

By 1985 Brown was becoming unhappy with New Edition's brand of sugary teen pop, and left the group in 1986 to begin a solo career. His first solo album was the uninspiring King of Stage album in 1987. The contrast between this and his next album, 1988's Don't Be Cruel, was dramatic. The middle of the road R&B of King of Stage gave way to a cutting edge fusion of soulful R&B with hip-hop rhythms and occasional rap sections inside otherwise conventional ballads. Don't Be Cruel sold over 6 million copies and put Brown at the forefront of a style known as new jack swing which was to dominate the R&B charts for the next five years.

A total of five singles from the album made the top 10 in both R&B and pop charts. "My Prerogative" stayed on the top of the R&B charts for two weeks, and several other of the album's singles, such as "Don't Be Cruel," "On Our Own," "Roni," and "Every Little Step," also made memorable chart climbs. Don't Be Cruel eventually reached platinum-level sales seven times over the years, and by 2006 VH1 ranked "My Prerogative" among the top 100 songs of the 1980s.

Despite the high point Don't Be Cruel would mark in Brown's career, he did not release another album of new music immediately. Instead he released a remix album titled Dance … Ya Know It!, which reached platinum-level sales. He also collaborated with Glenn Medeiros for "Ain't She Worth It," which reached number one on the charts.

Bad Boy Image Overshadowed Career

Brown's next album of new music, Bobby, did not appear until 1992, the year he married singer Whitney Houston. And while it included hits such as "Humpin' Around" and eventually sold 2 million records, Brown was becoming better known as "Bad Boy Bobby Brown" than as a noteworthy singer. Allegations of drug addiction and domestic violence, convictions for drunk driving, and probation violations dogged him since the early 1990s. In 1993 Brown's raunchy stage show led to his arrest in Georgia for "lewd behavior." He spent five days in a Florida jail in 1998 for a drunk-driving incident. He was convicted on a domestic battery charge in 2003. In 2004 a court in Georgia sentenced him to 60 days in jail for a probation violation following a drunk-driving incident. He was also called to court more than once over the years for falling behind on his child support payments to Kim Ward, the mother of two of his four children. Brown's marriage to Houston had been tumultuous from the start, and in 2006 a divorce was pending.

At a Glance …

Born Bobby Baresford Brown on February 5, 1969, in Boston, MA; married Whitney Houston July 18, 1992 (divorce pending 2006); children: Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown; Landon (previous relationship); LaPrincia and Bobby Jr. (previous relationship with Kim Ward).

Career: New Edition singing group, member, 1980–86; solo performer, 1986–; actor, producer, and TV personality, 1989–.

Awards: People's Choice award, 1989; American Music award, 1990, 1993; Grammy award, 1990.

Addresses: Label—c/o MCA Records, Singer, 70 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608.

As the controversy over Brown's personal life grew, he continued to perform and make records. In 1996 Brown reunited with New Edition to release the album Home Again, which debuted at number one on the charts. The reformed band went on tour, but Brown left again in 1997, not long before the release of his fourth solo album, Forever. The album did not sell well. Although Brown continued to create new music in collaboration with other artists, such as his "Thug Lovin'" duet with Ja Rule in 2002, his subsequent albums in the early 2000s were collections of his greatest hits.

Brown's acting career never reached the status of his hit singles, but he successfully landed parts and appearances in film and television. In 1989 he landed his first film role; for Ghostbusters II he played a role and wrote some music for the soundtrack. Since then he has made regular appearances in minor Hollywood films, including Knights (1993), A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), and Two Can Play That Game (2001). But the degree to which Brown's personal life had come to overshadow his music and acting ability peaked in 2005 when Brown, Houston, and their children (the couple had one daughter together and others from previous relationships) appeared in a reality TV series called Being Bobby Brown, described by Entertainment Weekly as an honest "life-between-court-appearances" portrait. Despite Brown's plans to reunite with New Edition members for a tour in 2008, critics doubted his ability to ever again enjoy widespread popularity for his musical ability or acting skill. His positive professional legacy may be limited to the 1980s and 1990s.

Selected works

Albums with New Edition

Candy Girl, Streetwise, 1983.
New Edition, MCA, 1984.
All For Love, MCA, 1985.
Christmas All Over the World, MCA, 1985.
Home Again, MCA, 1996.

Solo albums

King of Stage, MCA, 1987.
Don't be Cruel, MCA, 1988.
Dance … Ya Know It! (remix album), MCA, 1990.
Bobby, MCA, 1992.
Remixes in the Key of B (remix album), MCA, 1993.
Forever, MCA, 1997.
Greatest Hits, MCA, 2000.
The Definitive Collection, Geffen, 2006.

Films

Ghostbusters II, 1989.
Knights, 1993.
Panther, 1995.
Nemesis II, 1995.
Nemesis III-Pray Harder, 1995.
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, 1996.
Go for Broke, 2001.
Two Can Play that Game, 2001.

Television

Being Bobby Brown (reality series), 2005.

Selected Singles

(With New Edition), "Candy Girl," 1983.
"Don't be Cruel," 1989.
"My Prerogative," 1989.
"Every Little Step," 1989.
"Roni," 1990.
(With Ja Rule), "On Our Own" (theme from Ghostbusters II), 1989.
"Humpin' Around," 1992.
"Thug Luvin," 2002.

Sources

Periodicals

Ebony, June 1986, p. 58.

Entertainment Weekly, July 21, 2000, p. 84; June 10, 2005, p. 62; July 15, 2005, p. 62.

Jet, December 7, 1998, p32; April 26, 1999, p. 60; July 3, 2000, p. 36; December 25, 2000; p. 45; January 5, 2004, p. 63; May 23, 2005, p. 34.

People Weekly, May 3, 2004, p. 20; January 10, 2005, p. 51; July 4, 2005, p. 75; July 11, 2005, p. 39.

Redbook, March 1996, p. 72.

Rolling Stone, September 7, 1989; October 5, 2006, p. 18.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 14, 2006, p. C2.

On-line

"Bobby Brown Biography," allmusic, www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:55rp283c054a∼T1 (June 3, 2006).

"Bobby Brown," www.angelfire.com/ne/NE/bobby.html (June 5, 2006).

"Bobby Brown," Biography Resource Center, www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC (May 26, 2006).

"Bobby Brown Jailed for Probation Violations," CNN.com, www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/28/bobby.brown.reut/index.html (May 26, 2006).

"The Greatest: 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s," VH1, www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/106853/episode_featured_copy.jhtml (November 2, 2006).