Bunny DeBarge

Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge (born March 10, 1955) is an American soul singer-songwriter and the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She was the lead vocalist on the 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".

Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge is the eldest of 10 children, born to Etterlene (née Abney) and Robert DeBarge, Sr. While spending her initial childhood in Detroit, her family moved to Grand Rapids when she was 16. Bunny would later recall years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father, stating that he had started molesting her when she was seven and this carried on until she was 13.

Bunny found solace in music, singing in her uncle's church as a child. She and her brothers soon participated in several groups together in various times. In 1972, DeBarge dropped out of school and married her first husband, with whom she had two children; they later divorced. Bunny taught herself how to write songs and compose melodies, which paid off as she got older.

In 1979, after a couple years watching her brothers Bobby and Tommy ride to musical stardom as members of the band Switch, Bunny teamed up with her three brothers Randy, Mark and El and became DeBarge. They signed with Motown after their demo tape was passed off by Switch's Gregory Williams to Motown CEO Berry Gordy, who was left impressed by the siblings and soon put the band on a salary.

Between 1979 and 1981, Bunny and her brothers worked behind the scenes mainly on the works of Switch, with Bunny in particular collaborating with her brother Bobby on songs such as "Hold On to My Love", "Love Over and Over Again" and "My Friend in the Sky". In 1981, Bunny co-produced the DeBarges' self-titled debut album and was featured on lead vocals alongside brother El on "Share My World" which they wrote. A year later, in 1982, the group brought along their teenage brother James, and shortened their name to just DeBarge. That year, they released their second album, All This Love, with which the siblings found musical success, particularly with "I Like It", for which Bunny wrote parts of the lyrics, alongside her brothers Randy and El.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.