Fan Casting All This Love: The Debarge Family Story

The story of the DeBarge family, one of the most popular family groups in American music history, as told by the family matriarch, Etterline Abney. [Robert Louis DeBarge, Sr. (1932–2009) was a soldier who served for the United States Armed forces and was of French descent. He met Etterlene Abney, who is African American, in Detroit, Michigan in the early 1950s. They married in 1953, with Robert being 21 and Etterlene going on 18. They stayed together for 21 years before divorcing in 1974. The children claimed that their father sexually abused several of them, which the father denied. Robert and Etterlene have 10 children: Etterlene “Bunny” DeBarge (b. 1955), Robert Louis “Bobby” DeBarge, Jr. (1956–1995), Thomas Keith “Tommy” DeBarge (b. 1957), William Randall “Randy” DeBarge (b. 1958), Mark “Marty” DeBarge (b. 1959), Eldra Patrick “El” DeBarge (b. 1961), James DeBarge (b. 1963), Jonathan Arthur “Chico” DeBarge (b. 1966), Carol “Peaches” DeBarge (b. 1970), Darrell “Young” DeBarge (b. 1970)]