Jonathan Arthur "Chico" DeBarge (born June 23, 1966, Detroit, Michigan) is an American R&B singer and a younger brother of the members of the Motown family act DeBarge. Unlike the rest of his DeBarge siblings, Chico is the only male DeBarge that does not sing in the falsetto range that is well known in his family; he sings tenor.
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He began a musical career of his own with Motown in the mid-1980s. His debut self-titled album featured the hit single "Talk To Me." He released a second album with Motown, Kiss Serious, but was imprisoned for drug charges not long after and served time in prison for drug trafficking. After his release in the mid-1990s, DeBarge returned to Motown to continue his musical career under the auspices of Kedar Massenberg and his neo-soul pioneering label imprint Kedar Entertainment.
He later moved to the independent record label, Koch Records, where he released 2003's Free. DeBarge also contributed a song to the Beauty Shop movie soundtrack courtesy of Alove Entertainment. His most recent album Addiction was released July 14, 2009 under Kedar Entertainment Group.[1]
On October 2, 2010, DeBarge performed with Glenn Jones, Lenny Williams and Regina Belle at the Performing Arts Center in Tampa, Florida.
He has five children (Cheyanne DeBarge, Chicoco DeBarge, Manny DeBarge, Abrielle DeBarge, Dontae DeBarge) and is in the process of divorcing Andrea Bordenave, who filed for divorce from him in mid 2009. He is also the ex-beau of singer/actress Nona Gaye.[2]
In 2008, Chico DeBarge appeared in the video for Joe's single, "We're Family" off the Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins soundtrack.
In the fall of 2003, Chico DeBarge was stabbed outside a Philadelphia nightclub, by the South Philadelphia Italian mafioso named John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto, after the two engaged in an argument, in which Casasanto called DeBarge a "titsune", the Italian equivalent to the word "coon."[3]
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