Robert Barisford “Bobby” Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer and actor. Brown started his career as founder and one of the frontmen of the R&B and pop group New Edition, from its inception in 1978 until his forced exit from the group in 1985 following a period of misbehavior and rebellious behavior on his part. Starting a solo career, he became a hit success with his second album in 1988, Don’t Be Cruel, which spawned a number of hit singles including the self-penned “My Prerogative”, and the Grammy Award-winning “Every Little Step” which became his signature hit. Brown had a string of top ten hits on various Billboard charts between 1986 and 1993. Brown is noted as a pioneer of new jack swing, a fusion of R&B. He returned to the group for a reunion album and tour from 1996-1997, and has returned with all six members for another stint since 2005.
From 1992 to 2007 Brown was married to the late American singer Whitney Houston (1963–2012), with whom he had a child, late Bobbi Kristina Brown (1993–2015). The couple starred in the reality show Being Bobby Brown.
Brown was born in Boston, Massachusetts as one of six children of Carole Elizabeth (née Williams), a substitute teacher, and Herbert James Brown, a construction worker. Brown grew up in Roxbury’s Orchard Park Projects. Brown’s first taste of being onstage occurred at age three when one of his childhood idols, James Brown, performed in Boston. This performance had sparked a dream of becoming a singer. Brown joined the church choir, where he recognized and developed his singing abilities.
New Edition was founded by 9-year-old Brown and childhood friends Michael Bivins, Ricky Bell, Travis Pettus, and Corey Rackley who all knew each other growing up in the Orchard Park Projects in Boston. However, Rackley left the group early and good friend Ralph Tresvant joined the group at the suggestion of Bell who sang with Tresvant as a duo. Brown was also familiar with Tresvant since they were kids. Travis Pettus would also leave the group and they became a quartet of Bell, Tresvant, Bivins, and Brown. In 1982, they became a quintet when their manager Brooke Payne insisted on bringing in his nephew Ronnie DeVoe, to complete the group. After performing in several talent shows in the Boston areas in 1982, they won a deal with Maurice Starr’s label and released their debut album, Candy Girl. The title track became an instant million-seller in which Brown sung co-lead alongside Bell and Tresvant. Brown’s first full lead vocal performance was on the New Edition ballad, “Jealous Girl”, which was a minor hit when it charted in 1983. The group became pop sensations with their self-titled sophomore release. The album included the crossover hits “Cool It Now” and “Mr. Telephone Man”, which Brown also co-led.
Despite the group’s success, however, Brown felt the group was never rightfully paid the money they felt they had earned from their success, later saying “the most I saw from all the tours and all of the records we sold was $500 and a VCR.” Brown also allegedly grew jealous of the attention given to fellow New Edition member Ralph Tresvant and during some of their tour performances, would often step out of his position and perform out of turn, performing seductively and singing, which caused hiccups from the group’s management team. Brown was featured on two more New Edition albums before leaving the group in early 1986. Brown later said he felt that the group’s management treated them “like little slaves by people who were only interested in money and power, and not in the welfare of New Edition.” A little controversy arose over how Brown got kicked out. Some say Brown asked to be let out of New Edition but a VH-1 Behind the Music documentary on the group claimed Brown was voted out by the group via their management team, with the members, most prominently Tresvant and Bivins, against the decision.
Following his exit, Brown signed a contract with his former group’s label, MCA, which had earlier promised Brown a solo deal if he had decided to leave New Edition and also signed with manager Steven Machat, who also worked with New Edition. The label released his debut album, King of Stage, in 1986. Brown had a number-one R&B hit with the ballad “Girlfriend”, but the album failed to perform well.
Brown laid low for more than a year working on his follow-up album. With the help of Machat and an MCA representative, Louil Silas, Brown began working with some of the top R&B producers and songwriters including Babyface, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Teddy Riley. The producers helped to compose what became Brown’s most successful solo album to date, Don’t Be Cruel. Released in 1988, the album launched five top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including the number-one single, the self-penned “My Prerogative”, which became, along with “Every Little Step” and the title track, signature hits for the performer. After topping both the pop and R&B charts, album sales eventually would reach twelve million copies worldwide making it the best-selling album of 1989. In February 1990, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the album’s third single ″Every Little Step″. Don’t Be Cruel also garnered Brown two American Music Awards, a Soul Train Music Award and a People’s Choice Award.
In 1989, Brown contributed two songs to the soundtrack of Ghostbusters II, and he also had a cameo role in the film. Leading off the soundtrack album, “On Our Own” became another top ten single for the singer, peaking at number two. The same year, a remix compilation, Dance! Ya Know It, was released and found fans in the United Kingdom, where Brown had a fan base and had major success. Brown ventured on a 120-day world tour to promote the Don’t Be Cruel project in 1988. The tour became a success with Brown’s former group New Edition sometimes opening for him. The tour lasted into spring 1991, but not without Brown gaining notoriety for simulating sexual acts onstage, which got him in trouble with the law. In 1990, Bobby performed Tap Into My Heart at the 1990 MTV Awards and Brown was supposed to release the album Mystical Magic but it was shelved for unknown reasons and never saw the light of day. In 1990, Brown was featured on the #1 hit “She Ain’t Worth It” by Glenn Medeiros making it his second #1 hit on the pop chart. Brown stayed busy and, in 1991, he collaborated with New Edition member and friend, Ralph Tresvant in the song “Stone Cold Gentleman”, which was a top 5 R&B hit and also hop on the remix to Babyface song “Tender Lover” that same year.
Brown’s next album, Bobby, wouldn’t arrive until 1992. Released during the final days of the new jack swing era, an era that Brown had dominated, the album did become a success, selling more than 3 million copies and spawning several hits including “Humpin’ Around”, “Get Away” and “Good Enough”. However, the sales of Bobby didn’t match its predecessor. Some of that may have to do with Brown deciding not to continue his career as he was now married to his famous wife, Whitney Houston, who with Brown, contributed a UK hit with their duet, “Something in Common”, from the Bobby album. Brown would release his fourth solo album, Forever, in 1997. Due to lack of promotion and Brown’s desire to write and produce most of the tracks, the album tanked and the album’s only single, “Feeling Inside”, was not successful.
Prior to the release of Forever, Brown had been in negotiations with rapper Tupac Shakur to sign with Shakur’s new label Makaveli Records or with the proposed label Death Row East. However, Shakur died before that could take place. Leaving MCA following Forever, Brown laid low for several years, re-emerging in 2001 on The Benzino Project, and in 2002, when he was featured in a duet with rapper Ja Rule on the song “Thug Lovin'”. Brown was signed to Murder Inc. Records, but Murder Inc. began dissolving, so Brown’s tenure with them was brief. In 2006, Brown appeared adding vocals to Damian Marley’s song “Beautiful” on Marley’s album, Welcome to Jamrock. In 2010, Brown was featured in a duet with singer Macy Gray on the song “Real Love” off Gray’s The Sellout. Gray explained to Essence about the project, saying “actually he came to the studio, since he doesn’t live far, and knocked out his recording in two hours. We’re friends and his one-year-old son is my godson. His fiancée is one of my best friends in the whole world. I met Bobby a long time ago, but we really got to know each other through her.”
On June 5, 2012, Brown released his fifth album, The Masterpiece. The album debuted at #41 on the R&B album chart.
Brown made his first reunited appearance with New Edition at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. Their performance later sparked the recording of Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Word to the Mutha!” in 1991; on which Brown, Ralph Tresvant and later NE member Johnny Gill were included. A full-fledged reunion occurred with the 1996 release of the album, Home Again. Brown contributed lead vocals on two hit singles, “Hit Me Off” and “You Don’t Have to Worry”. However, a subsequent 1997 tour to support the album led to problems between Brown and the other New Edition members. Brown later admitted that he was struggling with drug addiction and alcoholism during the tour.
In 2005, at the BET 25th anniversary special, Brown again reunited with New Edition to a receptive audience. In 2008, Brown, Ralph Tresvant, and Johnny Gill then formed a splinter group, Heads of State, to compete with Bell Biv DeVoe. At the 2009 BET Awards, following the death of the group’s idol Michael Jackson, the six New Edition members again reunited to perform a medley of Jackson 5 hits in honor of Jackson. This sparked rumors of another full-fledged New Edition reunion, which was confirmed the following year. As of 2016, Brown and New Edition continue to perform together.
Brown made his acting debut with a cameo appearance in the 1989 film, Ghostbusters II, playing the Mayor’s doorman. The following year, he appeared in the HBO kids show, Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme playing all three characters of Three Blind Mice. In 1995, he made another guest appearance in the film, Panther, and had a major role in the Martin Lawrence film, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Brown made other guest appearances in the films, Two Can Play That Game, Gang of Roses, Nora’s Hair Salon and Go for Broke.
In 2005, Brown signed a deal with Bravo to overlook the direction of the reality series, Being Bobby Brown, but it was said that he had to convince producers that his then-wife Whitney Houston would appear on the show. Houston later told Oprah Winfrey that she agreed to do it because she “loved him” and “did whatever he asked because I was his wife.” The show lasted one season but received bad reviews in the duration of its run, leading to a fallout in both singers’ careers. The show ended in 2006 after Houston refused to appear in a second season of the show. The couple divorced soon after.
In June 2007, Brown took part in the ITV television series “24 hours with…”, a chat show format as celebrity and interviewer spend an intense 24 hours locked in a room together. The show’s host, Jamie Campbell, asked Brown questions about his career and private life, and infamously joked about making “sexual moves” towards the singer. Brown was furious and threatened to beat Campbell up live on air. Brown’s later tenures in reality shows included appearances on Real Husbands of Hollywood, Celebrity Fit Club and Gone Country.
Brown has seven children. His eldest, Landon, was born circa 1986 to Melika Williams. With girlfriend Kim Ward, whom he met circa 1980, he had daughter La’Princia (born 1989) and son Bobby Jr. (born c. 1992). Brown and Ward’s on-and-off 14-year relationship ended in 1991, after two-months-pregnant Ward found out Brown was engaged.
Brown first met Whitney Houston at the Soul Train Music Awards in 1989. They began a close friendship after Houston invited 20-year-old Brown to her 26th birthday party in August 1989. Their friendship developed into a romance in 1991. In April 1992, Brown proposed marriage to Houston and the couple married at Houston’s estate on July 18, 1992. On March 4, 1993 their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was born. Houston and Brown later collaborated on the hit single “Something in Common”, which included their daughter at the end of the video.
Throughout their 14-year marriage, Houston and Brown went through periods of infidelity, domestic violence, and drug use. Their personal issues became comedy fodder for talk shows and sketch comedy shows, most notably MadTV, where they were satirized as abusive drug addicts. Aries Spears portrayed Brown as a jealous, verbally abusive former pop star who openly bristles at his wife’s (Debra Wilson) iconic reputation and popularity. In 2005, the couple participated in the reality show Being Bobby Brown, which scrutinized their personal life even more thoroughly. In September 2006, Houston filed for legal separation; the divorce was finalized on April 24, 2007, with Houston receiving custody of their then-14-year-old daughter.
In 1995, Brown was with Steven Sealy when Sealy was targeted in a drive-by shooting. Sealy, the boyfriend of Brown’s sister, was killed and Brown was unharmed. The shooter John Tibbs took a plea agreement in 2001.
On May 31, 2009 Brown had son Cassius with his partner of two years, manager Alicia Etheredge. Brown and Etheredge became engaged in May 2010, when Brown proposed during a performance at the Funk Fest in Jacksonville, Florida. The couple married in June 2012 in Hawaii and together have since added two daughters to the family. On July 9, 2015 Alicia Etheredge-Brown gave birth to Bodhi Jameson Rein Brown. The couple’s third child, daughter Hendrix Estelle Sheba Brown, was born on July 21, 2016.
Brown’s parents, Carole and Herbert Brown, died within a year of each other, Carole in 2011 and Herbert “Pops” in January 2012.
Following the death of his ex-wife Houston in February 2012, six days after his 43rd birthday, he struggled to perform at a New Edition show, shouting “I love you, Whitney” in tears. Brown then excused himself from the stage and New Edition canceled the remainder of the show. Brown was invited to appear at Houston’s memorial service in New Jersey but left before the service began. In an interview given to The Today Show in May 2012, Brown said security was the reason he and his family left Houston’s service; Brown stated that he loved Houston’s family and told Matt Lauer that he had spent “14 beautiful years” with Houston as his wife. He also denied rumors that he introduced Houston to narcotics. Along with Clive Davis, Ray J, and others, Brown has been accused of contributing to the singer’s death.
In January 2015, Brown’s daughter with Houston, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found unconscious in her bathtub at her residence in Roswell, Georgia. The 21-year-old was rushed into North Fulton Hospital where she was placed on a ventilator and was placed under a medically induced coma to stop the swelling of her brain. It was later reported her brain activity was “low”. Brown rushed to his daughter’s side and released a statement to the press requesting them to respect the family’s privacy. She was later transferred to Emory University Hospital. After no significant brain function doctors concluded it would be unlikely to occur, Bobbi Kristina was removed from the ventilator and put in the care of Hospice in Duluth, Georgia. She died there on July 26, 2015 at age 22.
As a child, Brown was diagnosed with ADD and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his early thirties. Brown said that his drug of choice was marijuana and that he had developed alcoholism at an early age. Following his marriage to Houston, Brown became heavily involved in drug use. By the mid-1990s, he was not only addicted to cocaine and crack, but also heroin, which he often smoked along with marijuana. He and Houston would often smoke cocaine-laced marijuana in blunts. Following his separation and later divorce from Houston, Brown stopped using cocaine, crack and heroin though he admitted he still drinks but not as much as he did in his younger years.
During his tours, Brown would often be arrested and cited for lewd and lascivious content after simulating sex acts with random female audience members that he would bring onstage. Brown’s legal problems grew serious as he was arrested for several offenses over the years including drug possession, driving under the influence, and driving while intoxicated. In a now-infamous 1996 arrest while in Florida, during a high-speed police chase, he crashed his wife’s Mitsubishi, and would be later cited for resisting arrest after he yelled expletives at officers and allegedly performing public urination in the back of one of the squad cars.
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. In June 2004, Brown was sentenced to 90 days in prison for missing three months of child-support payments. That sentence was immediately suspended after Brown made back payments totaling about $15,000.
On March 26, 2012, Brown was arrested for DUI after being pulled over for allegedly using a cell phone while driving.
On August 14, 2012, Brown was undergoing treatment in rehab for alcohol addiction.
On October 24, 2012, Bobby Brown was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol for the second time this year.
On February 26, 2013, Bobby Brown plead no contest to suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced to a 55-day jail sentence and had until March 20, 2013 to report to Los Angeles County Jail. He was also ordered to attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week until he goes to jail and to complete an 18-month alcohol program as part of his probation.
On March 21, 2013, Bobby Brown was released from jail after serving nine hours of his 56-day jail sentence.
In January of 2017, New Edition got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after 33 years in the business.
Written by Dianne Washington