El DeBarge Drug Arrest Interrupts Comeback Effort


A year ago, we simultaneously learned that 80’s singer El DeBarge was planning a comeback, and that that comeback had been stalled by a stint in rehab as he attempted to get his career back off the ground.

DeBarge broke free of his Motown-affiliated sibling band in the 1980’s, charting with hits such as the film Short Circuit‘s “Who’s Johnny?” before a sixteen year hiatus between the 1990s and now. The singer also experienced setbacks in his personal life- a two-decade long battle with drug addiction, as well as the loss of brother Bobby DeBarge in the mid 90’s due to complications of AIDS.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that DeBarge had been arrested for possession with intent to distribute, and the blog explains:

“Undercover narcotics officers were conducting an investigation near White Oak Avenue and the 101 Freeway early Monday when they spotted the singer and another man acting suspiciously, said LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman… Officers recovered narcotics from an area where DeBarge had been standing, Eisenman said.”

DeBarge was imprisoned for drug-related offenses back in 2009, and remained jailed for 13 months. But an attorney for DeBarge cast doubt on the charge of intent to distribute narcotics, citing the singer’s known struggles with personal drug use in the past. Spencer Vodnoy said:

“The DeBarge family is very close knit and have had their struggles with substance abuse… They will do what they always have done, which is to support their sibling through this.”

DeBarge was released on $30,000 bail and is due back in court next month.

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