About Randy DeBarge
William Randall DeBarge (born August 6, 1958) is an American R&B/soul singer and bass guitarist, He is best known as a founding and original member of the popular Motown singing family group DeBarge. Randy is also known for singing co-lead and penning lyrics with brother El on the group's first hit, "I Like It" (1982). == Biography == === Early years === Born in Detroit, Michigan growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Randy was the fourth eldest of ten children born to Robert DeBarge Sr. and Etterlene DeBarge. The DeBarge kids all sang in church and in high school, Randy joined the local band and learned how to play bass guitar from his elder brother Tommy. When Randy was seventeen, his older brothers Bobby and Tommy formed the Ohio-based funk/soul group Switch, later on signing with Motown in 1977. Three years later, Motown signed Randy, El, Bunny and Mark DeBarge to Motown where they had formed the DeBarges shortening it to DeBarge following the release of their first album in 1981. === DeBarge === After their 1981 debut, The DeBarges failed to garner any interest, the group decided to write and produce themselves with some help from Berry Gordy's niece Iris, the group released their sophomore release All This Love. After the modest success of the group's funk single, "Stop! Don't Tease Me", the second single, "I Like It" became their first hit reaching number two on the R&B charts and crossing over to number 31.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.