Bobby Brown

Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a fusion of hip hop and R&B. His second album, Don't Be Cruel, included popular songs such as "My Prerogative". Brown is the ex-husband of R&B singer Whitney Houston and starred in the reality show Being Bobby Brown.

Music career

New Edition

Bobby Brown began his music career as a member of the R&B boy band New Edition which he founded along with childhood friend Michael Bivins . He is the youngest member of the group since the inception. The group's hits with Brown included "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now", and "Mr. Telephone Man". Brown was voted out of New Edition in 1986 (similar to The Temptations' David Ruffin in 1968) when the other four members felt that their careers would be jeopardized by Bobby's lewd, line-crossing on-stage antics. Throughout the All for Love tour, he feuded with Ralph Tresvant and cut in on Tresvant's lead vocals. In 1996, Brown rejoined the group for New Edition's comeback album, Home Again. In the middle of the tour, he engaged in further racy on-stage antics. He extended his solo set and cut into Bell Biv Devoe's time. During an interview, he admitted that he was intoxicated during the tour. Once again, he left New Edition. In the fall of 2005, New Edition performed at BET's 25th Anniversary Special. The group performed a medley of its greatest hits, and even brought Bobby Brown on stage for a rendition of "Mr. Telephone Man". It was later announced on BET and Inside Hollywood that Bobby had rejoined the group and would be on the next group album. In January 2006, New Edition announced that the group would launch a new album and tour in 2008. Bobby also appeared at a concert in Columbia, South Carolina that New Edition had filmed for a future dvd release.

Solo career

After leaving New Edition in 1986, Brown released his first solo album, King of Stage, in 1986. This album included "Girlfriend", a minor hit which went to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than that, King of Stage did not garner much attention. However, Brown's next album, 1988's Don't Be Cruel rocketed him to super stardom. Working with the writing/producing team of L.A. Reid and Babyface, as well as Teddy Riley, Don't Be Cruel spawned five Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Don't Be Cruel" (#8), "Every Little Step" (#3), "Rock Wit' Cha" (#7), "My Prerogative" (#1, subsequently covered by Britney Spears in 2004), and "Roni" (#3). The album would eventually be certified 8x platinum (8,000,000 units sold)

In 1989, he contributed two songs (including "On Our Own", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100) to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, in addition to making a cameo in the film. Brown has subsequently dabbled in acting.

In between the "On Our Own" single and the release of Brown's next album, a remix album, Dance! Ya Know It! was released to capitalise on Brown's huge success at the time. A non-album "megamix" single was released to promote the project. The European dance-oriented version (sampling beats by Snap!) was titled "The Freestyle Megamix" and was a hit in the UK, reaching #14 on the Gallup charts. A more R'n'B oriented version called "Every Little Hit Mix" (b/w "Roni) hit the Australian top 10

Brown's third album, Bobby, did not arrive until 1992. It reached #2 on the Billboard album charts and produced the hit singles "Humpin' Around" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Good Enough" (#7) as well as a smaller hit in "Get Away" (#14). The album was eventually certified 1x platinum (1,000,000 units sold). However, it did not come close to matching the album sales or singles chart success of its predecessor.

Brown waited until 1997 to release his next (and to date, last) album of original material, Forever. The album was originally titled Bobby II and was supposed to be produced by such luminaries as R.Kelly, Teddy Riley, Sean Combs and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. However, Brown negotiated 100% creative control of the album[citation needed] and decided to write all the songs himself. It only managed to climb to #61 on the Billboard Hot 200 album charts and produced no charting singles. There were hopes for a Brown comeback in 2002 when he appeared on the lead single "Thug Lovin'" from rapper Ja Rule's third studio album The Last Temptation. There were even talks that Brown had signed with Murder, Inc. (now known as The Inc) records. In 2006 Brown appeared on "Beautiful", the third single from Damian Marley's album Welcome to Jamrock.

Heads of State

As of September 27, 2008, Brown began touring with fellow New Edition members Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill in a new group named Heads of State.

[edit]Movies

Brown starred in the 1996 movie, "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate", along with Martin Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield. Brown also was in the 2001 movie, "Two Can Play That Game", along with Vivica A. Fox and Morris Chestnut.

Personal life

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Brown's legal and substance abuse troubles threatened to overshadow his music. In late 2003, Brown was arrested for misdemeanor battery, allegedly for striking Houston while shouting epithets.[2] In February 2004, Brown was arrested and jailed in Georgia on a parole violation related to a previous drunk driving conviction.

Brown married Whitney Houston in July 1992. Together they have one daughter, Bobbi Kristina Houston-Brown, born on March 4, 1993. On September 13, 2006, Houston's publicist announced that after 14 years of marriage, Houston had filed for a legal separation from Brown. One month later, Houston officially filed for a divorce from Brown.[3] It was ruled by a judge on April 4, 2007 that their marriage would be definitively dissolved on April 24, 2007, and that Whitney would receive custody of their then 14-year-old daughter. Bobby now has a new daughter with his new fiance, born shortly after his divorce from Houston.[4]

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.

On October 9, 2007, he suffered a mild heart attack in Los Angeles, California.[5] Brown complained of severe chest pains the night before and was taken to two different hospitals. Brown later announced that the story was not true and that he was actually in good health.

Brown's eldest son, Landon Brown, appeared on the MTV show Rock the Cradle. On February 3, 2009, it was announced Brown was expecting his fifth child with his girlfriend.[6] His fifth child, a boy named Cassius, was born May 30, 2009.[7]

On August 14, 2009, an arrest warrant was issued for Bobby Brown after he failed to appear in a Massachusetts court on a contempt complaint. Norfolk County Probate and Family Court Judge Christina Harms ordered Brown arrested the next time the singer is in Massachusetts. He failed to appear at a June 29 hearing. The Boston Herald reported that Brown has fallen $45,000 behind in child support payments for the two teenage children he had with former girlfriend Kim Ward.[8]

Most recently he has been appearing on cable-televised reality T.V. shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and his own show entitled Being Bobby Brown. On April 27, 2010, after a supposed tweet, a rumor mistakenly began that Brown had died, but he confirmed that he is alive, and "doesn't even twitter".

On May 7 2010, Brown proposed to his long time girlfriend[9] while performing at the Funk Fest in Jacksonville, Fla. He asked her to marry him while giving his performance on stage. He got down on one knee and when she joined him on stage along with their child she accepted his proposal.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications[10]

(sales threshold)

US US R&B UK AUS SWE AUT SWI

1986 King of Stage

Released: December 11, 1986

Label: MCA Records

88 12 40 — — — —

1988 Don't Be Cruel

Released: June 20, 1988

Label: MCA Records

1 1 3 5 20 — —

US: 8× Platinum

UK: 2× Platinum

CAN: 3× Platinum

1992 Bobby

Released: August 25, 1992

Label: MCA Records

2 1 11 2 4 26 18

US: 2× Platinum

CAN: 2× Platinum

1997 Forever

Released: November 4, 1997

Label: MCA Records

61 15 — — — — —

"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Remix albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications[10]

(sales threshold)

US US

R&B UK AUS

1989 Dance!...Ya Know It!

Released: 1989

Label: MCA Records

9 7 26 14

US: Platinum

UK: Gold

CAN: Gold

1993 Remixes n the Key of B

Released: 1993

Label: MCA Records

— 72 — —

"—" denotes releases that did not chart

[edit]Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions RIAA[11] Album

US US R&B US Dance US AC UK

1986 "Girlfriend" 57 1 — — — — King of Stage

1987 "Girl Next Door" — 31 — — — —

1988 "Don't Be Cruel" 8 1 — — 42 Gold Don't Be Cruel

"My Prerogative" 1 1 71 — 6 Gold

1989 "Don't Be Cruel" (UK re-release) — — — — 13 —

"Roni" 3 2 1 — 21 Gold

"Every Little Step" 3 1 17 — 6 Gold

"On Our Own" 2 1 15 — 4 Platinum Ghostbusters 2 (soundtrack)

"Rock Wit'cha" 7 3 — 28 33 Gold Don't Be Cruel

1990 "The Freestyle Mega-Mix" — — — — 14 — Non-album song

1992 "Humpin' Around" 3 1 15 — 19 Gold Bobby

"Good Enough" 7 5 — — 41 Gold

1993 "Get Away" 14 3 3 — — —

"That's the Way Love Is" 57 9 31 — 56 —

"Something in Common" (with Whitney Houston) — — — — 16 —

1994 "Two Can Play That Game" — — — — 38 —

1995 "Two Can Play That Game" (remix) — — — — 3 — Remixes n the Key of B

"Humpin' Around" (remix) — — — — 8 — Non-album song

"My Prerogative" (remix) — — — — 17 —

1996 "Every Little Step" (remix) — — — — 25 —

1997 "Feelin' Inside" — 42 — — 40 — Forever

"—" denotes releases that did not chart or not certified

Featured singles

Year Single Artist Peak chart positions Album

US US R&B US Dance UK

1990 "She Ain't Worth It" Glenn Medeiros 1 43 — 12 Glenn Medeiros

2002 "Thug Lovin'" Ja Rule 42 16 10 15 The Last Temptation

2006 "Beautiful" Damian Marley — — — 39 Welcome to Jamrock

"—" denotes releases that did not chart

(source:wikipedia)