Boys Bobbie
On Being Bobby Brown?
Eversince the cancellation of his reality series Being Bobby Brown on the Bravo network, Bobby Brown 80′s teen pop idol and 90′s top selling R&B pop star has been on a downward spiral. The reality show that was supposed to re-engergize his career gave us more insight into a person that we the viewing public liked less and less with each episode. His explanations for the way of things were lame and at times utterly ridiculous but we tuned in for who doesn’t like to see a train wreck. It gives me no pleasure to say such things for I always did respect the talent of this man and felt had he stayed on course he would have turned into our generations greatest entertainers. But just like any Behind the Music story his own demons got in the way as he tripped up on the ladder of success and came tumbling down til he hit the ground with a great big thud! Such a shame for a man who had thus far beaten the odds coming out of a tough neighborhood to go on to be part of the biggest black teen pop sensation of the 80′s New Edition and on to even greater solo success.
Roxbury a project in Boston was the birthplace of Bobby Brown living in a crowded apartment with six other siblings. Friends of his who lived close by Ralph Tresvant, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie Devoe teamed up with the Michal Bell he knephew of star producer Maurice Starr (also the producer of New Kids on the Block also from Boston) to form New Edition. Everyone knows that this group went on to astounding success as they were the only black teen group of the time making records and having success. This really hadn’t been done since the success of the Jackson 5 in the early 70′s and they tapped a market that hadn’t been filled since then. Well after that New Edition was the first of the boy-band phenomena and years later others would follow (New Kids on the Block, the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Dreamstreet, Jagged Edge, Jodeci, Dru Hill, etc., etc.). But Bobby didn’t stay to long for he had issues with the money and how he and the others were being paid.
Striking out on his own Bobby resurfaced a few years later with his first solo EP called King of Stage. It was a modest hit yielding a couple of hit singles on the R&B charts which allowed him to stay on his label to do another record. His next EP Don’t Be Cruel set him up as a bona fide star! That cd yielded six top ten hits, a national tour, and a gig singing the theme song of the second long anticipated sequel to the movie Ghostbusters. Around this time he and his girlfriend Whitney Houston got married and everything seemed well in the life of Bobby Brown. That’s when it all started to go wrong.
I’m not going to speculate that marriage was bad for Bobby and I’m not going to say Whitney didn’t contribute to some of his problems. What I will say though is that all married couples have problems period, and he didn’t deal well with his. Being a celebrity is a tough gig but it has its perks especially for men getting attention from the ladies. It’s a hard temptation to resist and Bobby didn’t. Then there are more negative things like drugs for it seems drug-dealers key in on celebrities to be their suppliers for narcotics. Why drugs are such a desirable item for celebrities I don’t know but Bobby Brown wasn’t the only one doing them. But he was one of them continually getting caught and it should have been evident to him that they were watching him much closer than others so he needed to stop. He didn’t though. And then the tax troubles, yes another celebrity who doesn’t seem to know that when it comes to paying your taxes Uncle Sam shows no favoratism except to big multinational corporations with paid lobbyists on the books of which Bobby Brown wasn’t in that category.
It’s hard to say exactly where everything went wrong but all we know is that it did go wrong and he immediately started pointing the finger at his wife instead of taking responsibility for his own actions. His claim that she got him hooked on drugs is asinine at best and more than ridiculous for in order for that to happen she would have put the gun to his head and make him take them right? And then spewing so-called ‘family’ secrets about Whitney’s lesbian affair with a friend of long ago? So who is he to judge father of eight kids out of wedlock only one while married? Then too who’s business is it anyway about who Whitney slept with (allegedly now) before she MARRIED him? I guess he learned his lesson though for after Whitney’s Oprah Winfrey interview everyone expected him to come out swinging! I was surprised to see that he didn’t.
Maybe age has played a part in his decision to make an intelligent comment (he said he and Whitney were partly to blame for the break-up but he wished her well) or maybe that new business savvy manager/girlfriend/babymama of his knew the hate he incurred with his baseless accusations and steered him clear of it. I don’t know what it was but I’m glad he didn’t. I’m glad because it’s been very sad to me to see a man with so much talent and promise blew it all. He had the world in the palm of his hand and could have gone on to be the next King of pop or even greater. We all make mistakes but at some point he quit even trying losing his record contract, stopped touring, basically stopped working and became a kept man by his wife and expected everyone to respect him. No Bobby it doesn’t work that way for you, me, or any other man who wants to call himself such. But I will say I do have more respect for him now. He’s out working again touring with New Edition and trying to put together plans for a new CD and being productive again. I hope though in all this time he’s had time to reflect and realise that his problem years were not the fault of anyone but were a result of him, Being Bobby Brown.
About the Author
Daniel Asamota is an African American author purportedly of West Indian descent whose book \’Mound Bayou\’ has set the literary world ablaze. Now check out Daniel Asamota’s new novella ‘Cricket Man’ at www.cricketman.net. Also check out his website www.Dasamota.com or his e-mail at dasamota@yahoo.com.
Oak Ridge Boys Bobbie Sue at the Fulton County Fair September 7, 2009
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