In Memoriam: Tommy DeBarge, Founding Member of Switch, Dies at 64
By Paige Boyd, Managing Editor
Musician Tommy DeBarge, who helped start the DeBarge Family’s musical legacy as a founding member of the R&B/Funk band Switch, has died at the age of 64.
Family members confirmed his passing to TMZ, saying that he transitioned on Thursday, October 21, after being hospitalized a couple of weeks earlier. Although the official cause of death is not known at press time, Tommy has been dealing with liver and kidney disease for many years. His daughter, Marina DeBarge, also confirmed that Tommy recently recovered from COVID-19. Despite his health issues, Marina was quoted in saying that he “never complained about the pain,” and that “he fought until the end.”
Born Thomas Keith DeBarge in 1957, the Grand Rapids, MI native rose to fame as the original bassist of Switch. The band (which also featured Tommy’s brother, Bobby DeBarge) would help revive the Motown label with hits like “There’ll Never Be,” “I Call Your Name,” “I Wanna Be Closer,” and “Love Over and Over Again.” Following his departure from Switch in 1981, he went on to help mentor his younger siblings, who would form the 80’s R&B/Pop group, DeBarge. Sadly, his career would be sidelined by his personal setbacks, which included a bout with drug addiction and his road to sobriety and spiritual reawakening. He detailed his struggles and eventual redemption in his 2012 memoir, “There’ll Never Be: A Story of Forgiveness.”
“My memory was filled with regrets and emptiness when it came to love,” he wrote on the back cover. “It was like I’d never be a rational, healed human being – like I’d spend my whole life bandaging my own wounds. I learned that people entered and exited my heart at various stages of growth, some helping and others hindering. The road of sobriety was one I had to walk alone, though; just me and God.”
In his own statement on Instagram, Tommy’s younger brother, singer El DeBarge, remembered him as “a loving, gentle soul and a beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, and one of the best brothers anyone could ever ask for. His legacy will live on in the hearts of all those who love him so much and in the beautiful music he created with our brother Bobby, as well as that of his musical peers in the famous R&B group Switch!”
Tommy is preceded in death by Bobby, who died from AIDS-related complications in 1995. El continued his statement in saying “Both my brothers, Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, are together now, safely in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, though our hearts are still heavy as it will require some time to deal with the fact that he is gone and just missing him so much.”
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