American R&B singer, songwriter and dancer Robert Barisford “Bobby” Brown was born February 5, 1969 in Boston Massachusetts. In 1980, he started his music career as a member of the Grammy Award-winning, African-American R&B band New Edition. New Edition's hit songs include “Candy Girl”, “Cool It Now” and “Mr. Telephone Man.” However in 1986, Bobby's lewd on-stage antics caused the other members to vote him out of the group, which started Bobby's solo career.
He then produced his solo albums King of Stage in 1987 and Don't Be Cruel in 1988. His hit songs include “Every Little Step”, “My Prerogative”, “Rock Wit' Cha”, “Roni” and “On Our Own”, the last being a part of the Ghostbusters II soundtrack album. Brown also did a cameo role for the mentioned movie. He sang and appeared for the music video of the song “Voices That Care.” Brown's third album was released in 1992. The album Bobby included the famous single “Humpin' Around” and it was #2 on the Billboard album charts.
In 1996, he rejoined New Edition for their comeback album Home Again. While the band was on concert tours, Bobby again displayed some on-stage tricks by extending his solo sets and cutting Bell Biv Devoe's time. Once again, he was separated from the group. Brown's fourth album, Forever, was released in 1997. In 2005, Brown started his own reality series, Being Bobby Brown. The show was seen on Bravo and focused on his personal life, his wife Whitney Houston and their accompanying family. In 2006, he and Whitney divorced after fourteen years of marriage and the court decided that their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, would stay under the custody of Whitney. Brown was inducted into the Boston Hall of Fame in December 2007. In 2008, he appeared as a contestant for CMT's reality TV show
Gone Country , where artists from different music genres compete to win a country music contract.
(Photo courtesy of CMT)