Bobby Brown

At 17, he became father for the first time. From 1989 to 1991, his relationship with Kim Ward produced two children – La Princia and Robert Barisford Brown, Jr.

He was married to singer, Whitney Houston, from 1992 to 2006. The couple has a daughter - Bobbi Kristina Brown. The marriage could not withstand his philandering and drugs abuse and they divorced.

He began dating Alicia Etheridge after his separation from Houston. He married Alicia in 2012. The couple has a son named Cassius, born two years before their marriage.

Bobby Brown was the seventh of eight children born to Herbert Brown, a construction worker and Carole, a schoolteacher. Brown and his siblings grew up in Roxbury's Orchard Park Projects in Massachusetts.

As a boy, he resorted to stealing from stores. He was also involved in gangs and was even shot in the knee during a fight.

At 11, one of his friends was stabbed to death. After this incident, he turned a new leaf and began to take his education and life seriously.

He idolized singer James Brown, and dreamt of being a singer like him since he was three years old. He joined the church choir, where his talent was noticed.

Bobby Brown and his childhood friends, Michael Bovines and Ricky Bell, formed a band called New Edition in 1978. Ralph Tresvant and Ronnie DeVoe too joined the band, over the next four years.

In 1982, they came second in the Hollywood Talent Night held at Boston's Strand Theatre organized by music producer, Maurice Starr. Impressed by their performance, Starr signed them to his Streetwise Records.

New Edition’s debut album, ‘Candy Girl’, in 1983, boasted of the hits, ‘Is This the End,’ ‘Popcorn Love,’ ‘Jealous Girl’ and ‘Candy Girl’, which topped the American R&B and the UK singles charts.

The band’s second album ‘New Edition’ released in 1983. It bettered their debut album with hits such as ‘Cool It Now’ and ‘Mr. Telephone Man’, and achieved double platinum in the U.S.

Their 1985 album, ‘All for Love’, though certified platinum with hits as ‘Count Me Out’, ‘A Little Bit of Love’ and ‘With You All the Way’, could not match the success of its predecessors.

Collaborating with top R&B artists, his album, ‘Don't Be Cruel’, in 1988, included five hit singles of which ‘My Prerogative’ topped the Billboard Hot 100, and was the 33rd best-selling album of the decade.

In 1989, he made a cameo appearance in the film, ‘Ghostbusters II’, and also sang two songs for its soundtrack, one of which was ‘On Our Own’ that topped the U.S. Billboard R&B charts.