Bobby Brown

Biography: As a teen in the '80s, Brown first made it big as a member of boy band New Edition. After an initially successful solo career, augmented by his second album, Don't Be Cruel (1988), and its No. 1 hit, "My Prerogative," and a much-publicized wedding to pop queen Whitney Houston, his professional and personal life sadly began to spiral out of control. In the '90s, he became much more famous for tabloid tales of drug use, spousal abuse and altercations than for his music. His supposed attempt to set the record straight, a reality-TV show called Being Bobby Brown, returned the R&B singer to the spotlight in 2005, but it failed to improve his bad-boy reputation, and the next year, the tempestuous couple separated after 14 years of marriage. More stints on reality shows followed, including Gone Country (2008) and Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp (2010), as did a reunion with old New Edition mates Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill, who toured under the name Heads of State. Although theAs a teen in the '80s, Brown first made it big as a member of boy band New Edition. After an initially successful solo career, augmented by his second album, Don't Be Cruel (1988), and its No. 1 hit, "My Prerogative," and a much-publicized wedding to pop queen Whitney Houston, his professional and personal life sadly began to spiral out of control. In the '90s, he became much more famous for tabloid tales of drug use, spousal abuse and altercations than for his music. His supposed attempt to set the record straight, a reality-TV show called Being Bobby Brown, returned the R&B singer to the spotlight in 2005, but it failed to improve his bad-boy reputation, and the next year, the tempestuous couple separated after 14 years of marriage. More stints on reality shows followed, including Gone Country (2008) and Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp (2010), as did a reunion with old New Edition mates Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill, who toured under the name Heads of State. Although the Internet was abuzz in April 2010---with rumors of his death---for a change the headlines not of his own making, and he likely did his image a favor in May when he proposed to his girlfriend and the mother of his fifth child, Alicia Etheridge, on stage in Jacksonville, Fla.… Expand