Switch

The 1970s brought the transition from the golden era of vocal R&B groups to an emerging cadre of self-contained funk and soul bands, and one of the most talented, but unheralded, was the septet known as Switch. Formed in 1974 by Greg Williams with brothers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge (all of Grand Rapids, Michigan) along with Akron, Ohio natives Phillip Ingram (brother of James Ingram), Eddie Fluellen and Jody Sims, Switch formed a sound that rode the border between sweet soul music and Ohio-style funk.

In the mid-70s, the group moved to Los Angeles and was signed by Barry White. Renamed White Heat, it issued one White-produced album, which failed to garner attention. A chance meeting with Jermaine Jackson got the members an audition at Motown, where they wowed the executives with their musicianship -- particularly  their ability to switch from insturument to instrument during a song, which led to a renaming of the group to Switch.

Once signed by Motown and assigned to the Gordy label, Switch hit the top 10 with their debut single, the cool midtempo number "There'll Never Be." They followed it with the Jermaine Jackson late night love ballad, "I Wanna Be Closer," and the group's self-titled debut album went Platinum. Switch immediately went back into the studio and within a year released Switch II, which yielded the moderate dance hit "Best Beat In Town" and arguably the group's signature song, the ballad "I Call Your Name." Internal group strife and drug problems led to a less stellar third album, Reaching For Tomorrow, and by the time of the fourth album, This Is My Dream, Switch was hanging together by a thread (though "Love Over and Over Again" became a surprise Top 10 hit). Switch V came and went without notice, and the both DeBarge brothers and Ingram left for solo careers. 

The remaining members of Switch soldiered on with new entries Joe Robinson, Gonzales Ozen and keyboardist Attala Zane Giles, and signed with Total Experience Records (home of their contemporaries The Gap Band) and recorded a final album Am I Still Your Boyfriend in 1984. It did not rekindle interest in the group, and by a year later Switch was no more.

While Ingram found success as a producer, Bobby DeBarge died of AIDS-related complications in his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 16, 1995 at age 39 and Tommy DeBarge suffered legal and physical problems from drug addiction. The other members of Switch, with Ingram back in the fold, reunited in 2003 and recruited guitarist Michael McGloiry and new lead singer Akili Nickson, to form a new version of the group that continues to perform to this day. The reunited Switch released the excellent single "I Love You More" in 2019. Later that year, Ingram suffered a heart attack, but recovered and was part of a group online concert during the pandemic in 2020 called Switch At Home, which found Switch sounding great on performances of some of their biggest hits.

By Chris Rizik