A new edition: A grateful Bobby Brown reunites with ‘my fellas’

LOS ANGELES — It’s lunchtime with Bobby Brown at his downtown L.A. headquarters. The sun shines through the wide windows behind Brown, showing him slightly in a silhouette. There are a half-dozen sandwiches wrapped tightly in white paper spread on a conference table.

All but one is labeled in black pen. Brown grabs the mystery sandwich.

“What’ve you got there?” I ask.

“We’re about to find out,” he says with a grin.

This is what qualifies as reckless today for the 55-year-old co-founder of New Edition. The band resumes its sold-out run at the Encore Theater on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The shows feature the classic lineup of Brown, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill.

Brown’s return, of course, is a significant factor in those swift sales. He co-founded the hitmaking R&B/pop band in 1978 and was a full-time member for seven years. His second solo album, 1988’s “Don’t Be Cruel,” yielded five top-10 Billboard singles, led by No. 1 smash “My Prerogative” and the Grammy Award-winning “Every Little Step.”

At the peak of his popularity, Brown was considered among the best live performers worldwide, with soaring vocals and dance acumen that invited comparisons to James Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince (a dive into his videos of the day will bear this out).

But Brown became more famous, and infamous, from his 1992 marriage to R&B legend Whitney Houston, whose rocky marriage and drug use were widely reported in gossip pubs. The couple’s only daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, died in 2015 at age 22 under similar circumstances (effects of being submerged in a bathtub) as Houston’s 2012 death. In 2020, Brown lost a second child, Bobby Brown Jr., to an accidental overdose of alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl.

To say Brown is a survivor is only a slice of the story. Today he’s once again a star of the stage with the reformed New Edition. The onetime pop phenomenon is a doting father and husband. Wife Alicia Etheredge-Brown helms Brown’s career and helps mitigate the distractions (such as innumerable interview requests) in his life.

He has started a company, Bobby Brown Foods, with his handpicked barbecue sauces, spices and coffee. He says he became interested in this market because “I love to cook.”

Some of the high points of our chat:

Johnny Kats: Life is good for you today, it seems. How is it being Bobby Brown right now?

Bobby Brown: It’s wonderful. I’m working a lot, with my fellas, New Edition. I’m doing lots of solo shows. Been taking care of my family. I feel great, I’m in great shape … I can lose a few pounds, but you know (laughs).

How did the Encore residency come about?

We did “The Culture Tour” with Charlie Wilson and Jodeci and sold out every arena across the country. It went off great. Then we did “The Legacy Tour,” that had Keith Sweat and Guy on it, and that sold out everywhere, too. So, me and the guys decided the next step was Las Vegas. We wanted to play Vegas for a long time, the entertainment capital of the world. This was the time.

You’ve been a Las Vegas fan for a long time. What was your first trip to Vegas like?

Can’t remember, but I know it was a great time (laughs). I know I didn’t want to leave, OK? This was back in the day, like ’87, and I was just coming of age. But it was beautiful, the nightlife and the lights. I loved it.

Why did you leave New Edition?

Two parts. One was, I just wanted to go solo. I didn’t want to be bubblegum anymore. I wanted to work with the different producers that were out there that New Edition wasn’t working with. I wanted to work with the funkier, more traditional hip-hop and R&B-ish producers, that was my style.

And the second part?

OK, when I would perform on stage with New Edition, the management would get mad because I was doing things on stage that weren’t fitting the bubblegum image. The way I would dance, the provocative moves — management they didn’t like it very much. So, they were telling the guys, “Maybe it’s time we let Bobby just go ahead and go solo.”

What advice today would you give to the younger Bobby?

Not to party so much. You know, I did get into things that I’m not ashamed of but I regret. Tame it down, tone it down, concentrate more on performing and perfecting my craft.

Do you consider yourself lucky to be alive?

It could’ve went either way for me. I could be in really, really bad shape right now, not able to perform. Or I could be dead. You know, there was so much that I was doing. So much that I was not doing to take care of myself that, yes, it could have went either way.

Was there a situation, in the news or otherwise, where you might not have made it out alive? I remember one well-publicized incident in Boston.

Yeah, there was one time I went to Boston and my brother-in-law was murdered. We were both in a car together, and at that time I just lost it. I had to snap myself out of feeling I was invincible.

You were in the passenger’s seat? Or driving?

I was in the driver’s seat and was getting in the car. He was in the passenger’s seat. They just started shooting. I had to duck down between the gas pedal and seat in order not to be hit.

Did they know who you were?

Of course, yeah. I was the only person there with a brand-new Bentley (laughs). It was in the projects I grew up in. They definitely knew who I was, yeah.

I understand you are clean and sober today.

Oh, yeah, all the way.

What kind of help did you receive? Were you involved in 12-step work?

I had all of that. But I found out that just the love of my my beautiful wife and my kids helped me tremendously. It helped me in a way where 12-step couldn’t help me. Caring about them and knowing that they were there for me, it just made me realize how important life is, and how important I am in these people’s lives.

I want to be respectful about this subject, because it is such a big part of your life, but how do you handle the references or questions about your time with Whitney? How have you resolved that experience?

It was a great time in my life, and she was one of the loves of my life. Probably the love of my life, which I grew out of. We grew apart because of drugs and alcohol and just not paying attention to what we had as far as being individuals. But, you know, those times have passed.

In Las Vegas, and probably everywhere, she remains current, because of her talent. We have a lot of singers who perform impersonations and tributes of her. You probably run into these individuals, in “Legends in Concert,” or wherever. Like you, she’s a generational talent.

Well, she is probably one of the greatest singers that ever lived. So, you know, she’s well-deserving of all of the accolades that she has received.

Would you ever pay tribute to her on stage?

Not anymore. I’ve put that to the side, missing her, and missing my daughter. That’s in here (places his hands over his dog tag necklace showing a picture of a little girl). I hold that deeply inside.

That’s her, in your necklace?

Yeah, that’s my daughter.

You wear it all the time?

Oh, yeah, I’ve had it since she passed. This is my piece that keeps me with her. That’s how I pay homage to her, and by being the best Bobby I can be.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.