Gospel Singer Etterlene DeBarge Dead at 88

Etterlene DeBarge

Etterlene DeBarge has died at age 88.

The gospel singer’s daughter, Etterlene “Bunny” DeBarge, announced her mother’s passing in a Friday, Feb. 16 post on Instagram. Etterlene is widely remembered as the matriarch of the popular Motown R&B group DeBarge, which Bunny was part of alongside several of her brothers.

“Momma has gone to see her king!” the post said of the DeBarge family matriarch. It revealed that she passed away at 7:40 a.m. PT on Friday in Woodland Hills, a neighborhood located within Southern California’s Los Angeles County.

Etterlene “died peacefully in her sleep,” Bunny’s post added. In another Instagram post, Bunny wrote that her mother is now “in a better place!!”

Bunny, who is Etterlene’s oldest child, did not mention what her mother’s cause of death was. The singer was believed to be fighting dementia, according to TMZ.

Etterlene was born on October 13, 1935, in Michigan. She had 10 children with her first husband, Robert DeBarge, whom she married in 1953. The couple divorced after more than two decades of marriage, and Etterlene married George Rodriguez in 1980.

Fans offered Bunny and the rest of the DeBarge family their prayers and condolences on social media.

“I loved her faith and strength,” one fan wrote. "What a Queen. Rest well.”

“May she Rest in Peace we thank her for sharing her children with us,” another person commented.

“Stay strong and keep the faith,” one Instagram user wrote. "She will want your to continue the legacy.”

A few weeks before her mother’s death, Bunny shared a throwback video on Instagram that showed her mother singing in the car. The video was dated January 19, 2020, about four years before Bunny’s post.

“Better Days With Mom,” Bunny’s Instagram caption said. “The moments I’ll always treasure.”

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