Every little step we took, New Edition inspired a genre, trailblazing the blueprint to R&B and pop music. Founding member of the 80s heart throbs, Bobby Brown, once labeled the bad boy of R&B and proud rebel with a cause, whose magnetic career became a headline mainstay attracting weekly supermarket tabloids, sat at controversy’s table in the 90s. From Brown’s mountain top success to valley depths, the former front man has had his due share of storms.
Known for his raunchy dance moves and high energy sets, the Grammy Award winner, born Robert Barisford Brown, alongside Ricky Bell, Ralph Tresvant, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe, were stars before junior high school. And BET will give New Edition loyalists a front row seat into their rise to super stardom in the highly anticipated three-part biopic premiering later this month.
See Also: BET Launches Nationwide Fan Screenings for ‘The New Edition Story’ in January
“The New Edition Story,” headed by super producer Jesse Collins (Real Husbands of Hollywood, Soul Train Awards) and award winning director Chris Robinson (ATL), showcases the group’s polarizing rise to fame; from Boston’s Orchard Park projects to public figures to heart breakers, in a raw, unfiltered biopic.
The special event holds no punches; from groupies to financial woes to Brown’s ousting of the group in the mid-80s, which launched the now 47-year-old’s solo career, including hits “My Prerogative,” “Every Little Step” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” which helped lay the foundation to New Jack Swing, a fusion of R&B.
Brown, known for his public marriage to the late Whitney Houston, is now a settled family man, drug free, mature and polished. The author, who penned best selling book “Every Little Step: My Story,” is now contently reveling in the success of his younger years.
The Source caught up with Brown during a special advanced fan screening in Chicago, as he dished on “The New Edition Story” and what happened to R&B and the music groups that once dominated the 90s and more. – Angela Wilson
“The New Edition Story” premieres on BET Tuesday, January 24 at 9:00pm/8:00pm CST.
Special thanks to Juan Anthony Images for videography and editing.
Photo credit: Getty Images
