Bobby Brown’s mother had a hand in his publishing deal that is still sending him checks today.
Brown is an R&B crooner whose music career began with the boy group New Edition. The group was formed in the Orchard Park Projects of Roxbury, Boston, MA, and originally included Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Brown. Ralph Tresvant and Ronnie DeVoe joined later, notes The Grio.
Their claim to fame was participating in a talent show in 1983 where they finished in second place, catching the attention of musician and producer Maurice Starr. The group signed to Starr under a deal with a $500 bonus.
“Our royalty check was like $168 but we got $500 to sign and a VCR… We didn’t know anything about it,” Brown acknowledged on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast with Shannon Sharpe. “All we wanted was to perform. All we wanted to do was make enough money to go to the movies, buy candy, date girls. That’s all we thought about. We wasn’t thinking about the longevity.”
Brown was later voted out of the group, but he still found success as a solo artist.
“I needed to be a solo artist,” Brown told the Los Angeles Times. “I had some important goals I wanted to pursue, musically. I didn’t think I could do it in the group. I wasn’t happy or satisfied then. I wasn’t making as much money as I thought I could be making. Some things were going on in the group that I didn’t agree with.”
No longer needing to split profits five ways, Brown was better positioned financially. He has sold millions of albums, including 12 million physical copies of his solo sophomore album, “Don’t Be Cruel.”
“We had six, seven singles off of that album right. That whole album pays me enough to live,” he mentioned to Sharpe.
