Bobby Brown revealed that his slanted fade haircut, which he predominantly wore throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, was a “mistake”
The New Edition singer explained that the slant occurred because he looked the wrong way while his barber was cutting his hair
Instead of Brown trying to fix the mistake, he “left it” and let it define his image
Bobby Brown is proof that even stars are susceptible to bad haircuts.
The “Cool It Now” singer appeared on the May 19 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show and revealed that his signature slanted fade haircut — also known as “The Gumby,” a reference to the clay cartoon character of the same name, who has a slanted head — was an accident.
“That was your swag,” Hudson told Brown after he said, “oh boy,” after being shown a picture of himself with the haircut on the screen.
“That was a mistake,” the 46-year-old said. “It was a mistake that turned out to be great.”
He continued, “I was at the barbershop and I looked the wrong way while he was cutting my hair. I was looking at somebody and I shouldn’t have been. But he cut my hair the wrong way and I left it.”
The haircut later went on to become a key component of the singer’s sense of style, and made several appearances in his music videos, namely solo tracks “My Prerogative” and “Every Little Step.”
Bernd Mueller/Redferns
Bobby Brown performs at Festhalle Frankfurt in June 1990.
Brown told Hudson, however, that he thought the slanted cut was an original, only to be proven wrong by the late Quincy Jones.
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“But later on in life, I went to the late, great Quincy Jones’ house, and I saw a picture on his wall, and it was his great-grandfather, who had a haircut just like that. And I’m like, ‘This old man trying to jack my style,'” he told Hudson.
Ebet Roberts/Gett
Bobby Brown performing in December 1989.
“[Quincy] was like, ‘Ain’t nobody trying to jack nothing. That hairstyle has been in rotation, it’s been out for so long.’ [So] I stole his hairstyle,” he concluded.
The 56-year-old also discussed his signature haircut during an April appearance on Club Shay Shay. The R&B singer noted that the haircut “stuck,” and provided more context in his story about Jones.
Al Pereira/Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives
Bobby Brown performs at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 4, 1989 in New York City.
“The barber f—– me up, and I had to shoot a video [“Every Little Step”] and it stuck. It just stuck.” Speaking of his time at Jones’ house, where they talked about the Gumby hairstyle, Brown revealed that Jones showed him a picture of a man with his same haircut.
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“‘That picture is 40-something years old, and that’s my grandfather,'” he recalled the producer telling him, “And his grandfather had a Gumby. I was like, ‘Wow.'”
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