Demetri Betts

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Demetri Betts in March 2017

Demetri Betts (born April 26, 1973 in North Carolina ; † May 21, 2017 ) was an American Christian singer , musician , author and pastor.

Beginning in 1997, Betts brought out five music albums, two book series and a magazine, and he founded the aid organization New Chance International . He published religious advice videos for young people on YouTube . Because of his music and his unusual dance and dress style, he was often called "the Michael Jackson of Christian music".

Life

Childhood and youth

Betts was born under the name Antonio Emanuel Albernathy in a North Carolina prison where his mother was incarcerated. When he was three years old, he was adopted and given his new real name Antonio Demetrius Betts, nicknamed Tony. He was neglected and mistreated, grew up again under foster care, and in 1989 met his biological mother for the first time, who died soon afterwards. From then on he lived on the street, developed depression and consumed drugs. He shared apartments with friends from the rave and drug scene who became his family substitutes.

Life as an artist

Between 1997 and 1999 Tony changed his stage name to Demetri . A little later he began to live bisexual as the drag queen "CoCo Brown" , to organize rave parties and to appear in nearby clubs. He lost all of his property in an attack by rival drug dealers. He found his only support from a pastor who helped him build a new life. After a conversion experience , he gave testimonies in his earlier scene, but met with rejection. He wrote, recorded music and donated to charities. As a result of the death of a young person he cared for from 2002 to 2012, he suffered a nervous breakdown and went to a psychiatric clinic, where, in his own opinion, he was only quickly healed internally through his belief in God.

Church leadership in Switzerland

In October 2013 Demetri suffered a stroke and developed diabetic polyneuropathy at the same time . According to the doctor's testimony, he would have to live forever with pain and immobility, but he said he was healed three days later. Demetri was convinced that God had healed. In 2017 he founded the free church “Open Arms” in Volketswil and the “Open Arms Internet Church” , which is aimed at people with a wide variety of lifestyles, including homosexuals.

On May 21, 2017, Betts died in his sleep; a specific cause of death was not known.

Publications and other engagements

In 2014 his autobiography was published, which he wrote together with his wife Damaris Kofmehl . In it he reports on his band "No longer Music" and his later strokes of fate. The album Fabulous was released in November 2014. Some of the songs were written while in hospital. It's a dance / pop album with thoughtful lyrics. Kofmehl authored two books about his life, Tony Brown and Deadly Guilt . They wrote the third book, Wild Sky Warriors, together. In addition, they wrote the three-part fantasy series Dark City and the four-volume series Jack Ross together . Together they also founded the Christian aid organization New Chance International, which, among other things, offers spiritual help in various countries. Demetri Betts went on tour with his music.

In November 2015, the song So Happy from the Best Charts album made it to number 5 on the top ten dance charts in the Bahamas. From 2012 to 2016 Demetri Betts' music appeared on more than twelve compilations of dance and workout albums.

Publications

Albums

  • Phenomenal (2008)
  • Candy World (2009)
  • Sideways (2010)
  • I believe
  • Fabulous

Books

  • Dark City series
  • Jack Ross series

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florian Wüthrich, Anja Janki: Demetri Betts has gone home. In: livenet.ch. 28th of May. 2017, Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ Demetri Betts . In: Sound 7 . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  3. ^ Raving in the House of God . In: Christian Broadcasting Network . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  4. ↑ Demetri Betts. In: Allmusic . Retrieved May 5, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Demetri Betts on YouTube . In: YouTube . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ About . In: adrialdesigns.com . Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 5, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / adrialdesigns.com
  7. ↑ Demetri Betts . In: venyoo.de . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  8. ↑ Demetri Betts died. In: Idea Switzerland. Evangelical news agency idea , May 29, 2017, accessed May 4, 2017.
  9. ^ New Chance International . In: newchanceinternational.com . Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 5, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.newchanceinternational.com
  10. ↑ Demetri Betts - Phenomenal . In: profimusic.ch . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  11. ↑ Sideways . In: Allmusic . Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ Demetri Betts . In: MTV . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Betts, Demetri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Albernathy, Antonio Emanuel (maiden name); Betts, Antonio Demetrius (full name); Tony (nickname); Diva CoCo Brown (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, model, writer, and pastor
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH North Carolina , United States
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 2017