Terence Trent D\'Arby was born Terence Trent Howard in Manhattan in 1962. His mother is Frances Howard, a gospel singer, teacher and counselor. She married Bishop James Benjamin Darby, who became his stepfather and raised him, hence "his last name changed and later he completed it with the apostrophe." His biological father was a married man with Scots-Irish ancestry.\n', 'D\'Arby was known to childhood friends as Terry Darby. His family moved successively from New York to New Jersey, to Chicago, to Daytona Beach, and then settled in DeLand, Florida, north of Orlando.\n', 'He trained as a boxer in Orlando and in 1980 won the Florida Golden Gloves lightweight championship. He received an offer to attend boxing school in the United States Army, but he went to college instead. He enrolled at the University of Central Florida but quit a year later, enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was posted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then served in the 3rd Armored Division, near Frankfurt, West Germany. He was formally court-martialed and dishonorably discharged by the army in April 1983 after going absent without leave. While in West Germany, he also worked as a band leader with the band The Touch, releasing an album of material called Love On Time (1984). It was later re-issued in 1989 as Early Works after his worldwide success as a solo artist. In 1986, he left West Germany for London, where he briefly played with The Bojangles. There he teamed up with producer Howard Gray and signed a recording contract with CBS Records.[conflicted source]\n', 'D\'Arby\'s debut solo album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D\'Arby, released in July 1987, is his best-known commercial work. The album produced hits including "If You Let Me Stay", "Wishing Well", "Dance Little Sister", and "Sign Your Name".\n', '

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