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Deborah Allen was born with a gift of music coursing through her veins, cutting a path in her life as relentlessly as the Mississippi carves through Memphis, the place of her birth.
Before her music encouraged her to pack a bag and set out on her heart's musical odyssey, Deborah can recall a southern childhood rich in love, color, and drama. The youngest of the three daughters of Rosetta and Leon Thurmond, their dark haired, hazel-eyed child, from the earliest age, seemed to draw from her family's wellspring of talents and optimism.
With a suitcase full of local talent contest and performance credits from Memphis, Deborah headed for Nashville at the age of 18. While working as a waitress, a chance encounter with legend Roy Orbison gave Deborah the opportunity to share her dream of a career in music with him. He later hired her to sing background vocals on his upcoming session. The $90.00 she was paid might as well have been a million.
Her incredible voice, beauty, and always handy confidence quickly landed her a job at "Opryland". As a regular cast member of the theme park's "Showboat," Deborah was invited to join Tennessee Ernie Ford as a part of a cast production he was taking on tour to The Soviet Union. It proved to be an invaluable experience. When safely back home in the States, her career momentum was now officially picking up speed. Veteran songwriting genius Shel Silverstein took Deborah under his wing, and considering the sea of pretty faces and new singers vying for their own star in the skies over 16th Avenue, he had one important piece of advice for her… "write songs"! His friendship, interest, and wisdom changed her life immediately and forever. While working on an Opryland TV special for Sandy Duncan, Deborah met singer/comedian Jim Stafford who after seeing Deborah perform, asked her to be a part of his cast on his new summer replacement TV series on ABC. This Deborah Allen opportunity meant a move to Los Angeles where she would spend the next two years working with Stafford on television, as well as performing on his concert dates as an opening act.
Feeling her music had deeper creative roots in her southern heritage, Deborah made her way back to Nashville. Once re-settled, there was no looking back. Her writing was flourishing by this time. RCA had become aware of her, and felt she was the right voice to overdub tracks recorded by the late country legend, Jim Reeves. The label was able to update their existing Jim Reeves tracks into brand new duets with Deborah Allen, which burst her onto the national charts, and into the music mainstream. "Don't Let Me Cross Over", "Oh How I Miss You Tonight", and "Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me", all reached the top 10, proving the Jim Reeves career on record had not yet ended, and Deborah Allen's was just about to begin.
Signed to Capitol Records, her first album release, "Trouble In Paradise", received wide critical acclaim. At that crucial time in her still fledgling career, an executive shift at her label locked Deborah's next session in the vault of corporate change. Included in that session was a song called, "Baby I Lied", which Deborah had co-written. Impressed with both the singer and the song, RCA Records picked up Deborah's session masters and immediately released "Baby I Lied". In addition to becoming a major country hit, "Baby I Lied", from her first RCA album titled, "Cheat The Night", achieved huge success in the pop charts as well. This tremendous recognition in both fields garnered Deborah two Grammy nominations as a singer and songwriter.
While establishing herself as a major recording artist, Deborah's incredible string of successes as a songwriter were fast establishing her as one of the hottest young writers in town. Her first recording project for Giant Records, "Delta Dreamland", in 1993, included the hit singles, "Rock Me", and "If You're Not Gonna Love Me", making a welcomed re-emergence of Deborah Allen on the charts. Her CD, "All That I Am", on Giant Records further displayed the passionate intensity of her singing and the lyrical beauty of her songwriting. Here was the heart of Deborah Allen.
In the year 2000 the release of her CD on Curb Records "The Best of Deborah Allen" was yet another creatively fulfilling chapter of Deborah's boundless career. During this time, her song "We Can Get There" performed by pop diva Mary Griffin on the hit soundtrack for the movie "Coyote Ugly" moved Deborah to multi-platinum status as a songwriter once again. A world class singer, songwriter, and producer Deborah's creative skills are second to none. As the consummate performer, her genuine warmth and natural love of performing shines through her high energy, and in her more intimate moments as she wrings emotion into every note she sings.
Now in the new millennium, with her talents culminating in international performances with world-renowned symphonies, Deborah remains as current as tomorrow morning's news. She has never stopped growing, never lost that first love feeling for the music that wells up naturally inside her. The result is quite simply the musical genius of a little girl from Memphis who had a dream…and the faith to make her dream come true.
