Debbie Deb is an American dance-pop singer, best known for 1980s freestyle dance classics such as Lookout Weekend, and When I Hear Music.
Debbie was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida. A music aficionado from a young age, she was “discovered” at the age of 16 by producer Pretty Tony at a Miami record store where she was working. The first song Debbie recorded was “When I Hear Music,” which she co-wrote with Pretty Tony. Released on the Jam Packed record label, the song has since become a staple in clubs and on radio station dance mix shows. Other hits followed, including “Lookout Weekend” and “I Wanna Work It Out”.
However, Debbie was overweight and suffered from low self-esteem, and found her sudden fame difficult to cope with. She was crushed when her record company decided not to put her picture on the sleeves of her records and, in a Milli Vanilli-esque move, even hired an “impostor” to perform and pose as Debbie Deb. As a result, she made little, if any, money from her hit singles, and was so hurt by the experience that she stopped recording for years, relying on her work as a hairdresser to make ends meet. 1
Debbie finally resurfaced on the recording scene in 1995 with the album She’s Back. Now living near Philadelphia, she continues to work as a hair stylist and also keeps busy performing frequent concerts around the United States, especially “freestyle revival” shows with artists like Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, The Cover Girls, and Shannon. Gwen Stefani has cited Debbie as an influence, and in the summer of 2006, Janet Jackson featured a cover version of “Lookout Weekend” on her Web site. |
