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Deborah Allen
Deborah Allen (born Deborah Lynn Thurmond on September 30, 1953) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. She recorded the 1983 crossover hit "Baby I Lied", which reached No. 4 on the country chart and No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen has also written No. 1 singles for herself, Janie Fricke, and John Conlee; top 5 hits for Patty Loveless and Tanya Tucker; and a top 10 hit for the Whites.
Allen was born Deborah Lynn Thurmond in Memphis, Tennessee. She was a beauty queen when she was a teenager.
Her early musical influences included Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Ray Charles, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the then-current music played on Memphis stations WHBQ and WDIA; as well as country musicians such as Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. At age 19, Allen moved to Nashville to begin pursuing a music career. She worked a short stint as a waitress at the local Music Row IHOP restaurant. While there one day, she met Roy Orbison and songwriter Joe Melson. They admired her spunk, and two weeks later, they decided to hire Allen to sing background vocals on a couple of Orbison tracks.
Allen also auditioned for and landed a job at the Opryland USA theme park. She was soon chosen by Opryland as a featured soloist and dancer for a State Department exchange tour of Russia starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Upon her return from Russia, Allen gravitated to the Nashville offices of Waylon Jennings, the Glaser Brothers and John Hartford, where her close friend, Marie Barrett, worked as a secretary. There Allen met her soon-to-be songwriting mentor, the poet, playwright, artist and songwriter Shel Silverstein. After watching her perform at a happy hour show at the Spence Manor on Nashville's Music Row, Silverstein advised Allen to pursue a songwriting career.
Allen's singing career received a boost when she was chosen to be a regular on Jim Stafford's summer replacement series on ABC television. She went on to be an opening act on many of the star's personal appearances. Stafford and producer Phil Gernhard brought Allen back to Nashville to record a CB radio novelty record, "Do You Copy", which was recorded live and released as a single on Warner Bros. Records. Although she appreciated the opportunity to record with Stafford and Gernhard, Allen was disheartened that after waiting patiently for two years to make her first record, it was a novelty tune. She decided to move back to Nashville to follow her true musical direction.
In 1979, producer Bud Logan saw Allen singing at a private party, and invited her to sing on five unfinished duet tracks by the late Jim Reeves. Three of these duets – "Don't Let Me Cross Over", "Oh, How I Miss You Tonight" and "Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me" – were released as singles, and made the top 10 on the country charts for Reeves' longtime label, RCA Records. She was billed as "The Mystery Singer" on the first release, an innovative promotion by label head Joe Galante.
Allen signed with Capitol Records in 1980. Her debut album for the label that year, Trouble in Paradise, produced her initial solo hit "Nobody's Fool", peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard Country chart. Her subsequent (non-album) country chart singles "You (Make Me Wonder Why)", "You Look Like the One I Love" and "After Tonight" (co-written by Troy Seals) peaked at #20, #33 and #82 respectively. Allen had written a song at the time called "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" with Bruce Channel and Kieran Kane. Although she pleaded with Capitol to let her record it and release it as a single, the label refused. With the assistance of music publisher Don Gant, Janie Fricke's producer, Jim Ed Norman, heard "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" and recorded it with Fricke. The single became Allen's first Billboard No. 1 single as a songwriter.
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Deborah Allen
Deborah Allen (born Deborah Lynn Thurmond on September 30, 1953) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. She recorded the 1983 crossover hit "Baby I Lied", which reached No. 4 on the country chart and No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen has also written No. 1 singles for herself, Janie Fricke, and John Conlee; top 5 hits for Patty Loveless and Tanya Tucker; and a top 10 hit for the Whites.
Allen was born Deborah Lynn Thurmond in Memphis, Tennessee. She was a beauty queen when she was a teenager.
Her early musical influences included Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Ray Charles, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the then-current music played on Memphis stations WHBQ and WDIA; as well as country musicians such as Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. At age 19, Allen moved to Nashville to begin pursuing a music career. She worked a short stint as a waitress at the local Music Row IHOP restaurant. While there one day, she met Roy Orbison and songwriter Joe Melson. They admired her spunk, and two weeks later, they decided to hire Allen to sing background vocals on a couple of Orbison tracks.
Allen also auditioned for and landed a job at the Opryland USA theme park. She was soon chosen by Opryland as a featured soloist and dancer for a State Department exchange tour of Russia starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Upon her return from Russia, Allen gravitated to the Nashville offices of Waylon Jennings, the Glaser Brothers and John Hartford, where her close friend, Marie Barrett, worked as a secretary. There Allen met her soon-to-be songwriting mentor, the poet, playwright, artist and songwriter Shel Silverstein. After watching her perform at a happy hour show at the Spence Manor on Nashville's Music Row, Silverstein advised Allen to pursue a songwriting career.
Allen's singing career received a boost when she was chosen to be a regular on Jim Stafford's summer replacement series on ABC television. She went on to be an opening act on many of the star's personal appearances. Stafford and producer Phil Gernhard brought Allen back to Nashville to record a CB radio novelty record, "Do You Copy", which was recorded live and released as a single on Warner Bros. Records. Although she appreciated the opportunity to record with Stafford and Gernhard, Allen was disheartened that after waiting patiently for two years to make her first record, it was a novelty tune. She decided to move back to Nashville to follow her true musical direction.
In 1979, producer Bud Logan saw Allen singing at a private party, and invited her to sing on five unfinished duet tracks by the late Jim Reeves. Three of these duets – "Don't Let Me Cross Over", "Oh, How I Miss You Tonight" and "Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me" – were released as singles, and made the top 10 on the country charts for Reeves' longtime label, RCA Records. She was billed as "The Mystery Singer" on the first release, an innovative promotion by label head Joe Galante.
Allen signed with Capitol Records in 1980. Her debut album for the label that year, Trouble in Paradise, produced her initial solo hit "Nobody's Fool", peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard Country chart. Her subsequent (non-album) country chart singles "You (Make Me Wonder Why)", "You Look Like the One I Love" and "After Tonight" (co-written by Troy Seals) peaked at #20, #33 and #82 respectively. Allen had written a song at the time called "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" with Bruce Channel and Kieran Kane. Although she pleaded with Capitol to let her record it and release it as a single, the label refused. With the assistance of music publisher Don Gant, Janie Fricke's producer, Jim Ed Norman, heard "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" and recorded it with Fricke. The single became Allen's first Billboard No. 1 single as a songwriter.