Deborah Allen | |
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 Allen in 1986 | |
| Born | Deborah Lynn Thurmond[1] (1953-09-30)September 30, 1953 (age 71)[1] |
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| Years active | 1979-present |
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| Origin | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
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Musical artist | |
Deborah Allen (bornDeborah Lynn Thurmond on September 30, 1953)[1] is an Americancountry music singer and songwriter.[2] Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on theBillboardHot Country Songs chart. She recorded the 1983 crossover hit "Baby I Lied", which reached No. 4 on the country chart and No. 26 on theBillboard Hot 100. Allen has also written No. 1 singles for herself,Janie Fricke, andJohn Conlee; top 5 hits forPatty Loveless andTanya Tucker; and a top 10 hit forthe Whites.
Allen was born Deborah Lynn Thurmond inMemphis, Tennessee.[2] She was abeauty queen when she was a teenager.[1]
Her early musical influences includedElvis Presley,Roy Orbison,Aretha Franklin,Al Green,Ray Charles,the Beatles,the Rolling Stones,Led Zeppelin and the then-current music played on Memphis stationsWHBQ andWDIA; as well as country musicians such asBrenda Lee,Patsy Cline,Tammy Wynette,Dolly Parton,Willie Nelson,Waylon Jennings andJohnny Cash. At age 19, Allen moved to Nashville to begin pursuing a music career.[1] She worked a short stint as a waitress at the localMusic Row IHOP restaurant. While there one day, she met Roy Orbison and songwriterJoe 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 theOpryland USA theme park. She was soon chosen by Opryland as a featured soloist and dancer for a State Department exchange tour of Russia starringTennessee Ernie Ford.[3]
Upon her return from Russia, Allen gravitated to the Nashville offices of Waylon Jennings,the Glaser Brothers andJohn 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 songwriterShel Silverstein.[4] 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 onJim Stafford's summer replacement series onABC television. She went on to be an opening act on many of the star's personal appearances. Stafford and producerPhil Gernhard brought Allen back to Nashville to record aCB radio novelty record, "Do You Copy", which was recorded live and released as a single onWarner 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.[3]
In 1979, producer Bud Logan saw Allen singing at a private party, and invited her to sing on five unfinished duet tracks by the lateJim 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"[2] – 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 withCapitol Records in 1980. Her debut album for the label that year,Trouble in Paradise,[2] produced her initial solo hit "Nobody's Fool", peaking at No. 24 on theBillboard 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 byTroy Seals) peaked at #20, #33 and #82 respectively. Allen had written a song at the time called "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" withBruce Channel andKieran 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 publisherDon 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 firstBillboard No. 1 single as a songwriter.
By 1982, she had begun collaborating with songwriter Rafe Van Hoy, and they married that year.[1]
In 1983, Allen moved toRCA Records, finding success with her albumCheat the Night.[2] The first single from the album, "Baby I Lied", became her signature song and her only crossover hit. It peaked at No. 4 onBillboard's Country chart and reached No. 26 on theBillboard Hot 100 in January 1984.[2] The song also climbed into the top 10 of theAdult Contemporary chart. Allen followed her crossover hit with the country single "I've Been Wrong Before", which went to No. 1 on theCashbox country chart and No. 2 on theBillboard Country chart in the spring of 1984. The song also earned Grammy Award nominations forBest Country Song andBest Female Country Vocal Performance. "I Hurt for You", also from Allen's breakthrough album, became a top 10 country hit in 1984. Her follow-up album that year,Let Me Be the First, was the first album digitally recorded in (and released from) Nashville. Allen made the charts once again in 1984 with "Heartache and a Half" (co-written with Van Hoy and Muscle Shoals songwriter Eddie Struzick).
In 1987, Allen released the single "Telepathy", written byPrince under the alias "Joey Coco".[5] A more pop-oriented album of the same name was also issued that year, and Allen released her last single for RCA, "You're the Kind of Trouble".
Allen co-wrote her No. 1 hit "Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby" and wrote the Tanya Tucker hit "Can I See You Tonight", and earned further No. 1s for Janie Fricke ("Let's Stop Talking About It") and John Conlee ("I'm Only in It for the Love"), the latter a co-write withKix Brooks and Van Hoy.[2]
After she co-produced and financed her albumDelta Dreamland, Allen signed a contract withGiant Records to release the album in 1993. The first single, "Rock Me (In the Cradle of Love)", charted at No. 29 on theBillboard Country chart. The video for "Rock Me" was filmed on Allen's own 16 mm Arriflex SR camera and edited on her Sony editing machine, and won Allen the Music City Summit Award for co-producing and co-directing. Allen had one other charting single fromDelta Dreamland, "If You're Not Gonna Love Me".
Allen's 1994 albumAll That I Am, which she co-produced with Giant label head James Stroud, featured the single "Break These Chains".
Allen also appeared as herself in the 1993Peter Bogdanovich filmThe Thing Called Love, and performed "Blame It on Your Heart" and the Don Schlitz ballad "Ready and Waiting" on the film's soundtrack.
Allen also signed a co-publishing deal and record deal with Curb music publishing and Curb Records in the 1990s. Her one album with Curb in 2000,The Best Of, included a new version of her 1983 hit "Baby I Lied". Five of Allen's songs were recorded byLeAnn Rimes – two appear on the multi-platinum albumBlue and three onSittin' on Top of the World. Mary Griffin's version of Allen's song "We Can Get There" appears in the filmCoyote Ugly.
Allen's albumHear Me Now was released through Delta Rock Records and GMV Nashville on August 16, 2011.[4] The first single was "Anything Other Than Love", co-written by Gary Burr. The album also contains Allen's song "Amazing Graceland", a tribute to Elvis Presley.
In 2013, she released her first holiday album,Rockin' Little Christmas, through Weblast Records, and played Christmas shows at the Fontanel Mansion in Nashville.
On March 22, 2019,Bill Lee, theGovernor of Tennessee, officially designated June 5, 2019, as a Day of Recognition to honor Allen.[6]
In 2021, Allen signed with a new record label, Audium/BFD Nashville. The first single, "Blue Collar Baby", was released in January 2022, followed by her first album for the label,The Art of Dreaming, on March 18, 2022.
Allen's publishing companies, Delta Queen Music and Delta Rose Music, are currently partnered with Delta Rock Music. She is represented by Raymond Hicks of Rolling Thunder Management.
In a 2019 interview withGuitar Girl, Allen shared that she was physically abused by her first husband.[4] Allen lives in Franklin, Tennessee.[7] She is married to music producer and promoter Raymond Hicks. Allen is a Christian.[4]
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