About

| ABOUT DEBBIE DEANE

“Deane has soul to burn.”
—Mike Brannon in AllAboutJazz.com

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the multitalented Debbie Deane hails from a musical world without boundaries, where rock-oriented singer-songwriters and top-tier jazz musicians breathe the same creative air. Debbie grew up listening to Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Steely Dan. As a teenager she explored the fertile ground of the Great American Songbook and played Bach and Chopin on the piano. Introduced to folk, funk and fusion by her older brothers, she studied the great divas of the jazz and pop worlds developing an intense interest in jazz harmony. While earning a degree in English Literature from Harvard University, Debbie embarked on her music career, studying jazz intensively at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, honing the trained piano skills that she continues to display as a singer-songwriter. At first her songwriting and singing came as an afterthought, but then took center stage.

In her performing and recording life, Debbie had the good fortune to work with acclaimed jazz musicians who share her interest in quality songwriting — people like drummer Brian Blade and the late, great bass player Jeff Andrews. Moving back to Brooklyn, she lived in a “jazz den” with some of the city’s most promising jazz musicians, including saxophonists Seamus Blake and Terry Deane, drummer Marc Miralta and pianists John Stetch and George Colligan. “Everyone came through our place,” says Debbie. “The people I’ve played with, they’re all my friends and they’ve known me, they’ve been my roommates and people I went to school with.” Their presence on Debbie’s recordings and at her live shows is a powerful endorsement.

Debbie has performed extensively in New York and beyond. She shares the musician chair with renowned Richard Harper at All Souls Bethlehem Church in Brooklyn, NY.

Debbie’s songs have appeared on TV’s “Party of Five,” on Jennifer Love Hewitt’s album Let’s Go Bang, and in a number of indie films.

“I wish all debuts could be as strong as this one. And it’s not due just to the the stellar sidemen...it's the heart and soul of the artist's music and vision. In a word, soul,” wrote Mike Bannon in Jazz Review.com about Debbie’s self-titled debut CD. Produced by bassist Jeff Andrews and featuring Wayne Krantz, Joshua Redman, Brian Blade, Phil Markowitz and more, the album was licensed by ESC Records and released in Europe in 2005. She was featured on Radio France, and on Lufthansa Airline's Inflight program in 2006. The label also honored Debbie by including her rendition of “Any World (That I’m Welcome To)” on the 2006 compilation Maestros of Cool: a Tribute to Steely Dan.

In June 2007, Debbie released her second album, the richly rewarding Grove House, on RKM Records, a label run by the illustrious jazz saxophonist Ravi Coltrane. Once again, she brought warmth, sophistication and rock-n-roll edge to the table, leading another cast of fine musicians including RIchard Hammond, Robin Macatangay, Tony Mason, Chris Cheek and her husband Jim Whitney. Selections produced by Elie Massias and Dan Stein, the album features songs of love, ambivalence and freedom.

In 2008, Debbie and Jim welcomed their son Julian to the world. In the years to come, Debbie became very involved with Julian’s public elementary school, PS 130 in Kensington, Brooklyn. She co-founded the PS 130 Music Committee with other PS 130 musician parents—pianist Bennett Paster and bassist John Montagna. Debbie also co-founded the PS 130 Music Festival which is now an annual event.

Throughout it all, Debbie has been a busy piano teacher. For the past three decades, she has nurtured generations of young piano students.

Debbie’s performance highlights include a tour of Japan with renowned jazz pianist George Colligan. She also played a featured role in the off-Broadway show “A Pure Gospel America”. She was a cast member of the Great American Pop Show: the History of American Popular Music, which toured elementary schools in and around New York City.

She was honored to be chosen to sing the first ever National Anthem at the Barclays Center for the inaugural Brooklyn Nets game in 2013.

2018 brought Debbie in the recording studio once again to begin working on her new album 'Red Ruby Stars'. Her 1st album in 14 years, 'Red Ruby Stars' was released on ModernIcon Recordings/Ropeadope Records in the fall of 2021. 12 original songs with Christopher Thomas on bass and Brian Blade on drums, with engineer extraordinaire Rich Lamb and Adrian Harpham producing.

This next chapter is proof of the evolving continuum of Debbie's journey recovering from heartbreak, grief, and guilt and steadfast lifting into boundless hope and inspiration. Red Ruby Stars explores the many facets that make up the pianist/composer/vocalist and while launching on the heels of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Debbie continues to bring her signature warmth and honesty to the songwriting with the reflection she has come to be known for as she openly meditates on a past that left many scars and a future approached with openness and insight.

In twelve powerful songs that fuse Debbie’s sophisticated jazz harmonies with intimate autobiographical songwriting, Debbie writes unflinchingly about the break-up of her first marriage, her ex-husband’s addiction and passing, the loss of a friend on 9/11, a woman’s call for sexual freedom, and the need for prayer and forgiveness as a way to move forward. Debbie sings with the power of emotional survival in a heartbreak filled landscape, as she declares her intention to live and love expansively.

During the COVID-10 pandemic, Debbie worked virtually with longtime musical collaborators, including producer Adrian Harpham and legendary musicians Christopher Thomas, and Brian Blade with special guests Donny McCaslin, Marvin Sewell, Tom Guarna, Robin Macatangay, Chris Bruce, Rich Lamb, Alex Alexander, Clark Gayton, Dave Eggar, Jonathan Dinklage, and Barry Danielian.

Together they created a sound that blended Debbie’s beloved influences: jazz, pop, R&B, gospel, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Carole King, Earth Wind & Fire and even Pink Floyd. Together they created a textured musical sound topped by her expressive and nuanced singing. Not only did this project keep her hopeful and productive during the worst of the pandemic, but the result is a cycle of well-crafted songs that speak to the personal and the universal utilizing an eclectic musical palette.