Deborah Coleman
Encyclopedia
Deborah Coleman is an American
blues
guitarist, songwriter and singer. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Music Award nine times.
and raised in a music-loving military family that lived in San Diego, San Francisco, Bremerton, Washington, and the Chicago area. With her father playing piano, two brothers on guitar, and a sister who plays guitar and keyboards, Deborah felt natural with an instrument in her hands, picking up guitar at age 8. She has played at the top music venues such as North Atlantic Blues Festival (2007), Waterfront Blues Festival
(2002), the Monterey Jazz Festival
(2001), Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival
(2000), Sarasota Blues Festival (1999), the San Francisco Blues Festival
(1999) and the Fountain Blues Festival (1998).
Coleman's Blind Pig debut, I Can't Lose (1997), was an album of ballads and blues stories, and guitar playing and singing. Her version of Billie Holiday
's "Fine and Mellow" got a lot of airplay on college and public radio stations around the U.S. Soul Be It (2002) included the opener "Brick", "My Heart Bleeds Blue", "Don't Lie to Me," and a jump blues
track, "I Believe". These were followed by What About Love? (2004) and Stop the Game (2007).
Time Bomb (2007) featured three women blues musicians: Coleman, Sue Foley
and Roxanne Potvin
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitarist, songwriter and singer. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Music Award nine times.
Biography
Coleman was born in Portsmouth, VirginiaPortsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
and raised in a music-loving military family that lived in San Diego, San Francisco, Bremerton, Washington, and the Chicago area. With her father playing piano, two brothers on guitar, and a sister who plays guitar and keyboards, Deborah felt natural with an instrument in her hands, picking up guitar at age 8. She has played at the top music venues such as North Atlantic Blues Festival (2007), Waterfront Blues Festival
Waterfront Blues Festival
The Waterfront Blues Festival is an annual event in Portland, Oregon, United States featuring three to five days of performances by blues musicians. The festival started in 1988 and takes place in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, along the west bank of the Willamette River in downtown Portland...
(2002), the Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
(2001), Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival
Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival
On a warm night in August 1969, several thousand blues lovers gathered in a small athletic field in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival. By the time blues icon B.B. King took the stage to close the show, it was clear that something magical was happening in this southeast...
(2000), Sarasota Blues Festival (1999), the San Francisco Blues Festival
San Francisco Blues Festival
Debuting in 1973, the San Francisco Blues Festival is the longest running blues festival in the United States. Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the blues festival to educate the public about the history and evolution of the blues...
(1999) and the Fountain Blues Festival (1998).
Coleman's Blind Pig debut, I Can't Lose (1997), was an album of ballads and blues stories, and guitar playing and singing. Her version of Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
's "Fine and Mellow" got a lot of airplay on college and public radio stations around the U.S. Soul Be It (2002) included the opener "Brick", "My Heart Bleeds Blue", "Don't Lie to Me," and a jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
track, "I Believe". These were followed by What About Love? (2004) and Stop the Game (2007).
Time Bomb (2007) featured three women blues musicians: Coleman, Sue Foley
Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and...
and Roxanne Potvin
Roxanne Potvin
Roxanne Potvin is a Canadian bilingual Gatineau, Quebec-based singer, blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Potvin moved to the Ottawa area when she was two...
.
Main releases
| Year | Title | Genre | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Takin' a Stand | Blues/Rock | New Moon |
| 1997 | I Can't Lose | Blues-Rock | Blind Pig |
| 1998 | Where Blue Begins | Blues/Rock | Blind Pig |
| 2000 | Soft Place to Fall | Blues/Rock | Blind Pig |
| 2001 | Livin' on Love | Blues/Rock | New Moon |
| 2002 | Soul Be It | Blues/Rock | Blind Pig |
| 2004 | What About Love? | Blues | Telarc |
| 2007 | Stop the Game | Blues/Rock | JSP |
Compilations
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Time Bomb | Blues Rock | Ruf (Idn) | with Sue Foley Sue Foley Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and... & Roxanne Potvin Roxanne Potvin Roxanne Potvin is a Canadian bilingual Gatineau, Quebec-based singer, blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Potvin moved to the Ottawa area when she was two... |