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.

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.

By 1982, she had begun collaborating with songwriter Rafe Van Hoy, and they married that year.

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 1983, Allen moved to RCA Records, finding success with her album Cheat the Night. The first single from the album, "Baby I Lied", became her signature song and her only crossover hit.

It peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Country chart and reached No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1984.

The song also climbed into the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary chart.

Allen followed her crossover hit with the country single "I've Been Wrong Before", which went to No. 1 on the Cashbox country chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Country chart in the spring of 1984.

The song also earned Grammy Award nominations for Best Country Song and Best 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).