"Tony was well known in Miami for a new genre called freestyle – a kind of electronic music with elements of disco, funk and Latin, which was all the rage at roller discos. My voice and lyrics jived with his beats, and we made two songs that would be my first singles as Debbie Deb on Jam Packed records: When I Hear Music and Lookout Weekend."
"I had signed a contract that said I was an artist for hire and would receive a few hundred dollars for appearing on each one. A few months later, the songs started blowing up, and Lookout Weekend even entered the Billboard dance chart."
"Then the clubs in New York and LA wanted to see who was singing them, but I wasn't a trained performer. Besides, I was a big girl, at a time when skinny girls like Madonna were around. It wasn't the look the record company wanted, so they found someone else to perform the songs for the live shows and appear on the EP covers."
Growing up in North Miami Beach during the 1980s, the artist developed expertise in R&B and rap through work at a record store. At 17, producer Pretty Tony approached her about making music in the emerging freestyle genre—electronic music blending disco, funk, and Latin influences popular at roller discos. Her voice and lyrics combined with his beats produced two singles: "When I Hear Music" and "Lookout Weekend" released on Jam Packed records under the name Debbie Deb. She received only a few hundred dollars per song under an artist-for-hire contract. The songs gained significant traction, with "Lookout Weekend" charting on Billboard's dance chart. However, the record company deemed her appearance unsuitable for the era's standards and hired another performer for live shows and EP covers, allowing the deception to succeed in the pre-social media landscape.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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