Debra Soule
| Debra Soule | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 19, 1965 |
| Origin | Minneapolis, MN, United States |
| Genres |
Roots rock Alt Country |
| Years active | 2001-Present |
| Labels | Sunhill Records |
| Website | http://www.debrasoule.com |
Debra Soule, born January 19, 1965, is an American singer/songwriter originally from Minneapolis, MN who is known for her powerful singing voice and her flaming red hair. In 2004 she moved to Nashville, TN. She has released three CDs on her independent record label Sunhill Records.
Biography
Debra has been singing since she was 8. Throughout her teenage years she performed with many cover bands throughout the Twin Cities and gained considerable attention for her ability to sing songs by Heart and Janis Joplin with the power and presence of the original singers.
In 1992 she married a local guitar player named Rob Solberg and together they started their own recording studio, Hypersound Music & Audio Design. At this studio Debra and her husband produced recordings for dozens of local bands and singers before turning their attention to commercial music production.
In 1996 Debra began to write and produce music for the Advertising and Film industries. During this time Debra wrote, produced, and performed on more than 100 jingles for clients that included Select Comfort, The Auto Show, Rent-A-Wreck, and Tires Plus. She also wrote songs for dozens of productions including the Ewe Know animated series, the Jungle Joe adventure series (produced by Hollywood screenwriter Jerome Armstrong), and the best selling kid’s CD “Kid’s Dance Party”.
In 2000 Debra and her husband created Sunhill Records as a vehicle to release Debra’s first solo album. In 2001 that CD (entitled “Vapor”) was released, produced by Debra and Chris Bintliff. The song “Amen” from this CD was featured in an online re-mix contest sponsored by Sony Music to promote its ACID music software. Two other songs from this CD (“Think You Know” and “Perfect Love”) appeared in the feature-length independent film One Day in May directed by Mark Todd Bruner for Double-Edged Entertainment.
In 2002 Debra was asked to put the words of the children’s book “Angel Kisses” to music. This book was written by Debra’s friend Ginny Kelly as a way to help Ginny’s three young adopted daughters deal with her fight with terminal cancer. Ginny’s courageous story captured the attention of TV producer Geoff Stephens and on June 11, 2002 Dateline NBC aired a story about Ginny, her daughters, and her book. The story featured the “Angel Kisses” song as performed by Debra.
In 2003, after several successful seasons of giving popular Christmas concerts, Debra released her second CD simply entitled “Christmas”. This CD featured 10 popular Christmas songs arranged and performed in Debra’s soulful roots rock style. This CD has been picked up be several smaller distribution companies including That’s Great Music of Nashville, TN.
In late 2003 Debra recorded 13 original songs at Echo Bay Studios in Minneapolis MN for a CD that was to be called “Free”. For reasons never fully disclosed, those recordings were never completed or released. In 2004 Debra moved to Nashville, TN where she immediately recorded and released a 5-song CD entitled “Interlude”. The liner notes on this CD mentioned an upcoming full length CD which was to be released the summer of 2005, though that recording never appeared.
Debra has only given a handful of live performances since moving to Nashville in 2004. But the performances she has given have apparently been enough to attract a sizeable following. Debra’s sold out February 2, 2007 appearance at Puckett’s in Franklin TN left dozens of fans out on the sidewalk, forced to watch the show through the windows.
In late spring 2007 Debra once again entered the recording studio (Vibe56 Studios, Music Row, Nashville, TN) to begin work on a new CD. She is working with seasoned music producer Phil Madeira who has written and produced for artists such as Toby Keith, Alison Krauss, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, and others. Sunhill Records has confirmed that the CD will feature ten original songs, and two covers: “Gone” which was written by Jeffrey Steele and hit #3 on the Country Music Charts as recorded by Montgomery Gentry, and The Parting Glass, a traditional Irish song.
Debra’s official website was updated in June 2007 in anticipation of this new release.
Discography
2001 – Vapor (Sunhill Records)
2003 – Christmas (Sunhill Records)
2004 – Interlude (Sunhill Records)
2008 - Dust & Daisies (Sunhill Records)