Debelah Morgan

debelah morgan

With her unique style and sound, she’s enjoyed hits the world over. Her music is emotional, filled with heartfelt insight, a finely honed pop ingenuity, and an upbeat positivity. Now, after touring the globe, Debelah Morgan is back, where she belongs: home on Atlantic Records and ready to show America what the world already has figured out. With her new Atlantic album “DANCE WITH ME,” the young singer/songwriter/producer has concocted a deliciously engaging collection of rich pop/R&B. Written and produced with her brother Giloh, the album bears the hallmark of Debelah’s childhood years listening to Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Lionel Ritchie along with a deep-seated creative need to express herself. “People really want to hear melodies and great lyrics,” says the Detroit-born/Phoenix-raised Debelah. “They want to hear about the beauty and the pain of love. So I knew that when I got another opportunity to record an album, that this was the kind of album I wanted to make: Music for all different types of people, not just for one demographic or genre that’s now how I live my life. I knew that the songs I wrote just had to be true to that ideal.”

The first single is the title track : a rhythmic and sexy romp that takes it’s musical hook from the musical classic, “Hernando’s Hideaway.” Fun and uptempo, with a tango-cha cha groove, “Dance With Me” is one of Debelah’s favorites and serves as a playful showcase for her expressive vocals. “We really tried to keep the album energetic, rather than have those dreamy ballads,” says Morgan. “Not that I don’t enjoy singing slower songs, but on this record I just felt more upbeat.” Upbeat would be word to describe the joyous, vibrant “I Remember.” “I love that song!,” exclaims Morgan. “It’s about that moment and that time of rejoicing when you really fall in love about pining down that moment when you know it’s love. That’s what ‘I Remember’ is about.”

In a musical field that often finds male producers guiding female singers through the studio, “DANCE WITH ME” is 100 per cent from the heart and soul of this uniquely talented lady and Debelah wouldn’t have it any other way. “Who knows an artist better than that artist themselves?,” she says. “Not that I don’t need some assistance sometimes, but ultimately, these are my songs and I just knew that I had to present them my way and with my brother’s help, of course! I guess that after years of having people tell me what to do, I knew that if I was going to make another record, this was how it had to be. And I’m glad I stuck to my guns.”

Determined to be a singer since childhood, Debelah was raised by a supportive, musical family with strong roots in the church. Debelah, who began piano lessons when she was three-years-old, sang her first composition in front of a 500-member church congregation at age eight. While attending the Tucson Fine Arts Magnet School, Debelah took classical and jazz vocal training to help develop her amazing coloratura soprano voice. During this time, Debelah’s musical idols included the likes of Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, and Minnie Riperton, as well as such jazz legends as Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, and Al Jarreau. In 1989, Debelah was named “Miss Black Teenage World 1990-91,” moved to Los Angeles, and started to pursue her professional career in earnest. She worked L.A.’s R&B and jazz club circuit and won the Grand Prize in the Showtime West Coast Theatre competition, sponsored by BMI. A few months later, she wowed the audience at the Pacific Talent Showcase, held at the Hollywood Palladium.

Debelah made her Atlantic Records debut in 1994 with “DEBELAH,” an album that teamed her with such producer talents as Troy Taylor & Charles Farrar (Boyz II Men), Keith Shocklee of The Bomb Squad (Public Enemy, Ice Cube), LeMel Humes (Miki Howard, Stephanie Mills, Whitney Houston), Grandmaster Flash, and Angela Stone of Vertical Hold. From there, Debelah moved on to Motown, for whom she recorded “IT’S NOT OVER,” a 1999 album issued for overseas release. Ever determined, she toured extensively and even performed for the newly elected democratic president of Nigeria. The hard work paid off with hit results in markets across Asia and Europe. “All those experiences filtered into my music,” she says. “Traveling and getting to meet people only proved to me that we are all the same and that music really can speak to everyone.”

Even though she was seeing the world, Debelah always yearned to return to the States, get back into the studio, and make the “DANCE WITH ME” record, her way, and bring her real dreams to fruition. Ask Debelah what she most wants people to get from her music and she’s straight-up honest: “First of all, I want people to have fun with it, but I also want to bring people back to a more beautiful and emotional expression of love to really go into how love feels.” How it feels is how it sounds: It sounds like “DANCE WITH ME.”


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