Photo credit: Demetrius Williams, The Usual Suspects LLC
Recently I connected with Debbie Graham and had a great conversation.
Debbie is a DJ that's been playing for 37 years. Born in Jamaica, West Indies, and very proud of her heritage and culture. She moved to The United States and had music on her mind as a young girl. The 1st record she played was Blue Magic - Three Ring Circus on her portable mini record player that her parents purchased for her while on a summer trip to New York City.
Why this song?
Debbie: I grew up around music, listening to artists such as The Manhattans, The Chi-Lites, Harold Melvin, and The Blue Notes. I remember liking that song because of its reference to the circus. That stuff was being played in the house all the time. I even started to go to the record store with my Dad and purchased this 45 record with my allowance.
Is this when you realized that you wanted to play more music?
Debbie: I think I always wanted to DJ from the age of 6 or 7 because I do have uncles that actually DJ'd back in Jamaica and I was around them all the time. I was always amazed at how they put beats together. I was always fascinated by that.
Debbie's Dad was a major influence on how she listened to music. He was actually a dancer back on the island. He used to dance on the weekends at various venues. He had a little dance group with 4 people that traveled and performed at several hotels on the north coast of Jamaica in the predominant tourist areas. Her Dad was an influence to her when it came to music and her taste in countless genres as he always had varied types of music in the house, all different genres. Also, when he traveled, he would bring records from Europe, and while on those trips Debbie would sneak around and play some of those records.
Jamaica is rich in culture from the food, reggae music, warm waters, salt mines, beautiful people, etc. How did you fall in love with House Music? Do you remember when?
Debbie: Growing up, I always listened to Disco. For me, Disco has evolved into what we call House Music today. I was a big Donna Summer fan, always listening to her stuff. I also loved Earth Wind and Fire, which I feel had a real big influence on House Music. I don't think a lot of people talk about that but if you listen to some of Earth Wind and Fire's dance tracks, there is an underlying House tone.
When we first migrated to Houston, Texas after leaving the islands, I attended High School there and was really listening to a lot more R&B and Disco. What we know as House today wasn't really a thing. It was either Disco or R&B or the man that was in a category by himself...Prince. Later, after I graduated, I moved to Atlanta to go to college. I had some friends that were DJs hanging out with me. They started out playing R&B and would also play remixes of R&B tracks that mimicked what we call House Music. Some of the stuff played would be on cassette and they played tunes from Frankie Knuckles tracks or Marshall Jefferson. They would play those tracks and I say "Man, I like that, it makes you want to move. Shortly thereafter, I started listening to it more and more. In the 90s, I was introduced to Ron Pullman and at that time, Ron was working at Ear Wax records on Peachtree Street. I would go in there and ask him, "Hey what are the hot House tracks?" He would start pointing things out and pulling 12-inch vinyl tracks for me. I was always excited to take those records home and just started playing around with it. At the time, I still wasn't DJing anywhere but home. I used to have dinner parties and invite friends over and the entertainment was me.
So, do you remember when you started playing for parties outside of your home?
Debbie: There are two sides to the story regarding me playing out. Prior to House Music, I played Reggae at a Reggae club in Stone Mountain, Georgia in the '80s. I used to hang out in the booth with the DJ. He would show me some basics of how to count beats. Then after a month of me hanging out there every Friday, he would say "Hey, I gotta go take a bathroom break and I need you to spin some tracks." So, I guess, I did play a little then and went further by playing at other Caribbean clubs in the ATL.
In terms of House Music, how that really started and when I became real serious about that, was when I was introduced to a young lady by the name of Lisa Cox. She used to throw parties in Miami and ended up moving to Atlanta and started doing parties here. So, Lisa and I have a mutual friend. My friend reached out to her (Lisa) and said "hey, I know a female DJ that is playing House Music." Lisa's parties were pretty much House Music parties with a sprinkle of hip hop and R&B throughout the night. My friend linked us so we could talk. Lisa finally called me and invited me to play. She used to do a Friday night at what was Club Jaguar (right behind the High Museum). Because I was not confident in my skill at that time. I said to her, "if nobody dances you don't have to pay me." Well, I worked for her for 4 years and got paid.
Since then, the people who used to come to the club and would see Debbie would get her information and started calling her to do a ton of private events. But with those events, she had to play all genres of music and House Music is really her favorite genre to play.
Debbie has played with a lot of great DJs, and there are so many that come to mind that she would like to play with. But her dream would be to play with Louie Vega. He's at the top of his game and has been for a very long time. She watches him and the way he communicates with the crowd. He's a master at it.
There are some places she'd like to play internationally such as Berlin and the UK. Debbie has always known those places to be very open to music and you don't have to stay in one lane. You can try new music and people are very receptive and stay on the dance floor.
Debbie is very professional, well prepared, and a talented DJ. Her head is always in the game and remains very focused. Preparation is so important. You have the right equipment, sound, and tracks, and everything is all good. There might be times people might not play fair in the sandbox as DJing continues to be a male-dominated space. Regardless of how good a female may be, they might not always be welcomed.
Did you have any challenges with people not playing fairly or has it been okay for you?
Debbie: I think for a lot of female DJs, not just for myself we have encountered some sort of challenge. For me, again I try to be professional at all times. Behind the scenes, I may have conversations with a promoter or another DJ that may put me on. I'll say "Hey, can you give me a chance to be in the spotlight or not be the opening DJ all the time?" It's difficult but my philosophy in life is to keep doing what you love, people are going to see you and will recognize all your efforts.
Because of you doing what you love and doing it so well, is this your 1st time going to Charivari?
Debbie: It would be my 1st time going to the festival but I'm very familiar with the festival. I do know a lot of DJs that play at the festival and I'm always watching live videos while the festival is going on. I have even gone to YouTube and found some information and highlights on Charivari there. I have had the opportunity to play in Detroit on several occasions and the music scene is just crazy(in a good way) and everyone seems to be supportive. There doesn't seem to be a lot of cliques. Everybody supports one another. I will tell you that when I play in Detroit (and I've played almost a dozen parties in Detroit over the years), I always play to a packed house.
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