Deborah Bonham is an English rock and blues vocalist and the sister of John Bonham, the late drummer for the bandLed Zeppelin. Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, she lived with her father in The Old Hyde farm, Cutnall Green, Worcestershire. While living there, she started playing and recording music with her nephew Jason Bonham who has played drums on her two most recent studio releases.
Life and career
When Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968, Deborah was six years old. While living on the family's Old Hyde estate, Deborah and John's son Jason started playing and recording their own songs. At the age of 17, at Robert Plant's house in a nearby village, she recorded her first demos. With some encouragement and advice from mentor Plant, Bonham sent out the songs anonymously and soon landed her first record deal with the major European label Carerre Records in 1985, for whom she recorded the critically acclaimed album For You and the Moon. The album reached the top 5 in the NME chart, was DJ Simon Bates record of the week on BBC Radio 1 and sold well in Europe, being voted "Record of the Year" by Musik Mart magazine, in Germany. A period of recording for the Japanese Sam Corporation followed, with press and radio promotion including interviews for music publication Burrn! and J-WaveFM Radio. After this, English label RPM records released the CD single, "Perfect World" in 1995. Bonham spent 1996 organising a new band, together with new songs for an album and playing a series of shows such as headlining the Belfast Festival and a sell out show at the Bottom Line, in Shepherd's Bush. The beginning of 1997 saw the first of many trips to the United States. She performed live on Los Angeles's Rocklinesyndicated radio show to three million listeners throughout North America. This was followed by a special appearance with Jason Bonham and his band at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. Her band also opened for Jason Bonham Band's shows in Los Angeles House of Blues with guests Slash and Terry Reid, and subsequent other House of Blues appearances. Bonham also played at festivals including Glastonbury and Fairport's Cropredy Convention. In 2004, she recorded her second album on the Track label and toured in support of it. Neither of these first two albums were released in the United States. In June 2008, her third album Duchess was issued on ATCO by Rhino Records and released in the United States. Bonham has also toured and performed with Van Halen, Alannah Myles, Tim Rose, Uli Jon Roth, Humble Pie, Donovan, Lonnie Donegan, Jools Holland, Foreigner and Paul Rodgers.
