Starting out at Phoenix Players auditorium in 1999 with a group called Rada, Debbie found her place in showbiz. The group consisted of Angela Ndambuki, Liana Ochola and herself; the young girls took it by storm.
Debbie then moved to work with Nation media house as a TV presenter for a show called Warehouse before working with Paddy Jayson. It was here that she developed her skills and got contracts as a commercials’ girl. She also did a lot of promotions with several multinational companies as well as a leading telecommunications firms.
It is these commercials that launched her dancing career together with Rada, she participated in ‘Star Search’, which they won and became Nameless’ dancers. She dabbled in and ventured into music; causing the birth of Tattu, a leading girls’ band in Kenya consisting of her, Angela Ndambuki, Angela Mwandanda.
When Tattuu released their first single, Teso, it ranked highly in the music industry and received a good response. The girls continued and released nine more singles such as Haiya, Yuwapi (a collabo with AY), Songea, Solophobia (with Ulopa Ngoma), Come Back To Me, Be There (with Chris Adwar) and Sijamuona (with Jua Cali). They then kept a low profile for a while.
“Most people think that we called it quits as a group, but its all a rumour. We decided to venture into other businesses as we continue with music. Its all strategy,” says a radiant Debbie.
Debbie has worked with several radio stations as a presenter. Her first big job was with Radio Africa where she started as a swinger, then later on moved to own the main talk shows as she worked with K24 as a presenter of Talii Uenjoy show at the same time. She later on moved to the national broadcaster, KBC, and worked with Walter Mong’are on the Venus FM project.
As better opportunities came her way, she worked with Homeboyz, airing the Uptown Breakfast Show.
“Working with all the prominent stations was a different experience every time. I got my fair share of presenting. However, I knew I had more than that in me, so it was time to move to something bigger,” she explains.
Debbie has scooped awards for Club Kiss, Chaguo La Teeniez and Best Chemistry with Kajairo. She has also done voiceovers and emceed countless events.
The Marketing degree graduate has worked with almost everyone in the industry, including Bernsoft as their marketer before she moved to Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), taking up the same position.
“You can bet that this is not the end of the line for me. MCSK is great and I can work my skills here, but there is always room for expansion and that’s what I will do,” says a determined Debbie.
She also reveals that as a group, Tattuu is working on another single called Yekeke that will be released soon.
Away from showbiz, Debbie is the mother of beautiful Milan. She loves travelling and managing her own businesses, one of them being World Ventures. It’s the other side of Debbie — that of a hustling businesswoman.
“Other than music, my life revolves around my daughter. My silence and low profile is deliberate and the reason why I need to deal with Debbie ‘the singer’ differently from Debbie ‘Milan’s mother’. Everyone has a part of their life they want to own. I rarely regret things and I believe that the world is not as hard as people make it seem to be,” she concludes.
-By Ruby Orimba
