She
is a singer-songwriter, also known as Deborah Jo White, born in Memphis,
Tennessee, as the youngest in a family of seven children, where her father
was a cattle farmer.Living in
Senatobia, Mississippi, she started to sing when she was around three years
old, inspired by the farm workers singing spiritual songs at church and
this followed by her singing in Senatobia's First Baptist Church with the
choir.By the time she had
reached twelve she was performing there as a soloist and also being picked
out to sing at school assemblies and as a member of the Glee Club.She started concentrating on a
musical career pretty much straight after leaving school and on the death
of her father and in 1972 joined the band Oil Can Harry.This catapulted her into touring
both nationally and internationally and after nearly a year and a half she
joined up as a Honkette with Lynyrd Skynyrd.She sang with them right up until 1977 when they decided
to revert to all male members and her final performance was in Las
Vegas.She was recalled to
them just before the plane disaster but she had opted to drive to a show in
Little Rock and so missed the fateful flight that carried all the other
members.She has said she
dreamt about the crash two nights before it happened and had called all the
members to warn them of what she had "seen".A year later she was back working
and recording with Artimus
Pyle and other band members in Alias and followed that by
becoming a singer with the Atlanta
Rhythm Section
.She also recorded with Billy Joe
Royal and performed live with .38 Special.She stopped singing in 1980 after being attacked
backstage and very soon got married and had a son.She had another child in 1985 who
passed away when she was only a month or so old and in 1991 had a further
daughter Destiny Faith.She
also refound her faith in 1985 and after relocating to Cullman, Alabama,
was convinced to start singing in church again.This subsequently led to her releasing the recordings In
Jesus Name and Double Portion, which includes a gospel version
of "Sweet Home Alabama".In 1995 she was featured in Freebird the Movie that told the
story of Lynyrd Skynyrd.The reordings she has appeared on over the years are numerous but
include Contraband by Alias, Champagne Jam by the Atlanta
Rhythm Section
and One More For the Road, Street Survivors, Skynyrd's
Innyrds by Lynyrd Skynyrd.Nowadays she is very involved in the music ministry and is
also part of the Saturday Night Special Band with Artimus
Pyle
, Leslie Hawkins and Ed
King who are all previous Lynyrd Skynyrd members.
9.Here she is with the surviving Lynyrd Skynyrd member,
Artimus Pyle, performing with the Southern Boys Band on "Sweet Home
Alabama". She is wearing red...
