McColl, Deborah

She is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and psychotherapist born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a violinist father and a pianist mother, who were both amateur performers. She wrote poetry as a child and began to play the guitar when she was recovering hospital after surgery when she was thirteen.

She began working in the 1970s with artists that include Chick Corea, Cat Stevens and Tom Waits. This would lead her to becoming a backing vocalist known as the original Reeferette for Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band and she appeared and recorded with them over a 5-year period between 1978 and 1983 as well as co-writing his song “Fins” and appearing in the movie F.M.

In 2000 she concentrated on her solo career and released her debut album, Naked in the Garden, with the appearance of Patrick Lubow as a co-songwriter on two of the tracks and on harmonies. Other albums she has featured on include Son of a Son of a Sailor, You Had To Be There, Volcano, Coconut Telegraph, Somewhere Over China and One Particular Harbor by Jimmy Buffett, Crazy Me by Tim Krekel and the soundtrack of Coast to Coast.

In another side to her career she works as a psychotherapist in South Pasadena, California, after gaining her qualifications in 1990.

Jimmy Buffett recordings
Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffett)

Sources:

McColl, Deborah

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