Deborah Bonham - 3 Albums (2012-2017)

Deborah Bonham (born 7 February 1962) is an English rock and blues vocalist and the sister of John Bonham, the late drummer for the band Led Zeppelin. Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, she lived with her father in The Old Hyde farm, Cutnall Green, Worcestershire (the location where John Bonham's fantasy sequence was filmed for The Song Remains the Same). 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.

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-Wave FM 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 Rockline syndicated 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.



Over 15 years separate Deborah Bonham's debut album from this, her sophomore set, but she remains instantly recognizable all the same. Her voice is a little more lived-in, perhaps, and her delivery a lot more assured, but still the dynamo who succeeded so brilliantly across For You and the Moon sparks and sparkles across The Old Hyde, to deliver one of the best blues-rock albums of the early 21st century. Self-composed for the most part, but striking especial gold across covers of "Need Your Love So Bad" and Ike Turner's "Black Coffee," Old Hyde is reminiscent in places of Maggie Bell; "No Angel" could almost be a lost Stone the Crows classic. But it's only a fleeting resemblance…as close as Bonham's self-composed "Go Now" is to the Bessie Banks blues of the same name. Similarly, the harder rocking instincts that drive the bulk of the album are derailed on a regular basis, with the mandolin-driven reggae lilt of "Open Up Your Heart" and the acoustic ballad "Without You" stepping especially far out to shatter preconceptions. Add guest appearances from brother Jason Bonham, bassist (and producer) Mo Foster, Robbie McIntosh and Mick Fleetwood, and that lineup alone lets you know that The Old Hyde mines some remarkable seams. Thirteen tracks strong, with not a bummer in sight, a limited-edition version of the album appends three further cuts by way of a bonus CD: covers of Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird," Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," and, incredibly, Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore," a spellbinding duet with Jason, and as powerful in its own way as the original ever was. ~ AllMusic Review by Dave Thompson

Track List:
01. Shit Happens [0:04:42.16]
02. Anything [0:04:08.62]
03. Go Now [0:04:25.33]
04. Need Your Love [0:06:00.63]
05. Black Coffee [0:04:21.33]
06. No Angel [0:04:37.24]
07. Devil's In New Orleans [0:03:47.31]
08. What We've Got [0:03:49.52]
09. Open Up Your Heart [0:04:31.20]
10. Without You [0:03:48.51]
11. Religion [0:04:52.53]
12. Ten Steps [0:04:37.48]
13. The Old Hyde [0:06:00.18]
14. Battle Of Evermore (bonus) [0:07:03.22]
15. Stay With Me Baby (bonus) [0:03:47.67]
16. Songbird (bonus) [0:04:21.29]





Track List:
01. Fly [0:02:53.66]
02. Painbirds [0:03:46.68]
03. Feel So Alive [0:02:59.72]
04. Spirit In Me [0:03:37.12]
05. Killing Fields [0:03:31.20]
06. Take Me Down [0:04:00.71]
07. Bring Out The Joy [0:04:40.46]
08. What It Feels [0:02:29.13]
09. Stop Now [0:03:55.21]
10. I Won't Let You Down [0:04:01.05]
11. I Need Love [0:04:34.36]
12. Lightning Ray [0:04:44.07]
13. Good Times [0:04:14.42]
14. Lay Me Down [0:04:28.43]
15. This Is My Life [0:03:02.29]





Bluesy belter Deborah Bonham sports a sound that's equal parts Bonnie Raitt/Grace Potter rootsy pop/rock and post-Koko Taylor urban blues. The younger sister of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, she released her first album in 1985, but her misgivings about the music business translated into a two-decade layoff, so DUCHESS is only her third album. The all-star cast of musicians includes Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, nephew Jason Bonham, and former Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley, but Deborah Bonham's larger-than-life voice is the undeniable focal point of every track here, from the stomping opener, “Grace,” to the emotive ballad “Waiting So Long.” ~ AllMusic Review by Jim Allen

Track List:
01. Grace [0:03:56.69]
02. Jack Past 8 [0:03:03.45]
03. Hole In My Heart [0:02:38.40]
04. Hold On [0:04:15.03]
05. Love Lies [0:03:23.04]
06. Pretty Thing [0:03:09.40]
07. Love You So [0:03:56.42]
08. How Do You Feel [0:04:41.55]
09. Chains [0:03:12.65]
10. Duchess And The Shufflemeister [0:04:53.40]
11. Waiting So Long [0:04:14.10]
12. [If You] Had A LIttle Love [0:03:37.16]
13. Blue [0:02:17.63]
14. The Old Hyde Revisited [bonus track] [0:06:10.04]



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