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Debra Byrne at 12 years of age was one of the original members of the
Young Talent Team, taking part in the very first song performed on the show
"Up Up And Away".
Although she has some wonderful memories of YTT, most embarassing moment
on the show was "...being told to wear Band-Aids over her nipples"!
Debra first won Australian hearts as "the little girl with the big voice"
on the original 'Young Talent Time',
where she performed for four years from the age of 12.
After 'Young Talent Time' she moved on to a recording career
and had hits with 'He's A Rebel' and then 'Da Doo Run Run'.
During this time she also won TV Week's Queen of Pop Award for
two consecutive years.
From the 16 year old Queen of Pop,
belting out 'He's A Rebel' to the heart-breaking thrill of
Grizabella's 'Memory' in Cats, Debra (as she now prefers to be called)
Byrne's career has been full of memorable highlights.
With two Logie Awards to her credit,
Debra's television career moved into high gear with appearances on
Cliff Richards' BBC-TV series in the U.K, with John Farnham in the simply
titled 'Fanham And Byrne' and her first acting role in the
Sammy Award-winning 'TV Follies'.
After a time out of the spotlight,
Debra had a triumphant return with a major role in the musical film Rebel.
She dazzled cinemagoers with her high voltage performance and was nominated
for an Australian Film institute Award. The next 8 years saw Debra build her
reputation as one of Australia's leading theatre ladies. She achieved critical
acclaim as Grizabella in Cats, where her performance of 'Memory' was legendary.
In 1988 she played the role of the tragic Fantine in
Les Miserables.
In the same year, she performed for the Prince and Princess of Wales at the
'Royal Bicentennial Concert', with a backing group of 1500 children.
And in the ultimate compliment Debra was chosen to sing the role of Fantine
in the Symphonic recording of Les Miserables, which featured the top
performers from productions worldwide. The album was awarded a Grammy Award
in the Musical Cast Show category.
In 1990 Debra left the cast of Les Miserables to
return to concert and cabaret
performances and to prepare for her album released in 1991
entitled 'Caught In The Act' which proved a huge success by going gold.
Debra is also recognised for her television dramatic
talent with guest roles
in TV dramas such as Police Rescue, GP, Law of the Land and many others.
1996-97 proved to be a traumatic year for her with the highly acclaimed and
much publicised lead role of Norma Desmond in the beleaguered production of
Sunset Boulevard.
After her highly public illness, 1999 saw Debra return with a new look,
new band and her very special guest and friend Bob Valentine for a series of
concert performances.
Debra has recently had another daughter, Lucille and has been doing a show at
the theatre restaurant Capers in Hawthorn, called
Caught In The Act Again.
When asked if she would do it all over again,
her response was: "Yeah, probably."
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