We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Debo Ray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Debo Ray below.

Hi Debo Ray, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Imposter Syndrome has been an unexpected problem; it felt as though no matter how much I’ve learned and cultivated my craft, there was still so much to learn. Even when opportunites in leadership would come up, it was easy to consider myself “not good/smart/capable enough” and get caught up in confusion and low self-confidence, and it showed in my singing. My solution was and is to consistently affirm what I do know, and to allow CURIOSITY to guide my steps forward. When one sees things through the eyes of a child, everything becomes new and fresh, and awe is at the forefront of your experience. I remember singing a set of tunes that I loved since I was young, and finally feeling the same joy as the first time I sang them by myself in my bedroom. So much peace came from that, and my audience was super into it! I felt like a superhero!

Debo Ray, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Cambridge, MA. My parents are first generation Haitian immigrants and very active in the Christian church, my grandfather and Mom are both pastors so the church was a big part of my upbringing. Both my parents are singers so my musical talents were always encouraged from an early age. We moved around a lot and I was always trying to fit in with the other kids in school, not always successfully as my interests were not the typical ones.

I’ve always been drawn to singing and music in general as long as I can remember. Probably my parents’ influence has a lot to do with that. Music was always a big part of the church services my family attended and they would have me sing when I was as young as five. Later, as a teenager, i was enrolled in a program sponsored by the Handel & Hayden Society of Boston where I was trained in the classical tradition.

Eventually, I was able to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston where i was able to explore jazz, rock, r&b and world music.

After graduating Berklee and singing with many great bands and playing some of the top venues all over the world, including the Newport and Monterey Jazz festivals, Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, I heeded the advice of many of my colleagues who have urged me to pursue my own career as a solo artist. I’ve been writing and recording new material for the past two years and have released two original singles, entitled Filly and COPE. My third single, In the Box(RealMe) is set for release in October o0f 2023. We also filmed an epic video for COPE which is available on my Youtube channel @iamdeboray. In the meantime, I’ve got a Residency at The Regent Theatre in the Boston area and doing five separate shows over the course of 2023. Oh yeah, I had one of the principle roles Frin an opera entitled The Jonah People with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in April of this year. So, lots going on and I’m super excited about it all.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

1. Be yourself! 2. Be prepared!
3. Even the musicians who play at the highest level are just regular people – Without naming names, I’ve worked with some very well-known and accomplished folks and through personal contact I realized that they are just like everyone else and shouldn’t be put on a pedestal.
4. Practice with a purpose – I’ve realized that less is more when you work on honing your skills when you keep this in mind.
5. You don’t have to be like everyone else, but you do have to be mindful to communicate your essence in a way that connects with others. I’m trying to practice that on a daily basis as I build my solo career.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There was an open-mic gig where I had the opportunity to play but I didn’t know what type of crowd it was going to be or who I’d be playing with. I was probably 15/16 years old and was super nervous. I came in and saw a bunch of R&B players playing some really groovy music and decided, “let’s do a ballad!”. I got up to the keyboard and did a song called “Out Here On My Own” from the movie Fame. The bass player looked at me and said, “do you have a chart”? And I responded, “you can chart it out”, not realizing he was asking ME for the music. I guess I learned the value of listening in all aspects of musical collaboration.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.iamdeboray
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdeboray
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/iamdeboray
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmDeboRay

Image Credits
All photos by Holy Smoke Photography