Native to Southern California and offspring of the 50’s beat-generation, Ms. Yeager’s childhood reads like a mixed bag, ranging from Jack Kerouac to Tennessee Williams. Debby’s mother, an aspiring bohemian artist, sold her paintings yet struggled to make ends meet. By the mid 1950’s, the family was forced to relocate from their free-spirited Venice Beach home to South Central Los Angeles. It was there that a young Debby first heard Gospel music. The family eventually moved south planting roots in Orange County, California.

There Ms. Yeager attended a small dance academy. And over the years, she honed in on her skills including ballet, tap and jazz “interpretive dance”. At age 17, after graduating from high school, Debby left home and rented a room that she refers to as “the Hippie House”. There she began writing poetry and lyrics.

Yeager began her singing career in 1976 on the night club circuit. She also toured Japan as a Rhythm and Blues singer in 1981 and 1982. She studied voice and vocal technique under the instruction of Florence Riggs for over a decade. Since then, Ms. Yeager has studied along side Grammy award-winning composer and vocal director, Allan Copeland. She has also performed and recorded with the late Bulgarian pianist, Milcho Leviev and the legendary Blue Note recording artist, Bob Dorough. Dorough makes a special guest appearance on 2 tracks from Yeager’s self-produced debut album “Mood Swing”, released in 1996. For a brief time, Jazz Legend Horace Silver mentored Debby by providing some fast lessons in business - including his cautionary tales of recording contracts and shady dealings with record labels.

In the years to follow, Ms. Yeager stepped away from the stage due to unforeseen circumstances. But she continues to compose and record while writing a psychology-based book titled “Stolen Moments”.

“Clearly she rebounded from her personal dark period and has emerged on the other side.”
– Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine

Over the next two decades, “Mood Swing” was remastered with an added bonus track and re-released in 2017. By 2018 Ms. Yeager released “Precocious”, a highly arranged selection of mostly instrumentals, written for 3 part flutes featuring flutists Ali Ryerson and Kathy Moine. The rhythm section includes:  Tom Rainer on piano, Tom Warrington on bass, Joe La Barbera on drums, Jerry Pinter on reeds and Ron Eschete on guitar. Released in 2019, “Psychology of Jazz” displays the versatility and analytical interpretation of life’s ups and downs. Debby Yeager “Live 1999”, was finally released in 2020. This concert captured the amazing Kevin Tullius on drums, who passed away just a few months after the performance, and pianist Milcho Leviev who also passed prior to its release. In 2022 Yeager connected with Chris Mulkey, American film and television actor and Blues singer/songwriter. Together they recorded two duets featuring Mulkey’s gritty vocal style and soulful harmonica improvisation. In 2023, performing live and returning to the studio, Yeager focuses on her original material including a composition about Charlie Parker titled “Invention of Bebop”. And in Debby’s words, “I’m just making up for lost time”.

“A style that fits squarely in the lineage of the iconic vocalists who help shape the Cool Jazz movement of the 1950’s.”
– Neil Tesser, Grammy Award-Winning American Journalist, Radio Host, Music Critic and Author.
(Life Time Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism and author of "The Playboy Guide to Jazz".)