DEBRA MANSKEY

Debra Manskey is an ARIA award-winning singer/songwriter who’s been performing since childhood. Described by UK’s Rock’N’Reel magazine as “one of the finest female voices imaginable” Born into a musical family in rural South Australia, for the first ten or twelve years of her life, Debra thought everyone lived in a home where music was on the menu most nights of the week. ''Growing up, it was a revelation for me to discover that some families didn’t play music together or even own a musical instrument. We used to sit around the kitchen table and just do it! Looking back, it’s a gift I can’t thank my parents enough for''.

One of the founding members of Australian 80′s indie icons Wild Pumpkins at Midnight, Debra’s trademark soaring vocals contributed to the Pumpkins’ 1990 ARIA award for the album 'This Machine is Made of People'. Throughout her long career, Debra has graced many concert stages and festivals, including Port Fairy, Moomba, Cygnet Folk Festival and Tasmania’s jewel, 10 Days on the Island. In recent years as a solo performer, she has also supported other outstanding artists such as The Stiff Gins, Neil Murray, Stefan Grossman, Sophie B Hawkins, Mick Thomas, Dave Steel and the inimitable Dave Graney. In 1999 she released the EP 'Sirens Of The Sea'

Debra is also highly regarded as an arts administrator and educator, regularly conducting specialist workshops for adults and children in voice, songwriting and performance skills. She has worked as a Writer-In-Residence, been celebrated as Tasmanian Living Writer and released a live CD in 2006 which received excellent reviews and has now sold out. 

Her first full-length studio album 'The Woman on the Edge of the World' was released in January 2012 and is available as a digital download through SoundCloud. This proved so successful, she is planned a limited, numbered and signed CD release in 2015. Besides her solo work, Debra has played bass with punk/pop trio Straddlepuss and played rhythm guitar and sung with roots/blues/rock outfit The Fringe Dwellers. This featured guitarist/songwriter and recording whizz, Malcolm Battersby from Belfry Studios. Their album 'After Time' was released in 2012.

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