Deborah Conway
Deborah Ann Conway (born 8 August 1959) is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, and had a career as a model and actress. She was a founding member of the 1980s rock band Do-Ré-Mi with their top-5 hit "Man Overboard". Conway performs solo and has a top-20 hit single with "It's Only the Beginning" (1991). The associated album, String of Pearls, also peaked in the top 20. She won the ARIA Award for Best Female Artist at the 1992 awards. Her next album, Bitch Epic, reached the top 20 in November 1993. Conway organised and performed on the Broad Festivals from 2005 to 2008—show-casing contemporary Australian female artists. Career 1959–1980: Early years and The Benders Deborah Ann Conway was born on 8 August 1959 in Melbourne, Victoria. Her father was a lawyer in Toorak and Conway attended Lauriston Girls' School—photos of her as a schoolgirl were displayed at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Later she went to University of Melbourne—modelling and singing her way through. A billboard campaign for Bluegrass jeans featured Conway's nude backside and the phrase "Get yours into Bluegrass". Other ads with Conway as a model include Big M and Crunchie. At the age of 18, Conway started playing guitar, and in 1980 she joined The Benders as a vocalist whilst still at university. Her father was so concerned when she joined the pop band that he sent her to a psychiatrist. Other members of The Benders included Neville Aresca (bass guitar), Les Barker (guitars, vocals), Dorland Bray (drums, vocals), John Campbell, Daniel Solowiej and Greg Thomas (guitar, keyboards). They performed mostly in Melbourne pubs playing original material—mostly written by Conway and Thomas—and Blondie and Devo covers. Conway also wrote songs with Bray. Conway had minor roles in Mallacoota Stampede (1979) and Hard Knocks (1980). 1981–1991: Do-Ré-Mi to Rose Amongst Thorns In 1981, Deborah Conway and Bray relocated to Sydney and formed pop rockers Do-Ré-Mi with Helen Carter on bass guitar and Stephen Philip on guitar. They recorded two albums, Domestic Harmony (1985) and The Happiest Place in Town (1988), and eight singles. Their best performed hit, "Man Overboard", peaked at No. 5 on the Australia Kent Music Report Singles Chart and became the eighth-highest-positioned Australian song on the 1985 End of Year Chart. In the early 1980s, Conway was the domestic partner of Paul Hester—drummer for Deckchairs Overboard and then Split Enz—before he left for Los Angeles in 1985 and formed Crowded House there. Deborah Conway played the lead role of "Julie" in an Australian teenage road movie called Running on Empty, which was released in 1982. In late 1983, Conway supplied vocals for actor Tracy Mann's singing in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV series Sweet and Sour (1984) including the hit title song, "Sweet and Sour". Two soundtrack albums and three singles from the series were credited to The Takeaways (and Various Artists). Conway sang lead vocals on half the songs and backing vocals on almost all the rest. Conway had a minor role in