Debra Anne Byrne (born 30 March 1957 in Melbourne) is an Australian entertainer.
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Byrne made her television debut on Brian and the Juniors, an early predecessor of Young Talent Time, which was hosted by a young Brian Naylor. She stayed with the show for 12 months. In 1971 she was cast as one of the original six Young Talent Time cast members. Byrne proved to be a popular cast member and in 1974 she won the Logie Award for Best Teenage Television Personality and the TV Week Queen of Pop Award.
In 1975, her final year with Young Talent Time, she released her first solo single, He's a Rebel, a cover of the Phil Spector produced hit by the Crystals. For seven weeks the song stayed at Number 1 on the Victorian pop music charts. Her follow-up single was also a huge hit. It was a double A side consisting of a second Crystals cover, Da Doo Ron Ron, and another track called The Boogeyman. Later in 1975 she again won the Logie Award for Best Teenage Television Personality and the TV Week Queen of Pop Award.
In 1976 she was invited to London by Peter Gormley Management to record at Abbey Road Studios under producer Cliff Richard. While in London, she made many public appearances, including The Cliff Richard Show.
Byrne's first Australian television guest appearance as a featured solo artist was on The Graham Kennedy Show at the age of fifteen. Since then she has made a guest appearance on every major Australian Tonight show and was a regular performer on the ABC series The Saturday Show. In 1978 she merged singing with acting for the first time on the ABC's Sammy Award winning Follies series. In 1980 Byrne co-starred alongside John Farnham in the ABC television show Farnham and Byrne.
After much rumour, Byrne's career stalled between 1980 and 1985 due to a heroin addiction. A further stumbling block occurred when a sex tape of her and a former partner was stolen and leaked to the media.[1] However, she made a successful and highly-publicised career comeback in 1985 with the starring role as Kathy McLeod, opposite Matt Dillon, in the film Rebel. She was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in this film.
In 1988 she was invited to perform at the Royal Bicentennial Concert for the then Prince and Princess of Wales. Her backing group for the concert was composed of 1500 children.
Byrne has enjoyed a successful stage career interspersed with appearances on such televisions programs as The Secret Life of Us, Home and Away, Police Rescue, The Flying Doctors, G.P., State Coroner and Law of the Land.
In 1991 Byrne released her album Caught in the Act, which eventually went gold. And in 1994 she released her contemporary album Sleeping Child, which includes songs about her children, relationships, sexual abuse, substance dependence, loss and grief. She continues to be a prolific stage artist, and has starred in many productions including the roles of Grizabella in Cats and Fantine in Les Misérables, Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and feature roles in Jerry's Girls and Hot Shoe Shuffle. She was invited to reprise the role of Fantine for The Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Misérables, which featured the best performers from worldwide productions. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Theatre Musical Soundtrack. She also recorded a little known 'eco' song called Nature's Lament, with the Australian cast of Les Misérables.
In recent years Byrne has been most notable for her role of Norma Desmond, opposite Hugh Jackman, in the first Australian production of Sunset Boulevard, and her extensive live cabaret and concert performances. She also wrote, directed, choreographed and stars in the live cabaret show Girls, Girls, Girls. The show also stars Wendy Stapleton and Nikki Nicholls and was the 2002 winner of the Herald Sun Best Cabaret Award. And her live cabaret show, Caught In the Act Again, earned a Green Room Award nomination for Best Cabaret Performance and Best Musical Arrangement.
Since 1972 Byrne has been a regular performer at the Christmas Eve Carols by Candlelight concert at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl. At the 2005 concert she performed a duet of Silent Night with her five-year-old daughter, Lucille ("Lulu"), who was making her professional stage and television debut.
Byrne is divorced from Australian actor Neil Melville and was the partner of French musician, Ced Le Meledo, with whom she collaborated on the live show Paris-Melbourne. She has three daughters.
In 2006, her autobiography Not Quite Ripe was published.
On 6 July 2007, it was announced that Byrne would be reprising her role of Grizabella in the ExitLeft production of Cats, to be staged at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart in late-October 2007.[2]
In 2009 she played the role of Sue in Metro Street at its world premiere in Adelaide and its subsequent tour to South Korea.
Byrne is currently playing the Bird Woman in the original 2010 Melbourne production of the stage musical, Mary Poppins.