Quick Facts
Biography
Deborah Leigh Anderson (born 16 December 1970) is a musician and photographer.
Family and early life
Deborah Anderson is the daughter of singer Jon Anderson and Jennifer Anderson (née Baker), and sister to singer Jade Anderson. On the 1983 Jon & Vangelis album Private Collection, Jon wrote the lyrics and sang "Deborah", a song dedicated to his daughter. Deborah's earliest musical work was on projects with her father: including backing vocals on "Song of Seven" in 1980, when she was just nine years old, and on Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989), the 1993 Latin American Jon Anderson solo tour, Deseo (1994), Angels Embrace (1995) and Toltec (1996). She was educated at Roedean School in Brighton.
She also worked in vintage fashion, owning her own store.
As a singer
1995 saw the release of "Feel the Sunshine" (Island Records) by Alex Reece featuring Deborah Anderson (included on Reece's 1996 album So Far). The drum & bass single made #2 in the European Charts and Top 20 in the UK charts. It made the European dance charts in 1998. This led to Anderson signing to Mo' Wax and her debut solo single, "Lonely Without You", was released in 1997.
She has worked as a vocalist on a number of projects, including work with DJ Krush ("Skin Against Skin" on 1997's Milight, released on Mo' Wax; later used on the TV series La Femme Nikita), Fallen Angels ("Blue Sky" on 1999's Part One), DJ Shadow, Zero 7, Le Tonne and Tipper (2000s "Dissolve (Out)" single, released on Fuel Records). She appeared and co-wrote three songs on Télépopmusik's album Angel Milk (EMI Music, 2005), including the single "Into Everything".
Her debut solo album, Silence, was released in 2009. The album accompanies "Paperthin", a coffee table book of her photography (see below).
As a photographer
Anderson has been described as "a photographer whose distinctive sensuality is located somewhere between classic French erotica and Helmut Newton". Her resume includes being art director for The Gansevoort Hotel group, campaign images for Pink's albums: I'm Not Dead, Funhouse and The Truth About Love, and brand-changing campaign images for Bebe Stores. Anderson has had her images published worldwide in such magazines as Elle, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Architectural Digest, Hello, Harper's Bazaar, FHM, Playboy, Vogueand Vanity Fair to name but a few.
Based on her first photographic exhibition, "Hollywood Erotique" (Los Angeles, 2004), Paperthin, published by Verlhac Editions (ISBN 978-2-916954-07-3) in 2008, is a book of her black-and-white photography based on 1930s erotica. Models include Minnie Driver, Fergie, Pink, Natasha Henstridge, Sophie Dahl and Tilda Swinton. The book accompanies her debut solo album Silence (see above). Anderson's second book of photography entitled Room 23 (ISBN 978-3866541252), out February 2009, features Sharon Stone, George Clooney, Sir Elton John, Minnie Driver, Dennis Hopper, Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Norman Reedus, Gina Gershon, Sting, Lindsay Lohan, Larry King and others as models. The book was organised in conjunction with Diana Jenkins to support the UCLA Sanela Diana Jenkins International Justice Clinic.
Her fine art book and feature documentary film Aroused (ISBN 978-0-9893744-0-8) features 16 female pornographic performers, released in cinemas in the U.S. in the summer of 2013 and internationally in January 2014. Sixteen actresses were involved: Jesse Jane, Belladonna, Katsuni, Allie Haze, Kayden Kross, April O'Neil, Francesca Lé, Lisa Ann, Brooklyn Lee, Alexis Texas, Asphyxia Noir, Teagan Presley, Ash Hollywood, Tanya Tate, Lexi Belle and Misty Stone.
In 2015, Anderson was one of the first clients for The Dog Ate My Homework, a new photographers' agency launched by Rihanna.