Debbie Currie
Birth nameDeborah Currie
Birth date1974 (age 52–53)
Birth placeFindern, England
Alma materUniversity of Huddersfield
OccupationJournalist
MotherEdwina Currie

Deborah Currie (born 1974) is a British former journalist and a daughter of Edwina Currie. She released a cover version of "You Can Do Magic" by Limmie & Family Cookin', which charted at number 86 on the UK singles chart and was later revealed to be part of an investigation into chart-rigging by The Cook Report.

Life and career

Deborah Currie[1] was born in 1974.[2] She graduated from Denstone College, and also read English and Communication Arts at the University of Huddersfield, where she worked as a lollipop lady[3] and at George Hotel, Huddersfield.[4] In 1997, Currie covered a version of Limmie & Family Cookin's "You Can Do Magic", with Sinitta providing her vocals.[5] To promote the single, she toured Scotland with pop band The Mojams,[6] claimed that she had enjoyed group sex and lost her virginity at fifteen,[7] told her mother Edwina Currie about the latter in Tesco,[3] and posed with fried eggs on her breasts.[5] Edwina used an interview after her 1997 United Kingdom general election defeat to promote the song.[6]

The song was released on 19 May 1997[8] on Barry Tomes' Gotham Records and was pulled three days later.[9] Credited to "Mojams featuring Debbie Currie", the song charted at number 86 on the UK singles chart.[10] Later that month, it was revealed that the single was part of a ruse by Roger Cook's The Cook Report to investigate the practice of chart-rigging,[7] that the track had been withdrawn because the programme's budget had run out,[9] and that Currie was in fact a trainee journalist for Central Television[8] who had been chosen for said ruse because of her tabloid history.[3] She later secured an actual recording contract,[1] before moving to the Peak District and taking a job as a gas-meter fitter. In October 2009, she stated that she had become a single mother by choice at age thirty and encouraged having children before finding a partner.[11]

References

  1. ^ "ELECTION COUNTDOWN : Extra hot Currie may not be so spicy after all". The Independent. 1997-03-30. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  2. ^ Currie, Edwina (2012-09-18). Edwina Currie: Diaries 1992–1997. Biteback Publishing. p. (Preface). ISBN 978-1-84954-469-6.
  3. ^ "MUMMY'S GIRL". The Independent. 1997-04-26. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  4. ^ "Edwina Currie speaks at The George Hotel in Huddersfield". Yorkshire Live. 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  5. ^ Robinson, John (2006-01-14). "Notes of surprise". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  6. ^ "This lady won't sing the blues". The Herald. 1997-05-12. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  7. ^ "Currie's spicy sauce was bait for Cook's confection". The Independent. 1997-05-29. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  8. ^ "What's cookin'?". The Independent. 1997-06-01. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  9. ^ "Music-Week-1997-06-07.pdf". Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  10. ^ "MOJAMS FEATURING DEBBIE CURRIE". Official Charts. 1997-05-31. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  11. ^ "Interviews of the week (Katherine Jenkins, Debbie Currie, James May)". The Times. 2009-10-25. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2024-04-15.

Further reading