Deborah Sachs
Without much formal training, Deborah Cempre Sachs began singing in public in Louisville, Ky in the early 90s, first at her church and later as a soloist for weddings, semi-professional choral groups, and the occasional jazz combo. By the year 2000 she had studied voice privately with Linda Thieneman & Frank Heller and keyboard sequencing with Chris Bizianes. Sachs took full advantage of membership in the Nashville Songwriters Association for several years, clocking many an interstate mile to learn the nuts and bolts of song crafting and pitching from industry professionals. To explore vocal improvisation techniques, she sought out some of the finest jazz educators in the Midwest such as Harry Pickens, Janice Borla, Cathy Segal Garcia and Judy Niemack.
As an emerging songwriter, she grew increasingly fascinated with the additional potential for creativity that she came to recognize first in the digital recording arts and later in the jazz format. Incorporating her business background with her ongoing quest to develop her musicianship, this vocalist/composer/audio engineer/record producer has never looked back.
In May 2007 she was the first woman to earn the BA in Music Technology from Indiana University Southeast where she immersed herself in music theory, history, and orchestration while engineering studio productions for other local musicians. She received a 2003 Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment Grant and in 2004 was awarded one of three Summer Fellowships from IU Southeast to produce a compilation CD for the School of Music that she titled, “exhibitions.” In the Spring of 2006 she began accepting commissions and her a cappella work, “spiritus”, was premiered by the IU Southeast Concert Choir. The University's Orchestra commissioned and performed her first orchestral piece, “The Melodie Unheard,” on June 16, 2007.
Sachs recently formed her own record label, Bonavita Records, to record, produce and release her November 2007 debut CD with jazz pianist, Todd Hildreth entitled, "Pure Imagination" -- an appealing jazz-inflected collection of 8 originals and 3 strikingly inventive medleys she arranged. A member of BMI, she was voted Favorite New Artist in December 2007 by SkyJazz Internet Radio listeners.
Bonavita Records has offices in Louisville, KY and Corona Del Mar, CA. For information on commissioning a musical work, music or lyrics only, and/or the transcribing of compositions, please write to deb@deborahsachs.com.