Debbie Currie

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Debbie Currie
Born
Deborah Currie

1974 (age 49–50)
Findern, England
Alma materUniversity of Huddersfield
OccupationJournalist
Parent

Deborah Currie (born 1974) is a British journalist from Findern, Derbyshire. A daughter of Edwina Currie, she fronted a cover version of "You Can Do Magic" by Limmie & Family Cookin', produced by Mike Stock and Matt Aitken and sung by Sinitta, which charted at No. 86 on the UK singles chart, and which she later revealed was part of an investigation into chart-rigging by The Cook Report.

Early and personal life[edit]

Deborah Currie[1] was born in 1974.[2]: Preface  Her parents, Ray and Edwina Currie,[3] met while both were accountants at Arthur Andersen;[4] both Ray and his brother Brian became senior executives at the firm,[5] while Edwina went on to serve as Conservative MP for South Derbyshire from 1983, spending two years as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health from 1986 before resigning after the 1988 salmonella-in-eggs controversy.[6] Ray and Edwina married in 1972, separated in 1994, and divorced in 2001.[7] Debbie has a younger sister,[3] and they grew up between the Tower House, their family home in Findern near Derby, a flat in Victoria, London, and Les Tuileries in Mouliherne near the Loire Valley.[2]: Preface  She attended Denstone College, where she was reprimanded for smoking aged 13, and had to retake all of her A-levels after being accused of cheating; she graduated with a C and two Ds, and read English and Communication Arts at the University of Huddersfield, where she worked as a lollipop lady[8] and at George Hotel, Huddersfield.[9] She used an October 2009 article in the Daily Mail to announce that she had become a single mother by choice after a drunken one-night stand aged thirty, and encouraged others to have their children before finding a partner.[10]

"You Can Do Magic"[edit]

In 1997, ostensibly after giving up a planned career in the police force,[11] Currie fronted a cover version of Limmie & Family Cookin's "You Can Do Magic", with Sinitta providing the track's vocals.[12] The single was produced by Matt Aitken and Mike Stock, the latter of whom had produced Tatjana Šimić's "Santa Maria" two years earlier, which had been bought into the charts.[13] To promote the single, she toured Scotland with pop band The Mojams,[11] claimed that she had enjoyed a four-in-a-bed orgy and lost her virginity at fifteen,[14] told Edwina about the latter in Tesco,[8] and posed with fried eggs on her breasts;[12] Edwina used an interview after her 1997 United Kingdom general election defeat to promote the song.[11] The song was released on 19 May 1997[15] on Barry Tomes' Gotham Records and was pulled three days later;[16] credited to "Mojams featuring Debbie Currie", the song charted at No. 86 on the UK singles chart.[17] Later that month, it was revealed that the single had been part of an elaborate ruse by Roger Cook's The Cook Report, which had been staged to investigate the practice of chart-rigging,[14] although rumours had swirled for two months before that,[18] including that Currie had been selected for the ruse due to her tabloid history;[8] it later transpired that Currie was in fact a trainee journalist for that programme's channel Carlton Television,[15] and that the track had been withdrawn because the programme's budget had run out.[16] She later moved to the Peak District and took a job as a gas-meter fitter.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Neustatter, Angela (3 October 1999). "Don't divorce me, Mum". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b Currie, Edwina (18 September 2012). Edwina Currie: Diaries 1992-1997. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-469-6.
  3. ^ a b "Mother never warned us, says Currie's daughter". The Telegraph. 13 October 2002. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Cover Story: Sleazy rider". The Times. 1 December 2002. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  5. ^ Foot, Paul (2 November 2000). "Medes and Persians". London Review of Books. Vol. 22, no. 21. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  6. ^ "1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim". 3 December 1988. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  7. ^ Hussain, Ali (5 June 2011). "Fame and fortune: Humiliated by student debt of £10". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b c "MUMMY'S GIRL". The Independent. 26 April 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Edwina Currie speaks at The George Hotel in Huddersfield". Yorkshire Live. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Interviews of the week (Katherine Jenkins, Debbie Currie, James May)". The Times. 25 October 2009. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  11. ^ a b c "This lady won't sing the blues". The Herald. 12 May 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  12. ^ a b Robinson, John (14 January 2006). "Notes of surprise". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Music-Week-1997-06-14.pdf" (PDF). Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Currie's spicy sauce was bait for Cook's confection". The Independent. 29 May 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  15. ^ a b "What's cookin'?". The Independent. 1 June 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  16. ^ a b "Music-Week-1997-06-07.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  17. ^ "MOJAMS FEATURING DEBBIE CURRIE". Official Charts. 31 May 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  18. ^ "ELECTION COUNTDOWN : Extra hot Currie may not be so spicy after all". The Independent. 30 March 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
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