Biography
Born in western Massachusetts, Deb Talan trained on classical piano and clarinet from childhood. By age ten she was already composing original pieces, and upon finishing high school she supplied the score for a regional staging of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. After graduation she relocated to Portland, Oregon, where she assembled the folk-pop trio Hummingfish. The group spent more than five years touring the Northwest, issued the albums Hover and Love Traktor, and drew considerable praise before dissolving in 1999. Talan, who had begun stockpiling solo material, then moved to Boston.
In Boston she cut her debut solo album, Something Burning, issued in autumn 1999. The record earned Acoustic Guitar magazine’s Homegrown CD Award and three Boston Music Award nominations. Growing audiences brought invitations to major folk festivals, where she appeared alongside Suzanne Vega, Sarah Harmer, and John Prine. Several songs also found placement on the television series Felicity and Dawson’s Creek.
At a Cambridge, Massachusetts performance supporting Steve Tannen’s 2000 debut Big Señorita, Talan met the fellow singer-songwriter. Admiring each other’s work, the pair began co-writing, and the Weepies’ distinctive acoustic whimsy soon emerged. Talan released her second solo set, Sincerely, in 2002, while the duo self-issued their first album, Happiness, the next year. A third Talan solo effort, A Bird Flies Out, appeared in 2004. In 2005 the Weepies signed with Nettwerk Records; that December the label issued Say I Am You digitally, an album the couple had tracked in a rented Pasadena, California cottage, with the physical edition following in March 2006.
After touring through the remainder of 2006, Talan and Tannen settled in California. During 2007 they married, developed new songs, contributed material to Mandy Moore’s Wild Hope, and welcomed their first child. The following year brought the Hideaway LP. Eschewing extensive road work to raise their son, the duo nevertheless maintained visibility through numerous television and advertising placements, and the album reached number 31 on the Billboard 200. Further joint songwriting yielded the 2010 release Be My Thrill, another Top 40 entry.
Following a period devoted to family and to Talan’s treatment for breast cancer, the Weepies reconvened in the studio in 2014. The resulting sixteen-track Sirens appeared in spring 2015 and featured remote contributions from guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie), bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson), drummers Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam) and Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & the Attractions), and keyboardist Rami Jaffee (the Wallflowers). The album also charted on the Billboard 200.
Talan’s next project, Lucky Girl, marked her first solo album in thirteen years. Recorded at the couple’s Iowa City home studio with Talan performing every instrument, it was released by Nettwerk in 2017.
In Boston she cut her debut solo album, Something Burning, issued in autumn 1999. The record earned Acoustic Guitar magazine’s Homegrown CD Award and three Boston Music Award nominations. Growing audiences brought invitations to major folk festivals, where she appeared alongside Suzanne Vega, Sarah Harmer, and John Prine. Several songs also found placement on the television series Felicity and Dawson’s Creek.
At a Cambridge, Massachusetts performance supporting Steve Tannen’s 2000 debut Big Señorita, Talan met the fellow singer-songwriter. Admiring each other’s work, the pair began co-writing, and the Weepies’ distinctive acoustic whimsy soon emerged. Talan released her second solo set, Sincerely, in 2002, while the duo self-issued their first album, Happiness, the next year. A third Talan solo effort, A Bird Flies Out, appeared in 2004. In 2005 the Weepies signed with Nettwerk Records; that December the label issued Say I Am You digitally, an album the couple had tracked in a rented Pasadena, California cottage, with the physical edition following in March 2006.
After touring through the remainder of 2006, Talan and Tannen settled in California. During 2007 they married, developed new songs, contributed material to Mandy Moore’s Wild Hope, and welcomed their first child. The following year brought the Hideaway LP. Eschewing extensive road work to raise their son, the duo nevertheless maintained visibility through numerous television and advertising placements, and the album reached number 31 on the Billboard 200. Further joint songwriting yielded the 2010 release Be My Thrill, another Top 40 entry.
Following a period devoted to family and to Talan’s treatment for breast cancer, the Weepies reconvened in the studio in 2014. The resulting sixteen-track Sirens appeared in spring 2015 and featured remote contributions from guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie), bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson), drummers Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam) and Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & the Attractions), and keyboardist Rami Jaffee (the Wallflowers). The album also charted on the Billboard 200.
Talan’s next project, Lucky Girl, marked her first solo album in thirteen years. Recorded at the couple’s Iowa City home studio with Talan performing every instrument, it was released by Nettwerk in 2017.
Albums
Singles
