Cover of Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva

Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva

Internationally beloved opera star Deborah Voigt recounts her harrowing and ultimately successful private battles to overcome the addictions and self-destructive tendencies that nearly destroyed her life.

Read more

Call Me Debbieis one of the most electrifying performances of Deborah Voigt's life. The brilliantly gifted opera soprano takes us behind the velvet curtains to tell her compelling story—a tale of success, addiction, music, and faith as dramatic as any role she has performed. For the first time, she talks about the events that led to her dangerous gastric bypass surgery in 2004 and its shocking aftermath: her substantial weight loss coupled with the "cross addiction" that led to severe alcoholism, frightening all-night blackouts, and suicide attempts. Ultimately, Voigt emerged from the darkness to achieve complete sobriety, thanks to a twelve-step program and a recommitment to her Christian faith.

Colored by hilarious anecdotes and juicy gossip that illuminate what really goes on backstage, Voigt paints diverting portraits of the artists with whom she's worked, her most memorable moments onstage, and her secrets to great singing. She also offers fascinating insight into the roles she's played and the characters she loves, including Strauss's Ariadne and Salome, Puccini's Minnie, and Wagner's Sieglinde, Isolde, and Brunnhilde, sharing her intense preparation for playing them.

Filled with eight pages of color photos, Call Me Debbieis an inspirational story that offers a unique look into the life of a modern artist and a remarkable woman.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 288 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer Shares music, opera, memoir
  2. Stand Up Straight and Sing! Shares memoir, music, biography
  3. Barbra: The Way She Is Shares biography, nonfiction
  4. Pavarotti: My World Shares music, biography, opera

“People who read Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press
  2. Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2: The Complete and Authoritative Edition
  3. A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings
  4. Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records

“If you want more of the same (biography about music), start with these.”

  1. Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly
  2. The Universal Tone: My Life
  3. I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax
  4. No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan

“If it was the music that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography
  2. Florence Foster Jenkins: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer
  3. The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera
  4. A Woman Like Me

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story
  2. It's So Easy: And Other Lies
  3. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
  4. Orangutan: A Memoir