Debora Iyall
| Debora Iyall | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 29, 1954 Soap Lake, Washington |
| Origin | Cowlitz Native American |
| Genres | Punk rock, new wave, post-punk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, artist and art instructor |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Associated acts | Romeo Void |
| Website | http://www.deboraiyall.com/home.html |
Debora Kay Iyall (Cowlitz pronunciation: [ˈʌɪalwahawa]; born 29 April 1954), best known simply by her professional name Debora Iyall /ˈaɪ.ɑːl/, a Cowlitz Native American, is an artist and was lead singer for the new wave band Romeo Void. Debora got her surname from her family adopting their ancestor Iyallwahawa's "first" name written at the time as Ayiel.
She was born in 1954 in Soap Lake, Washington, but grew up in Fresno, California. In 1969, at age fourteen, Iyall joined the Occupation of Alcatraz and stayed for six days. (The Occupation lasted nineteen months.) She had hoped to connect with the Native American activist community there, but felt "out of place".
While attending the San Francisco Art Institute, she joined Frank Zincavage and Peter Woods to create Romeo Void in 1979. Inspired by Joy Division, the band was remarkable for their modernization of the punk sound, and for Iyall's forceful, half-spoken delivery. They reached hit status on college radio stations with the suggestive and multi-leveled song "Never Say Never" in 1982. Their song "A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)" landed them in the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in 1984.
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