Debora Iyall

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Debora Iyall

| image = Debora Iyall 1985.jpg

| image_size =

| landscape =

| alt =

| caption = Image of Debora Iyall

| birth_name = Debora Kay Iyall

| native_name =

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| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1954|4|29}}

| birth_place = Soap Lake, Washington, U.S.

| origin = Cowlitz Native American

| death_date =

| death_place =

| genre = {{hlist|Punk rock|new wave|post-punk}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Singer|artist|art instructor}}

| instrument =

| years_active = 1979–present

| label =

| associated_acts = Romeo Void

}}

Debora Kay Iyall ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|.|ɑː|l}}; {{IPA|sal|ˈʌɪalwahawa|Cowlitz pronunciation:}};{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} born 29 April 1954), is a Cowlitz Native American artist and was lead singer for the new wave band Romeo Void.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p5301/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Romeo Void|last=Mason|first=Stewart|publisher=AMG|accessdate=7 May 2010}} Iyall got her surname from her family adopting their ancestor Iyallwahawa's "first" name written at the time as Ayiel.{{cite news|last1=Lanham|first1=Tom|title=Debora Iyall from Romeo Void is back with 'Stay Strong'|url=http://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/debora-iyall-from-romeo-void-is-back-with-stay-strong/Content?oid=2176392|accessdate=13 February 2016|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|date=10 June 2011|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314035535/http://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/debora-iyall-from-romeo-void-is-back-with-stay-strong/Content?oid=2176392|url-status=dead}}

Early life

Iyall was born in 1954 in Soap Lake, Washington, but grew up in Fresno, California.{{cite book|title=Art, women, California : 1950-2000 : parallels and intersections|url=https://archive.org/details/artwomencaliforn00full|url-access=registration|editor-last1=Fuller|editor-first1= Diana Burgess|editor-last2=Salvioni|editor-first2=Daniela |date=2002|publisher=Univ. of California Press|isbn=9780520230668|location=Berkeley [u.a.]|page=[https://archive.org/details/artwomencaliforn00full/page/198 198]}} She is an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.{{cite web|last=Sadiq|first=Sheraz|title=REBROADCAST: Netflix series 'Spirit Rangers' centers Native American voices and traditions for young audiences|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2023/05/18/netflix-series-spirit-rangers-centers-native-american-voices-and-traditions-for-young-audiences/|accessdate=17 August 2024|website=Oregon Public Broadcasting|date=18 May 2023}}{{cite news |title=Netflix animated series features another Cowlitz episode |url=https://tdn.com/news/local/netflix-animated-series-features-another-cowlitz-episode/article_fe029122-edd7-11ed-9bd1-b35654458949.html |access-date=11 May 2023 |work=The Daily News |date=8 May 2023}}{{Cite Instagram |author=Cowlitz Indian Tribe |author-link=Cowlitz Indian Tribe |user=cowlitztribe |postid=C5oo6Mbsl0L |title=Debora Iyall, recipient of the Native American Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, is back! Her new band, The Raton 3, is releasing new digital recordings every few months. |date=11 April 2024 |access-date=17 August 2024}} In 1969, at age fourteen, Iyall joined the Occupation of Alcatraz and stayed for six days. She had hoped to connect with the Native American activist community there but felt "out of place".

Romeo Void

While attending the San Francisco Art Institute, she joined Frank Zincavage and Peter Woods to create Romeo Void in 1979.[http://www.technodyke.com/music/knife_2.asp Debora Iyall interview] The band was notable 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.

Solo albums and art career

Romeo Void parted ways in 1985, and the following year Iyall released her debut solo album Strange Language on Columbia Records. After a lukewarm reception of the album, Iyall returned to her first love, as an artist and art instructor. Throughout the 1990s she taught art at the 29 Palms Cultural Center and for the Arts Council for San Bernardino. She also led hikes and made presentations for the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum as a paid docent, and in 1995 she started Ink Clan, a print shop dedicated to teaching screen printing and other arts to young Native artists.{{cite news |last1=Sullivan|first1=James |last2=poet|first2=j.|title=BGP Battling Photographer|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/BGP-Battling-Photographer-2938124.php |accessdate=4 March 2016|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=4 April 1999}} Ink Clan was once housed in the South of Market Cultural Center in San Francisco.{{cite book|author1=Community History Project, Intertribal Friendship House, Oakland, California|editor-first1=Susan |editor-last1=Lobo |title=Urban voices : the Bay Area American Indian community |date=2002|publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson, Arizona |isbn=9780816513161|page=92|lccn=2002002848}} She presently resides in New Mexico, with her husband, audio engineer and instructor Patrick Haight.

Since late 2009, Iyall has been performing new material written with Peter Dunne at a variety of local venues in Northern California. In 2010, Iyall's second solo album, Stay Strong, was released, and in January 2012, an EP, Singing Until Sunrise, was released. On 2 November 2019, Iyall was awarded as a Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the 19th Annual Native American Music Awards.

In 2023, Iyall appeared as the Great Cowlitz Sa'mn Spirit in the season 2 episode "Salmon, Where Are You?" of the Netflix children's show Spirit Rangers.