Star PR Marketing & Promotions

Debbie Parks grew up and fell in love with the music business at a very young age. As a teenager, she worked and managed the largest Wherehouse Record store in California while at the same time promoting concerts such as the "Dick Clark Caravan of Stars" series and came to enjoy the behind the scenes workings of radio and concert promotion,  personal management and later producing and writing.

In her first job at popular radio station, WAKY in Louisville, KY, it was her task to preview new album releases sent to the radio station by the record companies and help choose the songs she thought had the potential to be a hit from then unknown artists. The DJ would then play the songs and listeners would call in and vote on which song they liked the most.  The radio station would then add the song to their playlist. As a result, WAKY was one of the only AM radio stations to break Cream, Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.

At 17, Debbie found herself helping her mother in their new nightclub called Kaleidoscope. It was an "underground" club back when the only radio stations that were playing the new rock music were  obscure FM radio stations. New bands like, Cream, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Blue Cheer and Steppenwolf were on their first tours when Kaleidoscope was considered a must play venue. Soon, the "underground scene" was proliferating all over the country, nowhere more than the west coast. That's when Debbie moved with her small entrepreneurial family to the music capital of the world, Hollywood, CA.

Once there, she found camaraderie and support from forward thinking music industry professionals who welcomed her with open arms. Having established invaluable relationships with all the major booking agencies like, International Famous and Creative Management Associates, they encouraged her to open a new nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, a few doors down from the already established venue, Whiskey A-GoGo. The artist's booking agencies wanted a choice where they could showcase new talent.

Talent agency presidents, Tom Ross and David Foster, along with top record producer Gabriel Meckler and new recording artists like Jimmy Messina, John Kay and Stephen Stills physically helped with the build out as well as providing a proper sound system for the new club. Some of the acts who played there included Ike & Tina, The Grateful Dead and Poco debuted their show there. It was during that time that she had the privilege of meeting Janis Joplin, Santana, The Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix through one of her mentors, Bill Graham.

In the late 70's she married and started a concert promotion company with her husband, Jon Parks, former manager & recording engineer for The Beach Boys. During that time she learned how to promote, market and  facilitate  large arena sized concerts with bands like Genesis and Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys and many others. From there and with the encouragement of The Beach Boys, Debbie & Jon opened the only 24 track "State-of-the-Art" recording studio in Las Vegas. Relationships were established with all the major record labels and whenever a major artist was making an extended appearance at a hotel, they would bring their masters and continue working on them at the studio. Clients included Cher, the soundtrack for Cheech and Chong's "Things are Tough all Over", Mel Tillis, Captain and Tenille and Barbara Mandrell. Debbie also began producing and writing jingles for national clients such as Hires Root Beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken for which she won Addy Awards. She learned how to engineer and produce using her previously honed 'radio ears'. 

Later, the studio acquired a state-of-the-art video truck, and produced and recorded events such as the Ali vs Holmes fight and a television special on Don King. After a few Gold records,  Grammys, many more years of Addy's and the advent of digital recording it  was time to bid "audios" to the recording business.

After a decade long hiatus from the music business to raise her family, she never lost her passion for music.  By the early 90's, Debbie developed a love of smooth jazz by first hearing a song by a young new up and comer named Brian Culbertson. Listening to smooth jazz radio reminded her of the R&B funk sound that had given way to disco a decade before and she was hooked. Frequenting clubs and concerts that featured this new music, she became its biggest fan. Her entrepreneurial mind wondered what she could offer to this new recently discovered music genre.

During her hiatus, Debbie honed her marketing expertise as the Marketing Director for Hollywood Park Casino and through ownership of the largest sports memorabilia retail chain in the country called Hit & Run. She took her marketing skills and with the encouragement of her  favorite smooth jazz saxophonist, Innervision recording artist, Will Donato, decided to apply her skills to the love of her life.... music.