Henri Debs, the relentless self-taught man
Guadeloupean of Lebanese origin, whose patriarch emigrated to Guadeloupe at the end of the 19th century, Henri Debs is the eldest of eight siblings. Very young he was interested in music and taught himself to play several instruments, before setting his sights on the guitar.
At the age of 20, he joined Brunel Averne's big orchestra El Calderon Jazz, then the Esperanza orchestra.
From retailer to record store producer
Resourceful, Henri Debs was a traveling salesman before becoming the manager of a clothing store in Pointe-à-Pitre.
Customers were passionate about the music he played there, so much so that he decided to sell them too records, before setting up a small recording studio in the back room.
Equipped with a single microphone and a one-track tape recorder, Henri Debs created his first recordings.
The adventure of Debs Records, the name of his label, began in 1958.
The Guadeloupean Motown of Henri Debs
Success is on the way. 45s are selling like hotcakes.
Like Motown, it develops a "house" studio orchestra that accompanies the artists it produces, including Paul Blamar, Manuella Pioche, Casimir Letang, or again the great names of gwo ka (Dolor, Velo, Guy Konket, Anzala).
Within this accompanying group, we find among others his acolytes Edouard Benoît on tenor sax, Alain Gervais on drums and vocals, Serge Christophe on congas. With variable geometry, it will welcome generations of musicians of all kinds, including the future great masters of Creole jazz Alain Jean-Marie or the Martinican Marius Cultier who will make their debut there.
An epic slogan
Debs records, savior of French West Indian music! If we defend her nowadays, it's because Debs saved her in the past.
This was the slogan of Debs Records. Far from being modest, it was only the truth, so much did it dominate the market!
The Terror studio and the 97-1 Club: the imprint of Henri Debs
After having started out on rudimentary equipment, Henri Debs set up a state-of-the-art studio in the 1970s, which he nicknamed "La Terror", in a house above his club, the legendary Club 97-1 where generations of Guadeloupeans have come to dance on Friday and Saturday evenings.
An impressive catalog and major commercial successes
Henri Debs' label has produced artists of all kinds, originating of course from Guadeloupe, but also from Martinique and even from Haiti, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.
He thus promoted merengue, salsa and konpa music.
The list of those who have passed through his studios is long: Typical Combo, Experience 7, The Vikings of Guadeloupe, Tanya Saint-Val, Tatiana Miath, Frédéric Caracas, Luc Léandry, Eric Brouta, Chiktay, Jean-Jacques Gaston and many others.
In particular, he will have great commercial success with the following artists:
Les Aiglons (gold record), Francky Vincent (gold record and platinum record), Zouk Machine (platinum record).
In the end, Henri Debs recorded more than 6000 titles, more than 200 albums, wrote nearly 250 songs.
Henri Debs, the successful singer-songwriter
In addition to being a producer and musician, Henri has led a career as a successful solo or accompanied artist. During his long career, he will try out all the musical styles in vogue of his time: biguines, cha-cha-chas, boleros, slows, then cadence and zouk.
With Max Sévérin, known as Maxo, Henri Debs formed a popular musical duo, resulting in 25 albums.
At the end of his life, he even released a religious album.
Reading list
When he died, his son Riko took over and set out to digitize the entire catalog created by his father. On the other hand, the studio and the stores have closed.
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