Debbie Kruger (born 14 August 1962) is an Australian
music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
and pop-culture writer, she wrote ''Songwriters Speak'' in August 2005, which contains interviews with 45 Australian and New Zealand songwriters about their craft.
Kruger was the Sydney correspondent for weekly entertainment newspaper, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', for three years with the
moniker of krug.
She works in
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
with her company Kruger PRofiles and in radio broadcasting, she has also worked as Manager of Communications for
Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).
Biography
Debbie Kruger was born in 1962 in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, the first child of English-born Lou Kruger and Romanian-born Lisa Kruger ''
née'' Berkowitz.
She was brought up with younger sister Paula in the
Jewish faith
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...
as members of th
North Shore Synagogue She attended primary school in a class group of seven children at
Masada College, then secondary school with 200 students at
Killara High School
Killara High School is a co-educational, coeducational public secondary school, located on Koola Avenue in East Killara, Sydney. Established in 1968, Killara High School is one of the highest performing comprehensive non-selective public schools i ...
. She dropped out of her Communications degree course at Mitchell College of Advanced Education (now
Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explore ...
) in
Bathurst in 1981.
She completed tertiary studies with a Bachelor of Arts, followed by Master of Arts in Theatre Studies, at the
University of NSW
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...
.
Kruger developed an interest in
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
and decided to undertake a career in
dramaturgy.
Kruger's first job was with the
Australian Writers' Guild in 1985 as a membership officer,
she became a
freelance journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
in 1986,
writing on pop-culture, including Music, Film & Television, Arts & Theatre, Travel, and Lifestyle. Kruger was a staff writer for the weekly entertainment newspaper, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'',
becoming the Sydney correspondent during December 1986 – February 1990, and then based in London from March 1990, but she left ''Variety'' at the end of the year.
While writing for ''Variety'' her reviews used Krug as her
moniker.
Moving back to Sydney in mid-1992, Kruger established a national
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
business, Kruger PRofiles, whose clients included the Brisbane Biennial International Music Festival and the
Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF). Kruger based herself in
Byron Bay
Byron Bay (Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headla ...
from 1993 and provided a weekly radio show on community radio station
Bay FM 99.9 called ''Debbie Does Breakfast''. She spent a year in Los Angeles in 1998–1999 before moving back to Byron Bay in mid-1999 as PR Manager for Sunspirit Aromatherapy.
Kruger returned to Sydney and became Manager of Communications and Public Affairs with the
Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) during 2000–2003.
She orchestrated the publicity for APRA's 75th anniversary celebrations on 28 May 2001 including the showcasing of
APRA's Ten best Australian songs at the
APRA Awards,
20 songs from the Top 30 had been announced by Kruger four weeks earlier. While involved with this project, Kruger met and interviewed many of Australia's finest songwriters and decided to write a book; she left APRA in 2003, to concentrate on her writing. On 1 August 2005, Kruger published, ''Songwriters speak : conversations about creating music'', which contains interviews with 45 Australian and New Zealand songwriters about their craft.
As of March 2009, Kruger was living in Byron Bay, broadcasting ''Debbie Does Breakfast'' on Bay FM 99.9, and running Kruger PRofiles.
Personal life
Kruger has a younger sister, Paula.
Their father, Lou Kruger, was born in England, relocated to Australia, retired in 1990 and died on 17 March 2004.
Their mother, Lisa ''née'' Berkowitz, was born in Romania in 1940, grew up in a United States foster home, relocated to Australia in 1958 where she met and married Lou in 1959.
Lisa had a love of painting and travelling, and died in Australia on 9 November 2007.
Bibliography
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruger, Debbie
1962 births
Australian music journalists
Australian freelance journalists
Australian people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Australian people of English-Jewish descent
Australian women journalists
Jewish Australian writers
Journalists from Sydney
Living people
University of New South Wales alumni
Writers from Sydney