PLEASE support Carlisle Blues Festival this year ­– that’s the plea from one of the most well known names in music.

Singer Deborah Bonham – sister of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham ­­– has carved out an impressive career for herself since the mid 1980s.

She has a new album coming out at the end of August, and is scheduled to perform at this year’s Carlisle three-day festival in October.

But this week festival organiser Nick Westgarth revealed that ticket sales are only increasing slowly due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he is worried that the 2020 event will run at a loss.

And if music lovers are worried about spending money on a ticket at present, he is offering people the chance to ‘pledge’ to buy a ticket through the website, so he can be reassured that the demand is there.

This week Deborah Bonham – who is scheduled to appear at the festival for the first time on Sunday, October 4 ­­­– appealed to music fans to support the event and Nick.

“I have never been to the Carlisle Blues festival, but I have heard lots about it. It is a very well respected festival. It has been going for some years and a lot of people rave about it. I think Nick Westgarth has done an amazing job,” said Deborah.

“There are some big sponsors on board as well. It is a testament to how good the festival is. It always has a great line-up.

“The Climax Blues Band are there this year and they are absolutely amazing. I am really looking forward to doing it.

“Because of the lockdown and the coronavirus, it will be great to let our hair down again – I know I will.”

Deborah had performed at gigs this year before the lockdown, and was supposed to be touring in France at the moment. But the tour, along with gigs scheduled for the next few months, have all been cancelled.

She has finished recording her new album, which is now due to be released in August and is being ‘mixed’ by a music engineer in isolation at present. It means that the Carlisle festival may be the first opportunity for fans to hear the songs live.

Normally, Deborah writes her own material for albums, but the new album will be covers of blues songs ­– a project she has been wanting to do.

“Thank goodness for all the technology that we have. It has made it possible to mix the album over the internet. They are being sent to me via Wetransfer,” said Deborah.

“I am really excited about it. It has got some great players on it and some special guests.

“I have never done a covers album before and I just decided that I wanted to do this blues album.”

Deborah said that she is looking at using some of the profits from the sale of the album to fund mental health issues. A friend of hers in New York has been unable to attend his father’s funeral in this country because of the pandemic.

“Right now it is tough for everybody, in isolation, being away from your friends and family,” said Deborah.

“I think mental health right now is very important.

“Nick Westgarth has worked hard to establish the Carlisle festival and right now people need something to look forward to.

“It is not the end but it feels like it for a lot of people. I am lucky, I have some land and my animals. I can’t imagine what it is like for families with children living in an apartment with no garden.

“We have got this fantastic festival coming up – that is the goal. We are going to be stir crazy by then, but Nick is working so hard to make it happen.”

Growing-up in Worcestershire, Deborah said that her parents loved listening to music, although they weren’t musical themselves.

She was six-years-old in 1968 when the band Led Zeppelin was formed with her brother, John, the drummer. Singer Robert Plant lived nearby.

“John was always playing music. He grew up listening to music and in time I did too,” said Deborah.

“John’s talent just came out of nowhere. From a little baby he was always banging tins – he was always going to be a drummer.”

Amazingly her mother, Joan, ended up recording a song for the first time at the age of 80, in a band called The Zimmers, formed in 2007. Championed by TV star Graham Norton, it was made up of people in their 70s and 80s.

“My mum joined and did her first live recording at the age of 80 – Let It Be. We played it at her funeral,” said Deborah.

Deborah herself is said be critics to be one of the finest blues rock vocalists the UK has produced. A string of critically acclaimed original album releases, and performances at the Royal Albert Hall, London Palladium, and on the recent USA Amphitheatre Tour with Paul Rodgers, Jeff Beck and Ann Wilson of Heart, have kept her at the very forefront of the international press and music scene.

She has collaborated with Tom Jones, Keb Mo, Bettye LaVette, Warren Haynes and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, among others.

For more about Deborah, and to order her album when it is released, go to her website at www.deborahbonham.com

For more about the Carlisle Blues festival, and to book or pledge a ticket, go to www.carlislebluesfestival.com