Debi Derryberry On Music, Jimmy Neutron, and a New Lullaby Album

Debi Derryberry, a lifelong singer best known as the voice of the animated star Jimmy Neutron, is possibly the world’s most adorable human — and not just because of her naturally higher-pitched, sweet vocal range. 

The musician mom is as sunny as her Indio, California, hometown, upbeat and positive even when she’s getting over a small cold that makes her voice a little raspy, preparing for a day of more than a dozen, back-to-back auditions in her sound booth, or during voice-over tutorials on her popular TikTok channel— all part of the hustle of a professional voice-over artist. 

Perhaps to balance out all of that energy, Derryberry’s releasing a lullaby album this month: Go to Sleep is a soothing collection of songs inspired by the zz’s, with lush instrumentation, Derryberry’s pretty vocals, and a touch of humor. (Pro tip: To experience the album with animation, check out Debi Derryberry KIDS YouTube channel).

The best part: While there are lots of lullaby albums out there in the digital realm, this one has put at least one child to sleep after just a couple of songs (if that’s not a testament to a good lullaby album, then what is?). Streaming these from her YouTube channel, I also feel more relaxed at the end of a long day.

We recently caught up with Derryberry to discuss her all the things, from nurturing her love of singing to landing the Jimmy Neutron gig — and becoming a sought-after voice coach on TikTok, with 1.3 million followers and counting!

The edited transcript is an excerpt of the full YouTube interview (below), between Debi Derryberry and Rockmommy editor and founder Marisa Torrieri Bloom.

[SEE RELATED: Genevieve LeDoux’s ‘Star Forest’ Taps into a Magical, Musical Metaverse That Urges Kids to Reconnect]

Rockmommy: Hi Debi! Can you tell us so tell everyone about yourself? Obviously, like, I know who you are. But like, how do you introduce yourself at parties and events to other moms who have kids who are musicians?

Debi Derryberry: Well, I say I’m a cartoon voice and — I’ve always done music. I do country music, I do children’s music, and voiceover has been my love and my life for the last 30 plus years, as well as music. But when I introduce myself at parties it’s — Derryberry is my real name! 

Rockmommy: Oh my gosh, that’s funny. Yeah, I was gonna ask that. Is that your like birth name? Cause it’s a great showbiz name. And it happens to be especially great for the voiceover that you do! 

Debi Derryberry: My birth name is Debbie Greenberg and then I married Doug Derryberry in Nashville and two husbands later I kept Derryberry because I got my first TV series and then I was in Screen Actors Guild and then you have to pick a name and I was already Debi Derryberry and it sounded so silly so I kept it and it’s kind of worked for me all these decades.

Rockmommy: You had a very interesting upbringing. Can you tell us more about it? 

Debi Derryberry: I was born in San Diego, but raised in a little teeny desert town called Indio, which is by Palm Springs. And this was, you know, many decades ago when we were the only Jewish family there. Maybe there was one or two others, but in this whole city, we were the only ones. So we’d drive 30 minutes to get to Sunday school and we always had music. My Zadie, my grandfather, was an Orthodox cantor, which is like the singing counterpart to the rabbi. And, you know, I would go to Jewish camp and the music was such a big thing for me. I got my first guitar when I was nine. And, you know, being an Indio [California], there is only swimming and whatever else you choose to do. So either in the water or I was in the pool or with my guitar. 

Rockmommy: You studied kinesiology in college. 

Debi Derryberry: I wanted to be a doctor … or an orthodontist, something in the medical field because dad said, ‘you know, that’s a good choice’ and ‘you can make a good living doing that.’ So I continued doing music, but went to UCLA after high school … I was busking on the streets of Westwood, writing songs, doing music the whole time. And I did graduate and I did apply to med schools and I didn’t want to go. I wanted to sing. So as you know, as it happens when you have a passion, you’ve got to pursue your passion. And I have a lot of drive and a lot of passion. So went to Nashville instead of going to medical school and started singing. And then I started booking jobs as a singer, but never as a grownup. I was a jingle singer.

Rockmommy: Mm-hmm. 

Debi Derryberry: And it was in my late 20s, but just … as a child or an elf or anything that wasn’t a grown-up. I still did my band in Nashville, but the things I got paid for were jingle work, speaking like a kid and doing stand-in work for little 12-year-old, 10-year-old boys in some of the Ernest Goes to Camp movies. And so one of the women [I came across] said ‘you should do cartoons.’ I didn’t even know it was a thing.

Rockmommy: Who, did you have a musical inspiration growing up?

Debi Derryberry: Definitely The Sound of Music. I grew up when, um, there was no streaming. You watched what was on TV, and you watched The Wizard of Oz twice a year when they showed it. I watched whatever my brother wanted to watch, because, of course, my brother had control of the remote. So, I watched his cartoons, and, um, my musical influences were I have fond memories of using a little Roll on stick deodorant jumping on the bed to the Carpenters … My influences were James Taylor and Linda Ronstandt and The Carpenters. It was just such great harmonies for all of them. And every time I hear their harmonies, still, I just have to stop and listen. it just, it’s one of those things, just takes me away. It makes me tick. I love it.

Rockmommy: I know your voice is your profession. Do you sing, do you like singing in the car? I mean, now it sounds like when you were growing up, you would just sing for anybody who would listen? How has that changed over the years? Because now your voice is how you have make money … [but] your voice [needs rest]. 

Debi Derryberry: I’m playing guitar every day more now, but I’m so busy with work like where you see me right now I’m in my booth right behind me all day auditioning … sometimes I do 10 to 15 auditions a day in that little booth and I sing and play my guitar when I can and you know I love my Alexa. I don’t want to talk too loud because she’ll start responding and I will have her play you know my favorite song lists. 

Rockmommy: When I look you up on Wikipedia, your biggest role to date — the first thing that comes up — is as the voice Jimmy Neutron! Did you expect that role to take off the way it did?

Debi Derryberry: Before cell phones, your agent would page you and you’d call them back and they’d say go to the studio and audition. And so I went to audition for this ‘Johnny Quasar’ job — it was Johnny Quasar, they had to change it to Jimmy Neutron — and I looked at all the people on the sign-in list and they were like, Really great ‘little boy’ voices, you know, with texture and gravel. I don’t have that so I gave it my best little boy voice — Which was sort of his voice and it doesn’t have any gravel in it — and that’s that’s the one they picked. 

Rockmommy: How has the industry changed? Cause you give some advice, a lot of advice actually on your TikTok channel.

Debi Derryberry: You’re right. So many people wanted to know how to get into voiceover. So I wrote, this is my second edition of voiceover 101, how to succeed as a voice actor … after COVID things changed so much and, you know, recording from home … as a little thing running thing on my TikTok channel, which I didn’t know it was gonna explode like this and be so, have, you know, 1.3 million subscribers. That’s just crazy. People want some cute, easy to watch condensed videos, and I try to answer people’s questions. Even though most of it is in here [in my book]. Sometimes I hit on a funny trendy thing like my newest TikTok video is me doing different Labubu voices … it’s at like eight and a half million views now for this one little TikTok video.

Rockmommy: You have an adult son, who is about 25. Did your son follow your career path or follow a different one?

Debi Derryberry: He makes some amazing TikTok videos for me and he’s brilliant, but he is not a behind the, he’s not known as an ‘in front of the camera’ kind of guy. Being the offspring, a child of a voiceover artist, certainly makes it easier because boom, you have an agent, boom, you have a studio, boom, you have a coach, boom, you live near all the studios. So, but for him growing up, it was not a big deal because all of his friends, my friends, were voices. He was like, ‘yeah, I go to school with Sponge Bob’s daughter.’ ‘Yeah, we’re going over to the birthday party over at Winnie the Pooh’s house today.’ It was his life, so it wasn’t that special. But now when he tells people about it, they’re like, ‘wow, your mom’s Jimmy Neutron!’ But at Comic Cons, like at San Diego, he would always … try and sell my autograph. If he saw something he wanted, he’d be like, ‘my mom’s this character. How about we trade you and then I can have something I want?’ He’s a deal maker.

Rockmommy: I love that. That’s actually kind of flattering.

Debi Derryberry: You know, I’ll help him in any way that I can. Of course, we want the best for our children and I would always sing to him and so many of my songs, of course, were inspired for wanting to write something for him and it got to the point where he was like, ‘mom, why do you sing to babies?’ Because he was older at that age when they’ll say anything. I still sing to babies, I guess, because I love it.

Rockmommy: You have a new album out about lullabies. Is it coming out soon? Can you tell us about it? 

Debi Derryberry: Well, it’s coming out September 26th and there’s nine songs on it …. And I’m just, very proud of it. I started working with a different producer whose wife is a voiceover artist friend of mine. And we just clicked … he’s just very speedy and amazing. I had such a fun time making this album. And I guess anytime you make an album, it’s always a challenge to know when it’s done.

Rockmommy: yeah, I know. I’ve been making my solo album for, like, three years. It is a process for most working musicians who are not extremely wealthy and famous and have the luxury of dedicated time.

Debi Derryberry: I have my life and my kid and my dogs, my house and things take energy from you. And sometimes I’ll enter a very creative period, which has been for the last three years with my last album, Gotta Go Green, that I finished just before the lullaby album.  You never know when it’s coming, these periods of creativity, because you get pulled in so many directions.

Rockmommy: What would you like parents to know about this album? 

Debi Derryberry: What I’d like parents to know about this album is that I recognize that kids are different learners or they approach things differently. I wanted to have an album that not only they could hear as they were in bed going to sleep that offered them suggestions like … ‘relax your head and your shoulders’ [but also] one that sparks the imagination.