Deb Sonzo

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Deb Sonzo co-owns Leo Graphics and Music Graphics Chicago, the only vinyl album jacket printing company in Illinois, working with small and national bands. 

She is also the lead singer and percussionist for the bands 13-Monsters and The Sky Ghosts along with BJMF Judge Jamie Riani.

She grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where she was friends with several people that had a band.  She would often hang out with them during rehearsals and sing. 

A lover of bands and music, she often went to see concerts in the city, and upon moving into Chicago in her early 20s, she continued that passion, always supporting local music, being the cheerleader for small bands while still going to big shows. 

In her 40’s she was asked by a friend to manage their band. She thought, “How hard can this be?”  (That’s an entirely different story…).  Fast forward a year later, and she became the singer of the band.  

With the exception of being in chorus and grammar school, she had no formal voice training. Deb just went with it and got lost in the performance.

She’s a firm believer of being a presence on stage: from flowy movements, to beating up her tambourine, she knows she IS the show.  

Deb is no stranger to performing in small clubs to just the sound guy and the other bands as well as enjoying sold out rooms. 

She and her band have one goal every time they play: if ONE person comes up to them at the end of the show to tell them how much they enjoyed them or the performance or even a single song, they’ve done their deed for the evening.