Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and actress Deborah Hutchinson of Greenville has spent 30-plus years in the music industry trying to make it and get others to sing her songs.

Now she’s going to do it herself.

“We’re working on a dream,” the New Orleans native said.

“She is now going to perform her own songs in her own show,” added her promoter Allen “Boogie” Gowan.

And she wants Union to be a part of that dream.

Hutchinson and Gowan, a former DJ for WORD Radio in Spartanburg, were in town Thursday scouting for locations for a music video for her new single “I Can’t Wait Forever,” which was previously recorded by The Pointer Sisters.

“I’m from New Orleans and this town is historic and quaint just like New Orleans,” Hutchinson said. “I love the homes.”

The song is one of 10 she plans to release on her new record “Follywood” which will feature songs you can dance the South Carolina state dance — the shag — to with that beach sound. Hutchinson, who is signed with Grand Entertainment in Nashville, is shooting for a summer 2010 release date for the album.

The pair is looking for any old homes or other historic spots in Union to feature in the new video they plan to start shooting sometime this month. They also would like to feature a historic location on the album’s cover and have already considered the theater and Rose Hill as possible shoot locations.

Deborah A. Hutchinson received a Grammy Award certificate for a song she wrote called “White Boots” featured on the “Family Style” album by the Vaughn brothers, one of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s last albums prior to his death. “Boogie Deb” also has been featured on Time Life’s “The Rolling Stone Collection” music box set of 25 years of essential rock.

She’s lived in Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City and of course New Orleans but she now calls all of South Carolina her home even though she’s based in Greenville.

Hutchinson has had her songs recorded by the likes of Hank Williams Jr.’s band, The Bama Band, with one of them called “Magic of Love” on their current album, and even pitched a song to Smokey Robinson while riding in an elevator with him in Motown.

She’s also portrayed several characters on screen with roles alongside Wolfman Jack in “Motel Hell,” Faye Dunaway in “Evita Perone” on CBS and William Holden in the 1980s TV mini-series “The Day After,” just to name a few. She even carried an armadillo for Conway Twitty on The Merv Griffin Show.

“I could go on and on,” Hutchinson said.

She and Gowan also spend much of their time doing benefit shows for the fight against diabetes. Gowan, who has type II diabetes, also works as a radio announcer for WLMA.net, hosting a show centered around beach and shag music on Fridays, while promoting Boogie Deb through Lakelands Entertainment.

Outside of the music, they spend many hours raising money for diabetes research and even plan to come to Union at some point to put on a benefit show for the cause.

“That’s what she wants to do,” Gowan said. “She likes to give back.”

But now the music is all about her.

“This is a lifelong ambition for Deb,” Gowan said about her singing and recording her own work. “This one is for fun. She’s doing this for herself and to help benefit diabetes research.”

A portion of the proceeds from the album sales and music video will be donated by Hutchinson to the fight against the disease.

The target release date for Hutchinson’s first single is February of next year with two more singles hoping to be released within a few months following that. Boogie Deb and Gowan have been working on and promoting the album for the last three years.

The album will be released under their own label — BoogieDebMusic — and is being recorded at Marshall Tucker Studios in Inman. Hutchinson’s first attempt on her own also will include musicians like guitarist Rusty Miller, Reba McEntire’s drummer and Tim McGraw’s piano player.

And while it’s a lot of work, the couple is just trying to get the word out about diabetes while having a good time and helping Hutchinson realize a dream.

“We’re trying to get out, have some fun and give back at this point,” Gowan said.

It’s taken her many years to get to this point and she’s not looking back at all because she’s in control of making that dream come true.

“And it’s about to be realized,” she said.