Debra Perry’s parents realized she had a gift for music when she started playing the piano for her Sunday school at age six. By the time she was eight years old, Debra was taking piano lessons from a Calvin College student and accompanying New Hope Baptist Church on Sundays. Now, 26 years later, Perry ’91 is a successful music teacher, instrumentalist, composer and director — recognized for Outstanding Service to Youth by the Grand Rapids Job Corps.

For Perry, her successes are bittersweet. Her parents, who uncovered and nurtured her gift, are not alive to see her music take wing. Alma, Perry’s late mother, provided early encouragement. “One year, you’re going to go to school here,” she would tell Perry when she drove her to Calvin for lessons. “And that’s exactly what I did,” said Perry, though her mother would not live to see her graduation, passing away during Perry’s first year at Calvin.

“What I’m doing now is carrying on a legacy that she left behind,” Perry explained. “My mother was a well-known lyric soprano in Michigan — both in the Christian Reformed Church and inter-denominationally. My music is a response to her.” And when Perry’s father, a lay preacher, passed away unexpectedly in 1994, Perry turned to music to heal — and to help heal others.

“Music can impact the lives of others,” she said. “My own personal experience of loss made me look to the Lord for help and strength. Making music for worship that brings praise — that’s uplifting — can help others get through tough times.”

Her most recent musical endeavor strives to do just that. Through Majestic Praise, Perry’s three-year-old music group, Perry and her brother, Gerald, bring the Perry brand of music to the masses. “The Lord instilled in me a desire to form something in which I can use my own music to glorify God,” said Perry, whose work earned her the title of Outstanding Woman Composer from the Women’s History Council of Greater Grand Rapids.

Majestic Praise has experienced wonderful success — performing with the Grand Rapids Symphony and recording a debut album, Forever He Reigns. Produced by Joint Heir Music Group, a record label begun by Perry and Gerald, the album has already exceeded expectations, landing at number three on the gospel DMX charts.

But even with her own musical success, Perry plans to continue to teach music at Grand Rapids Central High School and Henry Paideia Academy. “These are wonderful years,” she said, noting her choirs’ number-one ratings at high school competitions and their recent opportunity to sing at the state capitol. With a recently acquired master’s degree in music education under her belt, Perry plans to pursue a doctoral degree in composition and conducting. “I guess you could say it’s for self-fulfillment,” she said. And it is also the next step in the realization of a musical gift that has taken her on her journey thus far.

Forever He Reigns is available from Baker Book House and Family Christian Stores.