I wanted to eat. I ate less of it.”
Growing up in Houston, Phylicia, Debbie and their older brother, Tex, (now a New York jazz musician) became a close-knit band under their mom’s influence. Divorced from her dentist husband when the kids were young, mom Vivian Ayers-Allen was an art gallery owner and published poet. She taught her children to love each other and the finer things in life, such as music. “Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Basie were like good friends to us,” Phylicia remembers. “I used to sing Tex and Debbie to sleep every night with jazz tunes.”
At school, the sisters joined the glee club, the majorette squad and the orchestra. (Phylicia played viola, and the diminutive Debbie stretched herself to cope with the bass fiddle.) “Our family has this achievement syndrome,” Phylicia says. “Debbie and I used to fight over socks and hairpins—you know, the essentials in life. We had tiffs. But when the chips were down, we were there for each other.”
