She was popular in the Chicago area in the mid and late 1950s, recording as "Penny Smith" and "Debbie Stevens", as well as singing on radio.
Her husband, Jim Lounsbury, was a pioneer Rock and Roll radio, television, and record hop celebrity in the Chicago area at that time, and also hosted two T.V.
In February 1959, as "Debbie Stevens", she was asked to join the "Winter Dance Party" tour after Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash in Iowa.
Dean and Richards co-wrote songs for The Supremes, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Martha and the Vandellas, Edwin Starr, and other Motown artists.
Her song, Also, her single, "Billy Boy's Tune", recorded as Debbie Stevens in the late 1950s, has been released as part of a "Rock-a-billy" collection.