Debbie Gibson biography
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1988 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and perform a #1 single. She has gone on to starring roles on Broadway and touring musicals, as well as independent film and television work. She continues to record, and reached the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart as high as #24 during 2006 in a duet with Jordan Knight titled "Say Goodbye". In 2010, the album Ms. Vocalist, from Sony Japan was Top 10 on the Japanese Billboard chart and the first single from the album, "I Love You", hit #1.
Early life
Debbie Gibson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the third daughter of four for Diane and Joseph Gibson. She grew up in the Long Island suburb of Merrick and was raised Catholic. At the age of five, she began performing in community theater with her sisters Karen, Michele, and Denise, and cousin T.J Normandin and wrote her first song, "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom". At age eight, she sang in the children's chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She began playing the ukulele and taking piano lessons soon after, including with American pianist Morton Estrin. She said that her household was probably the only one where bystanders would hear kids fighting over piano playing time.
In 1987, while performing around the United States at nightclub venues, Gibson was recording what would become her debut album, "Out Of The Blue". It was recorded in four weeks. Four singles from Out Of The Blue reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100: "Only in My Dreams", "Shake Your Love", "Out Of The Blue", and the #1 hit "Foolish Beat", followed by "Staying Together", which performed more modestly, reaching #22. "Foolish Beat" set a record for Gibson, making her (at 17) the youngest artist ever to write, produce, and perform a Billboard #1 single, as entered in the 1988 Guinness Book of World Records, and she remains the youngest female artist to do so. Out Of The Blue was established as a hit album and she had success in the UK and southeast Asia, filling stadiums with her Out Of The Blue tour. By the end of 1988, Out of the Blue had gone triple platinum. The Out Of The Blue music video compilation was certified platinum by the RIAA; the concert tour video was certified 2x platinum. In October 1988, Gibson sang the national anthem for Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series.
Electric Youth was released in early 1989, and spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart. The first single released, "Lost in Your Eyes", was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, garnering her another achievement as the first female to have both an album and single simultaneously at #1. (She shared the 1989 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award with Bruce Springsteen.) Subsequent singles from the album were "Electric Youth" (#11), "No More Rhyme" (No. 17), and "We Could Be Together" (No. 71). The Electric Youth album was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA. The successful "Electric Youth" world tour and Live Around the World VHS (2x platinum) followed.
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