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Biography:
Born Deborah Anne Gibson on the 31st August 1970 at the maternity ward of Brooklyn hospital. This was the third daughter of the Gibson family, from New York Long Island, Merrick.
Screaming the house down from day one, mum and dad bought Debbie a ukulele for her second birthday. Thinking this would keep her quiet however by the age of three she had mastered it and by the age of four had broken it and was eyeing up the piano.
A quote by the lady herself "I suppose I was a bit of an early starter" and "by the age of four I had started playing the piano and singing by hear". Her father had sung in a barbershop quartet, she was by now musically inclined and actually wrote her first song at the age of five. Called 'Make Sure You Know Your Classroom'.
Her parents were positively encouraging her and she entered and won her first talent competition, being her first ever performance in fount of an audience. At the age of seven she helped compose the musically score for the school play.
Her first professional contract was in the advertisement industry with agents falling over themselves to employ her. And she appeared in television advertisements from Hamburgers, Computers and Oxydol to Make-up and Dog food.
By the age of twelve this ambitious performer was already singing for the New York Metropolitan Opera and building her own 12-track studio at home in her dad's garage. This gave her the push into the pop music industry allowing her to work in and pen her own material with no time constraints of the usual hiring of studio time.
Writing music and entering them for song writing competitions soon won her not only awards but also the interest of Atlantic records, they became interested in her at the age of 14. They listened to Debbie's material for 18 mouths before signing her to a record contract. She was influenced by many people like Elton John, Neil Sedaka and Billy Joel.
Debbie now aged sixteen with a record contract under her belt and a large number of songs at her disposal it was time to release the first single. The first single was the self penned "Only In My Dreams" and released just before her 17th birthday. Shooting into the American top five but with on success so far the other side of the pond. However with the release of the second single "Shake Your Love" this was a big success both sides of the Atlantic. And with this success in the United Kingdom she released "Only in my Dreams" again and the debut album "Out Of The Blue". She was certainly coping with the stiff competition form other female pop music artists like Tiffany.
The first album went double platinum in the USA and gold in the UK. Needless to say this meant taking more and more time off school. She was spending less and less time at the Long Island high school and more and more time on the tour bus where she was now taking the books with her. She meet her first serious boyfriend 17 year old Brian Bloom. However hopes of a normal teenage romance seemed too much in Debbie's busy life.
The release of the second album reached he shops in early 1989 titled "Electric Youth". At the age of just 18 with two top selling albums and a sell-out tour of the US it would make her one of the most successful teenage pop stars joining the heights with Stevie Wonder, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Brown.
The Gibson family have kept it in the family with Diane her mother taking on the full time role of manager, her younger sister Denise as the wardrobe assistant on tour and her two older sisters Michelle making tour clothing and Karen working at the record company.
She was now releasing single after single and touring both the USA and the rest of the world like the support to Bros at Wembley Stadium England.
In 1993 Debbie gained the lead role in the London cast musical Grease at the Dominion Theatre London, playing the part of Sandy. She followed this with more successful theatre performances in the USA with the likes of Les Miserables and Joseph, which she is currently performing in the touring version around Canada and North America. She wanted to start being known as Deborah Gibson as she felt she has matured beyond the name Debbie and after all her family had always called Deborah at home. There have been other album release's with the likes of "Anything is Possible", "Body Mind and Soul", "Think with Your Heart" and "Deborah" The latest song once again self penned is called "What You Want" which can be heard on many radio station across America and will be the next single from the new album.
Written Exclusively for ForFemmes by Alun Moss ………….
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