Jump to content

User:Schmerker120

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Schmerker120 (talk | contribs) at 13:15, 9 May 2007 (→''Electric Youth'' and Beyond, 2007-present). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This user is a musician.
Schmerker120


The following is a beta page for an article rewrite discussed in Talk:Deborah Gibson.
The editorial staff had several complaints about the preexisting article as of March 2007, as follows:

  1. Too many questionable photographs (since deleted);
  2. Questionable figures to back up box office sales reports for:
    • Concert tours from 1987-1990;
    • Grease (musical) at London while Ms. Gibson was in cast.

As of this writing, I have already decided to merge preliminary information on her now-under-construction album, titled Deborah Gibson IX for purposes of discussion, into a retitled section with mention of her new Dean Parker musical, Electric Youth, into one section. I am drafting a synopsis article, Electric Youth (musical), at this time.
Please write comments and (as necessary) reproof on this draft to User talk:Schmerker120.
- B.C.Schmerker 14:43, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
SUBPAGES:

  1. User:Schmerker120/Image sub:Proposed Musical Artist Data
    Future headshot, Infobox Musical Artist:Deborah Gibson
  2. User:Schmerker120/Table sub:Discography
    Proposed Entry, /wiki/Deborah_Gibson_discography
  3. User:Schmerker120/Image sub:Discography-DM Insert
    Proposed image, The Atlantic Years: ATL DM 86744 "Only in My Dreams"


P.S. I am further investigating whether the Natural Wonder Cosmetics that currently exists (an alien corporation based in India) has any connection to Revlon Consumer Products Corporation, as the banner indicates. - B.C.Schmerker 06:14, 5 May 2007 (UTC)


DRAFT ARTICLE - /wiki/Deborah_Gibson:

Schmerker120

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson (born 31 August 1970, Brooklyn, NY, USA) is an American singer-songwriter who, at the age of sixteen years, became the youngest person to write and perform a #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Simultaneously one of Atlantic Records' best-selling artists of 1988-89 and the go-to girl of a Revlon cosmetics sales campaign aimed at her own teenager demographic at the time, this soubrette grew up into a competent all-around performer/author in concert and at the theatre. Although she used the name "Debbie" in her teens (and apparently objected thereto, even though it is a common contraction of "Deborah"), she has always preferred and now uses the name "Deborah" professionally.

A teetotaler, Gibson is not only still active in songwriting and producing; she is an avid painter who has sold several works on eBay, the broker for the heavily-mirrored Baldwin grand piano (ex-Estate of Liberace) that holds a place of honor at her New York City residence. She has had a recent resurgence in popularity with respect to her best-selling songs from the Atlantic years, culminating in a Dean Parker musical she co-scored with Don Hopkins. Her most recent release is the new single "Famous," co-written with and produced by Tiziano Lugli, apparently an online exclusive prior to inclusion on a now-under-construction album (estimated release: Winter 2008, probably on a Sony BMG label).


Early life

(NOTE: A challenge to the accuracy of one source, Randi Reisfeld, Debbie Gibson: Electric Star! (Bantam Books, 1989), has been raised at the Between The Lines subsite at Deb.org. I have already isolated some clerical errors to Bantam Books, but other facts will have to be double-checked. Please post findings to User talk:Schmerker120#Additional issues with sources. - B.C.Schmerker 01:34, 7 May 2007 (UTC) )


Born in Brooklyn, Gibson lived her wonder years in Merrick, Nassau County, NY. The third of four daughters to Joseph Gibson and Diane Pustizzi (which explains Deborah's 1/4-Italian genetics as granddaughter to Alberto Pustizzi[1]), she was a musical natural, composing "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom" at the age of six years. One of the first musical instruments she played was an ukulele; she transitioned to piano as she grew, maturing early under the tutelage of Nassau County-based keyboard-instruments instructor Morton Estrin.

In the late 1970's she sang with the Metropolitan Opera children's chorus.

During the early 1980's, her composition "I Come from America" won a songwriting contest in the New York City area. The songs that would eventually fill up her first two albums were written during her high school years--"Only in My Dreams" took shape when she was a freshwoman at Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick.[2]

There is mention in several 1980's-in-music books about Gibson going to great lengths to start the process on any project that came up, in addition to numerous demos sent to record-company A&R officers nationwide (prior to Diane Pustizzi Gibson hiring Douglas Breitbart as manager); apparently she wanted her music heard by a nationwide audience even from her junior-high-school years.

The Atlantic Years, 1986-1994

When Gibson entered high school, Diane Pustizzi Gibson hired New York City music expert Douglas Breitbart as Deborah's manager; Breitbart would be the eventual executive producer for Deborah's first two albums. The first record company to take notice of Deborah was Warner Communications subsidiary Atlantic Recording Corporation; at the time, Doug Morris (now with Universal Music Group) was president under founder and chairman Ahmet Ertegün, with Larry Yasgar as A&R officer.

Atlantic LP 81780 "Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson album)," released October 1987.

Atlantic eventually signed Deborah for a maxi-single: "Only in My Dreams," produced by Fred Zarr and engineered by Don Feinberg for BiZarr Music, Inc., and mixed by "Little" Louie Vega, was released as a maxi-single (Atlantic DM 86744) December 1986, and in remixed form as a radio single (Atlantic 89322) February 1987. With "Dreams" slow to catch on at both dance clubs and radio stations, Atlantic executives ordered a promotional tour; Zarr stepped up to the plate and produced two additional tracks for the resultant Dream Tour: "Shake Your Love," an eventual single, and "Fallen Angel." Wanting at least one ballad for the Dream Tour, Deborah produced "Foolish Beat," another eventual single, herself. (All four became tracks for a then-untitled album contingency.) It is possible that Atlantic Recording Corporation may have arranged for a film crew to travel with the Dream Tour, as some scenes from the promotional video for "Foolish Beat" (see Atlantic VHS 50123 Out of the Blue) so indicate.

The teen-tabloid press of the day, especially Laufer Publications magazines Tiger Beat and BOP, immediately pitted Deborah against then-MCA recording artist Tiffany (now with Water Music Records, distributed by Universal Music Group), whose own debut album beat the Dream Tour out of the starting block by a month. As Tiffany was touring the shopping centers their demographic frequented after school (for further info on "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87" see Tiffany (singer)#Recording contract and fame), Deborah was performing in dance clubs and bars, many of which catered to the 21-and-over crowd. Billboard Magazine records indicate that both strategies worked.

By July 1987, Atlantic executives were demanding an album, based on the success of "Only in My Dreams," so Breitbart got studio time for Deborah with not only Zarr ("Wake Up to Love," "Out of the Blue," "Staying Together"), but also John Morales and Sergio Munzibai ("Red Hot," "Between the Lines") in New York and Lewis A. Martineé ("Play the Field," the arrangement whereof parallels Martineé's work with Exposé, a dance-pop girl group of the day) in Florida. "Shake Your Love," already in hand, was released to dance clubs and radio stations (Atlantic DM 86651 and single 89187, respectively) as the leadoff single to the new album Out of the Blue (LP 81780). Album track "Red Hot" also appeared on the Atlantic soundtrack album Fatal Beauty - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (LP 81809).

By the time "Foolish Beat" (Atlantic DM 86603, single 89109) hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Revlon Consumer Products Corporation had signed Gibson as a spokeswoman for its Natural Wonder Cosmetics subsidiary. Natural Wonder sponsored the Out of the Blue Tour, which ran during the summer of 1988.

In November-December 1988, Gibson recorded a follow-up album, eventually released February 1989 under the title Electric Youth (Atlantic LP 81932) on the heels of leadoff single "Lost in Your Eyes" (single 88970); "Eyes" would eventually hold #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks during March 1989, and Youth #1 on the Billboard Hot Albums for five in March-April. Among the products Revlon introduced were two colognes and an eau de parfum (some New old stock samples whereof still appear from time to time on eBay) designed by Gibson and marketed under the title "Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson" by Natural Wonder, which would also sponsor the Electric Youth World Tour during the summer and autumn of 1989.

Gibson would eventually record two more studio albums for Atlantic: Anything Is Possible (LP 82167), which stalled at #41 on the Billboard Hot Albums, and Body Mind Soul (LP 82451), which stalled at #109 on the Billboard Hot 200. Atlantic released a compilation album, Greatest Hits (LP 82624), in 1995. Side projects during this era included a guest appearance on the Epic Records album Michael Jackson - Bad, spec. "Liberian Girl"; a memoir co-written with Mark Bego, Between the Lines (Diamond Books, 1990 - the book preceded the Anything Is Possible album project); a guest appearance on the David Foster-produced Giant all-star single "Voices That Care"; two tracks for the soundtrack album The Wonder Years - Music from the Emmy Award-Winning Show and its Era (Atlantic LP 82032); a debut album for another singer-songwriter, Chris Cuevas - Somehow, Someway (Atlantic LP 82187); and two singles for Pioneer Records of Japan, "Without You" b/w "Without You (Instrumental)" (CD3 #AMDY-5034) and "Eyes of the Child" b/w "Love or Money" (CD3 #AMDY-5106).

Music Theatre, 1992-2002

In 1992, Gibson landed the role of Eponine in the Best of Broadway production of Les Misérables. Following this production would be two interpretations of the Stephen Sondheim musical Grease; she played Sandra Dee at London's West End (1993-1994) and Rizzo in a touring production in the United States (1995-1996). She also played Fanny Bryce in a touring production of Funny Girl (1996).

In 1998, Gibson landed the title role (viz., Gypsy Rose Lee) in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Gypsy: A Musical Fable; the Narrator in Best of Broadway's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for 1999-2000; and the title role in the Rodgers and Hammerstein interpretation of Cinderella, a setting to music of the Giambattista Basile-Charles Perrault version, for 2000-2001.[3]

SBK, Jellybean, Espiritu, and Golden Egg, 1994-2005

In 1994, Gibson signed with EMI for an album that would eventually be distributed by its SBK Records subsidiary: Think with Your Heart (SBK/EMI LP 32559). One album track from this project, "Don'tcha Want Me Now?", got TV airplay on a situation comedy on which she had guest-starred in the role of a pop star by the name of Christie Rose: Step by Step: Roadie. A side project from this period was a backing-vocals session for the Circle Jerks at the request of Think With Your Heart producer Niko Bolas.

After concluding her EMI obligations, Gibson started up a record distribution division, Espiritu Records, within the GMI Entertainment corporate structure, in addition to signing for two maxi-singles with Jellybean Recordings, and recorded her sixth studio album, simply titled Deborah (LP 9602). (The Japan counterpart album, identically tracked and distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, is titled Moonchild.) Promotion included a talk-show circuit to perform "Only Words" (Jellybean Recordings DM 2524), a maxi-single coordinated with Espiritu LP 9602.

In 1998, Gibson released a complete rework of her first Atlantic song as a stand-alone single: "Only in My Dreams 1998" (Jellybean Recordings DM 2532).

In 2001, the Espiritu label had been retired after a last single was delivered, viz., "What You Want" (Espiritu 8317), and replaced by the Golden Egg Records label. First project released by Golden Egg was the album M.Y.O.B. (Golden Egg LP 1234), accompanied by the maxi-single "Your Secret" (Golden Egg DM 1146).

Before she eventually retired Golden Egg Records, Gibson released two compilation albums of demos stretching all the way back to the Atlantic years: Memory Lane, Volume 1 in January 2005, and Memory Lane, Volume 2 in October 2005.

2002 to 2006

In 2002, Gibson recorded an album for Fynsworth Alley Pty. Ltd. based on her music theatre experience, including one song from her original musical Skirts (then under construction at script level): Colored Lights: The Broadway Album (Fynsworth Alley LP 302 062 195). Thereafter, she performed two musical roles for Reprise! Broadway, in addition to a stint as Velma Kelly in a Boston-based performance of Chicago: Meg in Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon; Marta in Company; plus Nellie in the Fresno Grand Opera production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

In 2003, given the runaway success of FOX Television's talent-show series American Idol, FOX launched a spinoff show, American Juniors, casting Deborah Gibson and Gladys Knight among the judges. Juniors was cancelled after one season.

In March 2005, in sync with the Playboy Magazine Sex and Music Issue, she released another stand-alone single, this time on Minneapolis, Minnesota-based OarFin Records: "Naked" (OarFin #869840016). Fan reaction was split over this single and the Playboy spread. Later the same year, she landed Sally Bowles in the Rob Marshall-Sam Mende production of Cabaret.

In January-February 2006, she was featured on the FOX Television reality mini-series Skating with Celebrities, along with Olympic Gold Medalist skater Kurt Browning; she was nursing a leg injury at the time, so the third week vote-out was predictable to industry analysts. Since then, she has seen a resurgence in popularity in niche markets; judging from message traffic on YouTube.com during 2005-06, "Only in My Dreams," "Shake Your Love," "Out of the Blue," "Foolish Beat," "Lost in Your Eyes," and "Electric Youth" appear to be most-requesteds at Gay Pride events.

Gibson participated on three other-artists projects: "Someone You Love", co-written with Tim and Ryan O'Neill for the O'Neill Brothers album of the same title; a new version of "Lost in Your Eyes" recorded for the same album; and "Say Goodbye," a duet with Jordan Knight for his Transcontinental Records album Love Songs (new distributor data pending in wake of Florida v. Pearlman et al).

Electric Youth and Beyond, 2007-present

As of May 2007, Dean Parker Productions LLC is showing, at Orlando, Florida, a new musical named for one of Gibson's best-selling albums: Electric Youth. Primarily scored by Don Hopkins, this music-theater show features fourteen of Gibson's Atlantic-years songs, including the title song, "Only in My Dreams," "Out of the Blue," and Lost in Your Eyes."[4]

Other current music theater projects include Skirts, scripted by Hillary Camp and Katie Ford; and The Flunky, co-written with Jimmy Van Patten.

Discography

See new page User:Schmerker120/Table sub:Discography (eventual /wiki/Deborah_Gibson_discography)

Trivia

References

  • Deborah Gibson and Mark Bego, Between the Lines (paperback). Diamond Books (now dist. by Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum), 1989.
(NOTE: Accuracy of following source source disputed at Deb.org.)
  • Randi Reisfeld, Debbie Gibson: Electric Star (paperback). Bantam Books, 1989.

Template:Persondata

<!Category:1970 births|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:Living people|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American female singers|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American pop singers|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American soubrettes|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American house musicians|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:Rhythmic contemporary musicians|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:Dance musicians|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:People from Brooklyn|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:People from Long Island|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:People from Nassau County, New York|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:Lyric sopranos|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:Soubrettes|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American musical theatre actors|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American singer-songwriters|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American record producers|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American Juniors|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:American Roman Catholics|Gibson, Deborah!> <!Category:New York musicians|Gibson, Deborah!>

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Schmerker120&oldid=129508183"