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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by B.C.Schmerker (talk | contribs) at 03:08, 26 June 2007 (→Career). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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B.C.Schmerker


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.

This article is still a work in progress, as I am calling for accurate sources for the statements herein.
A prototype article on the Dean Parker Productions LLC music-theatre release, Electric Youth (musical), is currently being held up by lack of reliable reviews.
Further work on Deborah Gibson IX (working title) is halted until sufficient information for a proper stub article becomes available.
As of 15:10, 9 June 2007 (UTC), Randi Reisfeld has been ruled out as a source; Debbie Gibson: Electric Star! (Bantam Books, 1989) is contradicted by all other sources to date.
Please write comments and (as necessary) reproof on this draft to User talk:B.C.Schmerker.
- B.C.Schmerker 03:14, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
SUBPAGES:

  1. User:B.C.Schmerker/Table sub:Discography
    Proposed Entry, /wiki/Deborah_Gibson_discography
  2. User:B.C.Schmerker/Template:Experimental Infobox1
    Trials Infobox code, common Musician Data template, with Talk subpage:
    User talk:B.C.Schmerker/Template:Experimental Infobox1
  3. User:B.C.Schmerker/Main Scratchpad1 = Test section this article: Tributes
  4. User:B.C.Schmerker/Main Scratchpad2 = Test section this article: Legacy
  5. Article Prototype 1 - alpha stub
  6. Article Prototype 2 - alpha stub
  7. Article Prototype 3 - alpha stub
  8. Article Prototype 4 - alpha stub



Yet-to-be-Incorporated References:

Awaiting additional nominations.

DRAFT ARTICLE - /wiki/Deborah_Gibson:

B.C.Schmerker

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson (born 31 August 1970, Brooklyn, NY, USA) is an American singer-songwriter who, at the age of sixteen years six months (estimated from production date of "Foolish Beat"), 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 (a common contraction of "Deborah" that sounds good for some press materials), 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 West Coast residence in the Hollywood, California area. [1] 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 Hopkinson.[2] Her most recent release is the new single "Famous," co-written with and produced by Tiziano Lugli, apparently an online exclusive.[3]


Early life, 1970—1982

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[4]), 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.

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.

Career

Gibson's basic song style, to which she has given the descriptor "sophisti-pop" in several interviews and press releases[citation needed], has roots in the styles of William Martin "Billy" Joel, Sir Reginald Kenneth "Elton John" Dwight OBE, Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie, Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock, and other musicians of international notability during her wonder years.

(For further information on the origins of Sophisti-pop see Rhythmic contemporary.)

"I Come from America" to Atlantic Records contract, 1982—1986

In 1982, young Gibson used a rather unusual Confirmation gift—a Casio synthesizer, where most girls of her then-demographic request jewelry—to compose a song for a radio-station songwriting contest: "I Come from America," which she recorded the same day to meet a next-day deadline for submissions.[5] The song, as it turns out, won young Gibson a $1000.00 prize, courtesy Radio Station WOR, who sponsored the New York PTA-administered trials, and the right to represent New York State in the National PTA songwriting finals.[6]

Later the same year, Diane Pustizzi Gibson hired New York City music expert Douglas Breitbart as young Gibson's manager; Breitbart would be the eventual executive producer for her first two albums. The next four years would be occupied with training and further songwriting in anticipation of a recording contract; Gibson wrote at least half the songs that would be recorded for the eventual Atlantic LP 81780 during this time—from actual dates of publication, "Only in My Dreams" in 1984; "Play the Field" in 1985; and "Foolish Beat," "Red Hot" and "Fallen Angel" in 1986.[7] (Although officially published in 1987, rumors exist that "Shake Your Love" and at least one other song on LP 81780 were actually composed 1986 or sooner.)

In 1984, Gibson landed a "walk-on" role for the Columbia Pictures feature film Ghostbusters: the Birthday Girl at Tavern on the Green.

The first record company to take notice of Gibson 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.

The Atlantic Years, 1986—1994

In 1986, Atlantic signed Gibson 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, Gibson produced "Foolish Beat," another eventual single, herself. (All four became tracks for the eventual LP 81780, then untitled.)

The teen-tabloid press of the day, especially Laufer Publications magazines TiGER beat and BOP, immediately pitted Gibson against then-MCA recording artist Tiffany Renee Darwish (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 Darwish 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), Gibson 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 Gibson 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 LP 81780, now officially titled Out of the Blue. 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 memoir co-written with Mark Bego, Between the Lines (Diamond Books, 1989); two tracks for the soundtrack album The Wonder Years - Music from the Emmy Award-Winning Show and its Era (Atlantic LP 82032); a live-performed song for the Earth '90: Children and the Environment telecast, "Whose World Is It?" (unreleased); 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).

In addition to her own side projects, she participated on a maxi single for a Japanese pop singer-songwriter, "Reimy - Speed of Light" (A&M 12268); a track from the Epic Records album Michael Jackson - Bad (EK 40600), spec. "Liberian Girl"; a debut album for another singer-songwriter, Chris Cuevas - Somehow, Someway (Atlantic LP 82187); the Parc/Epic album Ana - Body Language (Epic ZT 45355); the Hollywood Records album The Party (HR 60980); and the David Foster-produced Giant all-star single "Voices That Care" (Giant single 19350).

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.[8]

SBK, Jellybean, Espiritu, Golden Egg, OarFin and Transcontinental, 1994—2006

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.

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 maxi 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).

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.

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.

Gibson's other-artists projects included a backing-vocals session for the Circle Jerks at the request of Think With Your Heart producer Niko Bolas; a Japan-only album for the pop group w-inds.; the track "Light the World" on Peabo Bryson's album Unconditional Love (Windham Hill #01005-82169); "Someone You Love", co-written with Tim and Ryan O'Neill for the O'Neill Brothers album of the same title (private label); 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 State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation v. Trans Continental Airlines, Inc., et al., Case No. 48-2006-CA-011136).

(For background on State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation v. Trans Continental Airlines, Inc., et al. see Lou Pearlman.)

Fynsworth Alley, Music Theatre and Reality TV, 2002—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 the FOX Television talent-show series American Idol, FOX launched a spinoff show, American Juniors, casting Gibson and Gladys Knight among the judges. Juniors was cancelled after one season.

In 2005, Gibson landed Sally Bowles in the Rob Marshall-Sam Mende production of Cabaret.

In January-February 2006, Gibson 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.

Electric Youth and Beyond, 2007—present

In May 2007, Dean Parker Productions LLC showed, for two weeks at Orlando, Florida, a musical named for one of Gibson's best-selling albums: Electric Youth. Primarily scored by Don Hopkinson, 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."

Other current music theater projects include Skirts, scripted by Hillary Camp and Katie Ford; and The Flunky, co-written with Jimmy Van Patten.[9]

Music and theatre reviews to date

Among the awards Gibson has won are the following:

1988 - Youngest person to write, produce and perform a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100: "Foolish Beat," Atlantic 89109, Billboard Magazine

1988 - Debut Artist of the Year, New York Music Awards

1988 - Debut Album of the Year: Out of the Blue, Atlantic SD 81780, New York Music Awards

1989 - Co-Songwriter of the Year (with Bruce Springsteen), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

1990 - Best Pop Female Vocalist, New York Music Awards

1990 - Song of the Year: "Lost in Your Eyes," Atlantic 88970, New York Music Awards

1990 - Artist of the Year, New York Music Awards

1990 - Rock Producer of the Year, American Songwriter Awards [10]

Personal life, 1982—present

Gibson has had a dating history with other celebrities. Known examples include the following:

1988—Brian Bloom, television actor, who escorted her at the Class of 1988 Senior Promenade, Sanford H. Calhoun High School.[11]

Year pending—Darren Day.[12]

Year pending—Chris Bruno, an actor.[13]

2006—Lorenzo Lamas, best known for the TV series Renegade.[14]

2007—Joseph Gian, a singer-songwriter-actor who composes in a style consistent with easy listening.[15]

Multiple reports also exist of Gibson seriously dating certain other musicians who were co-workers at various times during her career with GMI Entertainment.

Tributes

Some notable music groups have done original tribute songs to Gibson.

In 1990, Finn hip hop band Raptori composed an original rap in her honor: "Debi Gibson," originally for their Megamania Records album Moe! (Megamania MGM 2031) and remixed soon afterward as a maxi single (MGX 173).

Adverse treatment in the media

Gibson has been the subject of adverse views at various times in her career.

Sometime in the early 1980's, Bill Hicks had derided Gibson on a then-unpublished form of the eventual "Shake Your Love" in the Sane Man comedy show.[citation needed]

In 1989, Neill Kirby "Mojo Nixon" McMillan Jr. and Richard "Skid Roper" Banke slandered the never-been-married Gibson in song with a single whereover almost the entire radio industry closed ranks with MTV Music Television: "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," released by Enigma Records allegedly in support of the album Root Hog or Die (Enigma LP 792 335). MTV refused to run the video for this song; pop radio likewise refused to air the single.

Legacy

In the post-Atlantic Years pop music world, the situation among prospective teen music stars has changed dramatically. First to benefit from Gibson was her successor as the Atlantic Records point teen princess: Jewel Kilcher, a breakout folk artist who was in the San Diego, California area when signed—her debut album, Pieces of You (Atlantic LP 82700), released in 1995, came on the heels of Greatest Hits (LP 82624). Over the following several years, both Zomba Label Group and Walt Disney Records released hit albums from multiple teen artists, a current trend.

Discography

See new page User:B.C.Schmerker/Table sub:Discography (eventual /wiki/Deborah_Gibson_discography)

Trivia

REASSIGNMENT ISSUES:
Currently, this Section has no specific destinations for most of the data contained herein. Please post suggestions to User talk:B.C.Schmerker#Trivia reassignments. - B.C.Schmerker 01:49, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

She is the subject of songs by other artists: <div class="metadata divbox divbox-red" title="CANDIDATE FOR DELETION!1 - Relevance to article questionable:" >

CANDIDATE FOR DELETION!1 - Relevance to article questionable:

"Make Believe," a song written by Charles Michael Kittridge "Frank Black" Thompson IV (then known as Black Francis) and performed by the Pixies (4AD LP 2103 Complete 'B' Sides); Dave Lovering performed lead vocal on this song.*"When the Beatles Hit America," a song performed by Wesley "John Wesley Harding" Stace (Sire LP 26240 Just Say Da).

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Star Exclusive: Debbie Gibson's Secret Obsession: Liberace!," /Press/StarMag01152007.shtml at Deborah-Gibson.com
  2. ^ "About Us," /aboutus.html at ElectricYouthMusical.com
  3. ^ /News/Index2.shtml at Deborah-Gibson.com
  4. ^ /Bio/Index3.shtml at Deborah-Gibson.com
  5. ^ Richard Harrington, "What Makes Debbie A-Doo Run-Run? Teen Star Debbie Gibson & Her Drive to the Top," Washington Post, July 10, 1988.
  6. ^ David Abels, "A Dream Life for a Teenager: Long Islander Debbie Gibson has a single, `Only in My Dreams,' moving quickly up the pop charts and an album in the works," Newsday (Combined editions), Long Island, NY, Jun 29, 1987.
  7. ^ Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson songbook), CatNo. HL00356822. Hal Leonard, 1988.
  8. ^ /Film/6/Deborah-Gibson.html at FilmReference.com
  9. ^ /News/Index2.shtml at Deborah-Gibson.com
  10. ^ /Bio/Awards.shtml at Deborah-Gibson.com.
  11. ^ Richard Harrington, op. cit.
  12. ^ /Name/NM0206372 at IMDB.com
  13. ^ /Deborah-Gibson/person/69025/Biography.html at TV.com
  14. ^ Trivia subpage, deborah-gibson/person/69025/trivia.html at TV.com
  15. ^ "Deborah Gibson Finds Love with 'Beverly Hills 90210' Star," /News/Index.php/2007/04/07 at StarPulse.com

References

  • Deborah Gibson and Mark Bego, Between the Lines (paperback). Diamond Books (now dist. by Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum), 1989.

See also

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