August 31: From "Teen Beat" to "Playboy"- Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is 40 today.

From an early age, Deborah wanted a career in show business. She began writing songs when she was only five years-old. When she was eight, she sang in the children's chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

By the time she signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records at 16, Deborah had already appeared in a number of shows on Broadway Although Deborah was making strides in the music industry, she was otherwise a normal student at Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, Long Island where she was a cheerleader.


Called "Deborah" while growing up, her record company wanted her to go by "Debbie," and at one point wanted to change her name entirely. In 1987, Deborah (then Debbie) Gibson's first album was released, titled Out of the Blue. It spawned the hits "Only In My Dreams," "Foolish Beat" and the title track. At the time, the success of "Foolish Beat" made Debbie the youngest artist to have written, produced and performed a Number 1 song. With over 5 million copies sold, Debbie set on to continue her success with her follow-up album, Electric Youth.

Released in 1989, Electric Youth went triple platinum, and spawned the title track and the single, "Lost In Your Eyes." The latter earned the New York Music Award for Song of the Year in 1990, while Deborah took home the same award for Best Pop Female Vocalist that same year.


In 1992, she returned to theater as Eponine in the Broadway production of Les Miserables. In the years that followed, Deborah played opposite roles as Sandy and Rizzo (respectively), in productions of Grease, and was also cast as Fanny Brice in the Broadway production of Funny Girl.

In 1990, Anything Is Possible was released and was certified Gold, while Body Mind Soul was released in 1993. 1995 saw the release of Think With Your Heart as well as a Greatest Hits album, and her self-titled album, Deborah hit shelves in 1997.


In the meantime, Deborah had returned to Broadway again, this time as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, and Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy at the Paper Mill Playhouse. You may have also recognized her voice as the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and stepped into the shoes of Cinderella as the title role of the national production.

Playboy Photo

The March 2005 issue of Playboy featured a nude pictorial of Gibson, coinciding with the release of her single, "Naked." She has said she agreed to pose in an effort to revamp her image. The single peaked #35 on the Billboard "Hot single sales" chart in March 2005.

(Links for viewing You Tube videos:)

-- "Foolish Beat"
-- "Lost In Your Eyes"  
-- "Already Gone"
 
  (Additional video below)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Recommended (Press album covers for direct links to Amazon):