A pop princess
grows up

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

Exploding on the pop music scene during the mid-1980s, at the tender age of 16, Deborah Gibson quickly became the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform a No. 1 single — Foolish Beat — a record she still proudly holds to this day.
Since then, Gibson has sold more than 16 million albums worldwide, and her talent has garnered her No. 1 Billboard hits, platinum albums, an ASCAP Songwriter of the Year honor, sold-out shows around the world, and rave reviews for her starring roles on Broadway.
Growing up in Long Island, Gibson began performing with her sisters in community theater at age 5, the same year she wrote her first composition. By the time she was 8, she was performing as part of the children’s chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City with such artists as Placido Domingo.
By the time she was 12, she was already a Broadway actress pursuing a recording career. And her dream was realized by 16, when she was signed to Atlantic Records.
"This was always my one and only ambition. There was never any option. This is who I am," said Gibson, now appearing at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City in Pop Goes Broadway, through May 24.
"My parents never dragged me into show business. They never pushed me into anything. But I always knew that if I was not successful in show business, I’d end up starving. When it came to music, I realized early on that this was who I was and what I must be doing. Period."
Still, she explained, when she was first signed with Atlantic, no one was quite sure what to do with her. "It was 1986 and nothing like the music business today, where they sign fetuses," she said with a laugh. "In those days they weren’t prepared to deal with anybody under twenty or twenty-five."
But Gibson managed to cut through all the stereotypes, found people who believed in her and her talent, and set her on her winning ways. Her debut album, Out of the Blue, sold more than five million copies. Gibson established herself as a household name and immediately confirmed that position with her triple-platinum follow-up album Electric Youth and the No. 1 single, Lost In Your Eyes.
Besides pleasing audiences with her club tours and albums, Gibson took a turn in the Broadway production of Les Miserables. She went on to break box-office records in the London West End production of Grease, and then took the stage in the Broadway tours of Grease and Funny Girl.
She also impressed critics in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Gypsy, the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the national production of Cinderella and the musical Chicago, as well as portraying Sally Bowles in Cabaret.
"I loved doing all those shows but Cabaret was probably my favorite, and audiences at Harrah’s are getting to hear many pop hits, including some of the songs I’ve done in these shows and more current stuff combined with my hits," she said. "In fact, I joke that my show is a little like Liza Minnelli meets Beyonce."
Adding to her other accomplishments, Gibson is composer and lyricist of her own Broadway musical, Skirts.
Still, with all she’s accomplished, Gibson said she’s never truly realized her dream because "there’s always the next dream and the next goal and the next. But I get to live in a world of magic with audiences waiting for me, coming to share the intensity of all I do. So it’s all worth it, and there’s truly nothing else in this world I’d rather be doing. It’s so exciting and amazingly profound." ••
For times and ticket information, call 1-800-736-1420.