Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is pop legend Debbie Gibson, who solo-wrote her five Top 5 Billboard singles in the late 1980s while still a teenager, earned the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award, sold over 16 million albums worldwide, and was named one of Billboard magazine’s Top 60 Female Artists of All Time. She joins us to chat about her influences, her development as a songwriter, and her latest critically-acclaimed album, The Body Remembers.
PART ONE:
Paul and Scott talk about Pearl Snap Studios, contrabassoons, penny whistles, and bagpipes.
PART TWO:
The guys remember Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recently passed away, chat about Taylor's previous gig playing for Alanis Morissette, and talk about why Debbie Gibson deserves serious respect.
PART THREE:
Our in-depth conversation with Debbie Gibson
ABOUT DEBBIE GIBSON:
You may know Debbie Gibson for her late 1980s hit pop singles “Only in My Dreams,” “Shake Your Love,” “Out of the Blue,” and the chart-toppers “Foolish Beat” and “Lost in Your Eyes.” What you might not realize is that Debbie wrote all those hits completely solo while still a teenager. At the age of 16 she became the youngest artist ever to have written, produced, and performed a #1 single on the Billboard charts. She once shared the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year honor with Bruce Springsteen, the same year she was nominated for Best Pop Female Vocalist by the American Music Awards and Favorite Female Music Performer by the People’s Choice Awards.
Now more than 35 years into her career, Debbie has sold over 16 million records worldwide, and has released 10 studio albums. Her most recent, The Body Remembers, was released last August, and is her first US studio album in 20 years to feature all original songs, including a new duet version of “Lost in Your Eyes” with Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block. Though she was named one of Billboard magazine’s Top 60 Female Artists of All Time, Debbie has also found success in musical theater, starring in Les Miserables and Cabaret on Broadway, and in the London West End production of Grease, among more than a dozen other productions. Never a pre-packaged pop invention of record label executives, Debbie was a musical prodigy who has continued to make her mark as a singer, songwriter, producer, musician, actor, and entrepreneur.