Hatemavs, they don't know Debbie, they don't know Southern Star here's an article, Southern Star, Debbie, and Houston are imortalized! Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: FRI 07/22/1988 Section: Weekend Preview Page: 1 Edition: 2 STAR Gibson has it all `Together' on tour By MICHAEL SPIES Staff DEBBIE Gibson passed a milestone when she had her first No. 1 single "(Foolish Beat)" a few weeks ago. But it was better than that - much better. The 17-year-old became the youngest person ever to write, perform, arrange and produce a No. 1 hit, beating out those record-holding fogeys George Michael and Prince (both over the hill at 21). "It felt great to hear Casey Kasem say it was the most popular song in America, but that was the milestone - to be the youngest person ever to do that," Gibson said by phone from Florida this week. "And George Michael and Prince are both people I admire. Of course, I know that it doesn't mean I'm home free and never have to work again." She's working all right, as she crosses the country on her own as a headliner for her first major tour, following up on a multiplatinum album that got its push with "Only in My Dreams", which she wrote when she was 13. She also just got her high school diploma out on Long Island - not bad for someone a month shy of 18. Her Houston appearance on Saturday at Southern Star Amphitheater will be filmed live for a video to "Staying Together", which will be her next single. It's her first straight performance video, and she's excited about it. But, then, she's not having an energy problem with this tour. "This is what I've been waiting for," she said. "I'd done promotional shows and college dates, but I get to have a say now on sets and lighting, and I'm with a band, not singing to tracks. This is definitely how you find out if someone's a fluke, or if people are for real." She certainly sounds like a real teen-ager onstage. She gets to wear bicycle shorts, a short denim miniskirt, a black-sequinned letter sweater and a T-shirt from wherever she performs on stage, she said. Still, going into the tour, she had no way to gauge how much energy it would take. "I feel so comfortable on stage. Those promotional shows were more intense. This is a piece of cake. I lose 5 pounds in two shows, but I put all my energy into them. "When we started I didn't know how much I could take, because I jump around a lot, but the tour is well-paced with three shows a week. I could have done five or six shows a week, but this way I can say that I don't think we've had a weak show since we started in early July." In retrospect, such stardom sounds as if it was inevitable for someone who's never been happier than on stage since she was 5. She's also been well-guided and supported by her parents, and with three sisters (two older, one younger), she's right in the middle to understand what appeals to the teen-age American girl. Unlike her counterpart Tiffany, who almost went to court to do battle with her mother, Gibson has had a smooth relationship with her family. "But Tiffany was at a disadvantage coming from a broken home. That's hard on any kid. Nobody looks out for you like your family does. My parents didn't suddenly get involved with me when I got successful. They didn't fight me, and they didn't push me." Tiffany may be at a disadvantage in other ways, not being as heavily involved in production and writing as Gibson. Nor was Gibson tagged as a teen-ager from the word go. "It was a clever idea for Tiffany to play malls, but now she can't shake the title of Mall Queen. It works for her. But I didn't want to turn my age into a gimmick. Like when "Only in My Dreams" first went out to clubs and stores, it didn't have a cutesy photo attached to it." The ballpark is still the same for Gibson and Tiffany: upbeat, danceable pop. In her show, Gibson does 13 of her own songs, as well as the standard ballad "Still of the Night" and Elton John's "Crocodile Rock". Gibson hopes that her second album, which will be out at the end of the year, will reach more than teen-age girls. Those girls have been very good to Gibson, though, and she can look to her younger sister to tell her how their mood swings are going. "She's my best guide to the junior high crowd. She says it's divided half between Debbie Gibson and Tiffany and half between Whitesnake and Motley Crue. She's an honest critic." As a kind of pop-singer equivalent to actress Molly Ringwald, Gibson also knows that she's going to be a model for many of those young girls. "I'm constantly reminded of it, but what's good is I can show that you don't have to shave off your hair or dye your head purple to be a singer. I'm a clean-cut, typical suburban teen-ager," she said. Other young girls might have been dismayed by the prospect of breaking into the music industry at such a tender age, but not Gibson. "It's much easier to keep your songs in your house, but I thought these songs are as good as any on radio, so why not? It feels so great to have 10,000 kids singing along to a song I wrote in my bedroom at 2 a.m. I always felt like I was 13 going on 20 in terms of musical experience."
You know Tinman, I don't think I've ever laughed as hard about posts on a thread as I have on some of these posts by Sir Anal Retentiveness, chairman of the No Fun League. I don't know maybe he needs to get laid or something. Way too serious and uptight. Like I partially suggested to him before have a bran muffin and some prune juice and then go read War and Peace because that's about all you can do for about 4 hours but, hey his colon will have that irish spring "clean as a whistle" feeling. Hey Brooks Ball, relax man! You're suggestion isn't the worst ever. Believe me there have been plenty but, understand some of these other posters are way more critical than Tinman or I. Some of them i swear have statistics on anything and everything dating back twenty years and the moment you slightly try to "fudge" something or report inaccurately they'll call you on it! So, it's not just you but, everyone on here has had it done to them at least once. In the meantime chill out, dude! Relax, man!
forget maggette. we should ship mcbaby out for elton brand mcbaby, alston, james for Brand, SAMIAM, Cuttino
