In 1987, a teenage Debbie Gibson released her debut album, Out of The Blue, and became a star. The song “Foolish Beat” on the album garnered her the distinction of being the youngest female artist to write, perform and produce a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single.
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Gibson released Electric Youth in 1989 and continued her rise. Today, the artist is remembered for her bright buoyant energy and a handful of pop smash hits. But Gibson didn’t stop working as a teenager. No—even recently, she’s been releasing terrific albums, including The Body Remembers in 2021.
Below, we wanted to celebrate and remember Gibson, the now-52-year-old Long Island, New York-born artist. She captured so many hearts then and she’s still doing it now. These are the best 15 Debbie Gibson quotes.
1. “I think any parent that makes their kid sit at a piano against their will and practice, they’re going to have a kid that’s not going to want to play the piano.”
2. “I’ve learned to have a sense of humor about myself. Lord knows everyone else does!”
3. “I think I have a very nice demeanor, but at the same time, when pushed, I will freak out. I have a backbone, but I don’t feel like I’m terrible about it.”
4. “I did a couple of sexier videos, because all of a sudden I went, ‘Wow, I have a body. I have this side of me that I haven’t shown yet.’ And I started kind of playing around with that side of things.”
5. “The ideal situation would be to bypass all of the drama and mayhem and just get the music right to the people. I’m confident that we’ll eventually figure it out.”
6. “One of my favorite songs from the album [Think with Your Heart] is a song called ‘For Better or Worse,’ and it’s basically about unconditional love, which is, I’d say, an ongoing theme in my personal life.”
7. “I’ve managed to keep my career going in a way that suits me. I’ll perform, and then I’ll go home to my actual life, and I’ve never been so visible.”
8. “What I love about how my career has gone up to this point is that I’ve always, always put my head down on my pillow at night, and I’ve been able to say that I’ve done, honestly, what I’ve felt like I wanted to do. And that’s really all you can hope for in everything you do.”
9. “I’m glad I started so young, because you are really able to endure so much at that age.”
10. “This business is about working. It’s really not about glamour. For me, the most glamorous thing about it is to be able to get on stage and perform my music for people. That’s the privilege. And that’s what all the work leads up to, and that’s why it’s worth it to me.”
11. “I think that celebrities should never underestimate their power. I mean just to draw attention because then people get involved on a personal level.”
12. “I don’t know if people feel this way, but I think by nature that when you start off as a young pop singer, they assume that you’re a bit pampered, prissy, and precious, or that you live in a bubble and not in the real world. For me, that’s not the case.”
13. “I wouldn’t say I was bullied per se, but I did get a lot of unwanted attention because I was musical and stood out. In school you don’t want to stand out; you want to blend in.”
14. “I used to want to be the quickest, loudest, and sharpest. I think as time has gone on, I’ve gotten more relaxed.”
15. “Being on stage is what I enjoy.”
Photo by Nick Spanos/Courtesy of Shore Fire Media
