

However, (of all folks) my tax man (who knows my love for pop music) told me about Debbie Gibson appearing on this season's Celebrity Apprentice, and how business-minded and smart as a whip she is. That brought Debbie Debs to the front of my iTunes playlist for the 48754674983th time, with my Taylor-Made 26-track best-of, including such timeless nuggets as "Electric Youth," "Lost In Your Eyes," "Foolish Beat,"


I have a long, wondrous history with Debs, thanks to my years as a writer and columnist at Billboard, during which I sniffed out all things '80s. Her publicist David Salidor is a pal of mine, so I was granted access to Gibson numerous times... including seeing her Broadway turn in Cabaret, watching her rehearse for a club show (and interviewing her, then attending the show) and seeing her at one-off concert

Gibson continues to be mighty relevant today; she's certainly more than a faded teen pop star. In addition to more than a dozen Broadway shows (Les Miserables, Grease, Gypsy, Chicago), in 2011 she starred with "teen pop rival" Tiffany in the tongue-in-cheek SyFy flick Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (featuring a fab catfight) and had a cameo as Katy Perry’s mom(!) in the music video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” She's also a longtime friend of the gays, with five of her nine top 40 hits also crossing to the club chart.
To this day, the 41-year-old Debbie holds the record for being the youngest artist to write, produce and perform a No. 1 single, "Foolish Beat," at the age of 17. And that beat, to this day, makes me oh so happy. (Photo collage: Homorazzi) *
I was never, nor I am a fan of Debbie Gibson's but I will admit I always liked the single "Out of the Blue."
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