Watching THIS^ live show had me thinking about doing a thread on Deborah Gibson.

What went wrong? Or better yet, what was missing?

The young lady was able to produce & write most of her songs since childhood. She was very gifted on keyboards. She could dance (a little bit!). She had the image of a pop star. And she even was able to perform live (NOT lip-synching!).

And despite all of this success in the late 1980's, Debbie's music career would never EVER be on the level of an icon like Madonna, Kylie Minogue, or Janet Jackson.

Why was that?

Her sound was very teeny, unlike the other artists your listed. Back then, it seems like it was impossible for someone who started as a teen idol to transition (see Molly Ringwald) to a more adult sound/image. You needed that to keep your public or at least you did. Debbie was quite celebrated for writing and producing her own stuff....people were impressed by this and her songs were cute and dancable.

Simple.

She didn't re-invent her sound like the other ladies you mentioned.

None of the ones mentioned were really teeny bopper stars. Debbie should be compared more to Tiffani and Vanessa Paradis late 80s, IMHO. Only Vanessa is still around and still having hits (quite big actually), but not US hits. Amoung many things, her image was always far more edgy than the other two....most important and her sound was never actually "pop". She was more like Janet Jackson "Velvet Rope" era when she was 16 imagewise.

She's the White Grace Jones in many ways.

As for Debbie, if she'd come along in the post Britney/net era, she might have been able to transition more easily. She'd have been HUGE from the mid 90s, but the 80s was a different ballgame.
[Edited 6/16/09 19:57pm]

You really can't throw Vanessa into the mix. She's European and things are different over there. Debbie just didn't have the charisma-she always seemed so ordinary and she wasn't really a visonary. Back then, celebs didn't have the "branding" opportunities they have now.

scriptgirl said:

Vanessa had a profile HERE back then, as an artist, Script. I was there babe....they all busted out in 1986/1987. Kylie, Janet, and Madonna were all happening too, these girls were just the youngest of the bunch.

Kylie Minogue is Australian, so what does nationality have to do w/ it?
[Edited 6/16/09 20:04pm]

brooksie said:

As for Debbie: didn't she have a problem with the spotlight? I think she retired after turning 18 or something like that.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, I think she did. She kind of stepped away for awhle and came back mid 90s as "DEBORAH Gibson" in some sort of Boradway play. She waited too late to get back into the pop thing and of course the times were different, so nothing happened really.

scriptgirl said:

Actually they DID, tho of course not huge and overwhelming as now. Madonna certainly had a "brand" then as did Janet. In 87, Janet was changing her brand into the "Control" version, but before this, she was the youngest cute and slightly chubby Jackson sister (LaToya was the gorgeous glamourous one). Her fashion sense (the long jackets and huge earring w/ the key in it) was all the rage.

Madonna was major in every way back then. "Desparately Seeking Susan" and "Material Girl" cemented that. LOL Madonna helped sell more of those black rubber bracelets than anyone...she should have gotten royalities for them.
[Edited 6/16/09 20:44pm]

Because she had two hit albums and then fell off the face of the earth. Isn't it obvious?

brooksie said:

I think she was Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Not exactly the best way to amp up your image.

SCNDLS said:

Exactly...I'd forgotten the play. Disney at that. Back then, unlike now, it wasn't cool for teens and 20 somethings to be digging on Disney. Apparently she performed well, but that wasn't the way for a 80s pop princess to comeback in a big way.

IIRC, Molly Ringwald tried the same approach after she retired and moved to France.

scriptgirl Debbie certainly had a sort of charisma or else she'd have never been as huge as she was, for those times and for teenagers then. She fit in nicely for that moment w/ her looks and those cute gaucho hats she'd wear. The 80s were far more conservative than I could ever tell you, so she fit the sort of singing-dancing Molly Ringwald type that was so huge then.

The one big thing was there was VERY little out there for "tweens" and early teenagers. It was either kiddie stuff or 30 Something, but 87 changed this w/ these girls and 21 Jumpstreet.

Oh yes, 1987 was also the year of Terrance Trent D'Arby who "came from England", so it was kind of a watershed year for foreign acts hitting the pop charts.
[Edited 6/16/09 20:42pm]

Timmy84 said:

Wrong! Debbie still had albums in 1990 & 1992.

^^^ Why do you think she didn't continue on as huge as she was in the 80s?

VoicesCarry said:

THIS^ third album only went gold.



And I discover an used copy of THIS^ fourth album at a local library!

^^^ Have a list of cuts for the top LP? I'm thinking she had at least one hit off it.

brooksie said:

A lot of things went down in the music industry within 88-93:

1. The silver age of hip-hop/rap & the debut of new jack swing.

2. Pop metal at the tail end of popularity, with Seattle Grunge around the corner.

3. With Madonna & Janet already setting standards for future female dance-pop stars to follow, Kylie & Mariah would begin the next era at the expense of in-betweeners like Debbie & Tiffany getting left behind.

brooksie said:

Bad management.

TonyVanDam said:

I don't think hip hop, hair bands, or grunge would have affected her very much, tbh. Of all you mentioned, I think Mariah's arrival might have been most revelant to this. Mariah had a very young image when she 1st hit, but she brought that sangin' diva thing which is where the non dancing ones went in the 90s.

IIRC, Tiffani got married very early or something, but she should have gone into country music, IMHO. Great voice she had.

I put it down to her not being able to trasition from her earlier image/sound for the tastes of those times. Besides, her music was too upbeat for the 90s when everybody was depressed and oversexed! It's sad that a girl this talented couldn't stick around, but we've had 10 years of Britney and Spices .

brooksie said:

Kylie was the Miley Cryus of the UK and Oz in the late 80s her first 2 albums were nothing but Teen pop. With Rhythm of Love and Let's Get To It she at least visually started to shift to a more adult look and some of the sound started to change as well. Kylie caught alot of flack for it and spent a few years in the wilderness of the lower spots of the top 20 but she was able to adapt and change.

It was Debbie and Tiffany that kept her from catching on in the US.

It's REAL SIMPLE:

-Although Miss Gibson was/is VERY talented, she DIDN'T fu*k the WHOLE ALPHABET, like a certain "adoption crazy" Pilates person we know!!!!!

-And Miss Gibson was not as "suggestive" as Miss Jackson and Miss Minogue turned out to be.

-In the battle between Tiffany & Debbie Gibson, Miss Gibson WON BIG TIME!!!!

http://www.weht.net/WEHT/...ibson.html

Not every artist is gonna have longevity.It takes more than just talent to have a long-lasting career.You gotta know how to re-invent yourself,adapt to changing trends and sounds,and you gotta keep people interested in you.There was a time when people thought that Paula Abdul would have a long,successful pop music career

Bottom line is,Debbie Gibson didn't have what it takes to last for more than a few albums.Just like Paula Abdul,Pebbles,Tiffany and the others.

woogiebear said:

Are you saying Madonna was "fucking for tracks"?

Debbie is very talented but I guess that third album was a misstep (perhaps she wasn't "suggestive" enough) and she never recovered from it. It really has nothing to do with anyone else.

VinnyM27 said:

If she did, it was way before this period we're talking about. In her earlier career, she mostly worked w/ Jellybean who was her boyfriend, so oh well. This doesn't account for Madonna's longevity. If it did, Pebbles and Paula should still be blowing up the charts and tours.
[Edited 6/17/09 9:05am]

ehuffnsd said:

I always put early Kylie w/ The Bangles back then. She was doing silly pop, but she was on the old side (LOL...for 12-13 year old me). Agewise, Miley would have been closer to Vanessa in age, if not concept.

Her "comeback" and reinvention was incredibly rare back then and she's still rocking on now. She's the only one from that era who started out w/ very light pop that managed a transition into something more adult. Maybe her age helped her in this respect.

Dayclear said:

If people wanna know why she didn't last into the 90s, these two things from the link give a good reason why:


She released an album in 1993, Body In Soul, which featured a more adult-contemporary sound.

In 1995, she released Think With Your Heart, an album featuring a 44-piece orchestra and also a cameo on an album by punk legends the Circle Jerks.

brooksie said:

Kylie was 19 when she had her first hit. born 28 May 1968 first hit July 28, 1987
[Edited 6/17/09 9:41am]

ehuffnsd said:

I didn't know how old she was then, but 19 is old to a 13 year old.