rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson FAQ v3.3.3
Levien de Braal
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 2002/02/18
Version: 3.3.3
The rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) v3.3.3
Maintained by Levien de Braal (lev...@cc.gatech.edu)
Written by Levien de Braal and Bob MacDowell
Special thanx to Shmuel Ross and Myra Wong
This FAQ is stored as:
http://deb.org/archives/FAQ
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/music/debbie-gibson-faq
Questions answered here:
1. The Newsgroups
1.1 What has Usenet to offer for a Deborah Gibson fan ?
1.2 What is rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson (RMADG) ?
1.3 What is alt.fan.debbie.gibson (AFDG) ?
1.4 Can I post pictures or soundfiles (binaries) ?
1.5 What if my site doesn't offer the newsgroups ?
2. Resources on the Internet
2.1 What is the official fan club ?
2.2 What is the "BtL Newsletter" ?
2.3 What mailing lists exist to discuss Deborah Gibson ?
2.4 What World Wide Web (WWW) services are there for Deborah Gibson fans ?
2.5 Can I chat with other fans on the net in real time ?
3. Deborah Gibson's Music
3.1 What Deborah Gibson albums have been released ?
3.2 What Deborah Gibson singles have been released ?
3.3 What Deborah Gibson videotapes have been released ?
3.4 Why Japanese only Bonus tracks ?
3.5 Who writes Deborah Gibson's music ?
3.6 Who produces Deborah Gibson's music ?
3.7 Who has had the privilege to work with Deborah Gibson ?
3.8 What instruments does Deborah Gibson play ?
4. Deborah Gibson, the person
4.1 Who is Deborah Gibson ?
4.2 What has Deborah Gibson done so far ?
4.3 What is she doing in the theatre ?
4.4 What are GPI, GMI, and Espiritu ?
4.5 What is this with Deborah Gibson and Tiffany ?
4.6 Is Deborah Gibson still a teenager ?
4.7 Are there any biographies about Deborah Gibson ?
4.8 Has she ever posed nude in Playboy, Penthouse or similar ?
4.9 Did she write a letter to the Times about Madonna's book ?
4.10 Is it true that Deborah Gibson did a striptease in one of her videos ?
5. Miscellaneous
5.1 What do OOTB, BMS, LM and all those funny acronyms mean ?
********** 1. The Newsgroups **********
1.1 What has Usenet to offer for a Deborah Gibson fan ?
Usenet readers can keep informed about Deborah Gibson by reading the
rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson (RMADG) newsgroup. Members of Deborah Gibson
related mailing lists read this group regularly, post the latest news there
and are willing to answer questions that people might have. Also, it is
possible for people to have elaborate group discussions on the newsgroup that
are inappropriate on one of the mailing lists.
Please note that since the creation of RMADG, it is more appropriate to post
there than to the old alt.fan.debbie.gibson (AFDG) newsgroup. The rec.*
hierarchy has in general a much better availability to users than the alt.*
hierarchy.
1.2 What is rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson (RMADG)?
On October 13, 1995, the results were announced of the official vote for
the creation of a new newsgroup, called rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson.
The volunteer votetaker counted 292 votes in favor, with only 70 votes
against. Since this outcome meets the requirement for newsgroup creation
in the rec.* hierarchy, RMADG was created a few days later. No propagation
(availability on news servers) or readership statistics are known.
Official Newsgroup-line:
rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson The music of Deborah Gibson.
Official Charter:
This group would discuss Deborah Gibson, her music and appearances.
Official Proponent was: (many thanks to him)
Richard Evans
1.3 What is alt.fan.debbie.gibson (AFDG)?
Early February 1993 the newsgroup alt.fan.debbie.gibson was created for the
fans of Deborah Gibson. Regrettably, the group was created in a whim, without
any discussion, and it violates generally accepted Usenet regulations. It
subsequently suffers from a poor propagation (availability on news servers).
To name one thing, its name violates the newsgroup naming convention, due to
the dot placed between "debbie" and "gibson" (should have been a dash). July
1995 propagation was estimated at 29% of all sites that carry newsfeed, while
readership was estimated at 3,300 people. Because
rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson has been created since, the number of readers
can be expected to have changed substantially.
Due to the way it was created, this newsgroup has no official Newsgroup-line
or Charter. The Newsgroup-line used by news servers tends to vary, but it is
most often provided as "Thwarter of the supervillain Tiffany", which was once
added as a joke by some unknown system administrator.
1.4 Can I post pictures or soundfiles (binaries) ?
We suggest you do not post any type of binary file to either of the two
Deborah Gibson related newsgroups. Picture files, soundfiles, and other
binaries take lots of bandwidth and tend to overload gateways and cause lots
of problems for the entire net. Instead, post them to alt.binaries.pictures,
which is designed to handle it. Remember to put a note on RMADG telling people
you posted those pictures there.
It's best to put binary items on the WWW.
1.5 What if my site doesn't offer the newsgroups ?
Usenet spreads by connections between computers. People own those computers
and connections. They have a legitimate right to decide which newsgroups to
carry. Many sites do not carry groups of a certain type. However, most system
administrators will carry a group if you kindly ask them.
********** 2. Resources on the Internet **********
2.1 What is the official fan club ?
The Deborah Gibson International Fan club (D.G.I.F.) is the only official fan
club for Deborah Gibson fans, managed by Deborah's family. D.G.I.F. has been
in operation since 1987. At first they sent out one-page photocopied
newsletters. In early 1988 they started printed quarterly magazines on glossy
paper. These magazines were approximately 20 pages long and contained
full-page pictures, exclusive candid pictures, questions & answers, "When I
Met Deborah" stories and pen pal listings. Most issues contained a message
from Deborah, usually one or two pages in length. Between January 1995 and
1999 they alternated similar 16-page full-color magazines with shorter black &
white newsletters. For a while there were four issues each year, but in later
years the rate had gone down substantially, and membership was then recorded
in terms of batches of four issues, not in calendar years. In July 1999,
D.G.I.F. announced they had stopped sending out magazines and newsletters
altogether. The official fan club now only exists as nothing more than the
DGIF Online area on the Official website.
Official site: http://www.Deborah-Gibson.com/
2.2 What is the "BtL Newsletter" ?
On March 31, 1989, several fans got together to create a Deborah Gibson
discussion forum in the form of a regular newsletter. They first called it
"The Electric Youth", which was changed to "Between the Lines" in the second
issue. BtL (ISSN 1201-4826, electronic publication ISSN 1201-4834) operates on
a non-profit basis. BtL used to release issues approximately every month, but
nowadays is released more sporadically whenever there are enough submissions
by fans. Issues generally contain the latest information, transcriptions of
other sources, reviews and opinions, all submitted by BtL members.
The membership started off with fifteen people and has since then steadily
grown. Currently the membership is 1000+, with members from Australia,
Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Singapore, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United
States.
Issues are sent by e-mail and are free of charge.
To subscribe to the BtL Newsletter, visit the BtL ListInfo page:
http://deb.org/mailman/listinfo/btl
or send e-mail to:
btla...@deb.org
2.3 What mailing lists exist to discuss Deborah Gibson ?
There are several BtL (see 2.2) provided mailing lists for Deborah Gibson
fans:
* BtL EXPRESS
* ELECTRIC NEWS
* AIP
* RMADG
BtL EXPRESS
BtL EXPRESS is a mailing list used by the BtL moderators to quickly send out
information, though only in rare cases. It's only available in Reflector
format, and is one-way (receiving information only). Also, the BtL issues
are being sent out using this list so a subscription to the BtL Newsletter
is essentially the same as a subscription to BtL EXPRESS. You can subscribe
by visiting the BtL ListInfo page at:
http://deb.org/mailman/listinfo/btl
ELECTRIC NEWS
ELECTRIC NEWS is a mailing list only for news and information regarding
Deborah Gibson. It is only available in Reflector format. Subscription to
Electric News requires a subscription to the BtL newsletter. You can
subscribe by visiting the Electric News ListInfo page at:
http://deb.org/mailman/listinfo/electric
Anything Is Possible (AIP)
AIP is a mailing list for members of the BtL Newsletter to have lively
discussions regarding Deborah Gibson and any related topic. This list is
available in both Reflector (each message immediately sent) and Digest
(collections of messages sent during a day) format. Subscription to the
AIP mailing list requires a subscription to Electric News and the BtL
newsletter. You can subscribe by visiting the AIP ListInfo page:
http://deb.org/mailman/listinfo/aip
There's a message archive for all of the above mailing lists at:
http://deb.org/archives/
Other Non-BtL non-official mailing lists are:
* M.Y.O.B. Squad
* Debheadz
* deborahgibson
* DeborahAnnGibsonFanClub
To subscribe, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/
M.Y.O.B. Squad
The goal of this list is to help promote Deborah Gibson's new album as fans,
by requesting her songs on the radio, and getting the word out to people who
may not be familiar with her new mainstream songs! It also serves to
celebrate the music of Deborah Gibson. NOTE: This is a FAN Promotion group
and is in NO Way shape or form associated with DGIF!
Debheadz
Debheadz: Followers of the Legendary singer/actress Deborah Gibson.
Discussion group for the members of Debheadz.com.
deborahgibson
This is a mailing list for all fans of Deborah Gibson. The topics for this
list are anything that has to do with Deborah.
DeborahAnnGibsonFanClub
Thanks for stopping by a new Deborah Gibson group. I created this group for
Deb fans to chat about Deb.
2.4 What World Wide Web (WWW) services are there for Deborah Gibson fans ?
There are a large number of WWW-pages created by fans. The deb.org site
attempts to provide as objective information as possible: the latest news,
a short biography, information from this FAQ in HTML format, archives for a
few mailing lists, and many links to other resources on the net related to
Deborah Gibson. It has an extensive list of other WWW resources on the net.
The URL:
Other sites that should be mentioned here:
Official site: http://www.Deborah-Gibson.com/
Nicky Jacob's site: http://Deborah-Gibson.net/
Webring site: http://deb.org/webring/
WWW index Unita FTP site: http://ftp.unina.it/pub/music/dgibson/
Lesley Aeschliman site: http://www.angelfire.com/pop2/deborahgibson/
2.5 Can I chat with other fans on the net in real time ?
Check out http://deb.org/void.html
It will inform you more about Void-MOO, a MUD-like virtual environment that
allows people to chat within a certain theme. (Theme for Void-MOO: Deborah
Gibson/Merrick, New York) You can access the Void-MOO when you have telnet
or a Java-capable browser. Pointers to download required software are given
at the above location as well.
********** 3. Deborah Gibson's Music **********
3.1 What Deborah Gibson albums have been released ?
Deborah has recorded seven studio albums:
"Out of the Blue", "Electric Youth", "Anything is Possible", "Body Mind Soul",
"Think With Your Heart", "Deborah", and "M.Y.O.B. (Mind Your Own Business)".
3.2 What Deborah Gibson singles have been released ?
Whoa! We will not go into a complete discography here. A discography is
available at: http://deb.org/discography/
3.3 What Deborah Gibson videotapes have been released ?
"Out of the Blue" has the first four music videos. (30 min.)
"Live in Concert (Out of the Blue tour)", self-explanatory. (60 min.)
"Live Around the World" is another concert, plus 6 more videos. (90 min.)
All of them contain interview segments.
3.4 Why Japanese only Bonus tracks ?
Domestic CD prices in Japan are set by the Japanese government. These prices
are far above the normal market price for CDs imported from the USA. To
improve sales of the Japanese CDs, extra bonus tracks are included that are
not available on the USA versions of the CDs.
The Japanese version of "Anything Is Possible" was sold with an additional
3" CD, containing the song "Without You". "Body Mind Soul" in Japan has an
extra song called "Eyes of the Child". The album "Think With Your Heart" has
even got two additional tracks: "You Know Me" and "Call Yourself a Lover".
The Atlantic Records-released Greatest Hits album contains both "Without You"
and "Eyes of the Child" as bonus tracks.
3.5 Who writes Deborah Gibson's music ?
Most of it is written by Deborah Gibson herself. She uses her actual name,
Deborah Gibson for the credit lines, while she initially got famous using the
name "Debbie Gibson". If she does not write music and lyrics by herself, she
at least co-writes her songs, with only a few exeptions for an occasional
cover of a song she loves to perform. Deborah wrote "Only In My Dreams", her
first hit, when she was 12.
3.6 Who produces Deborah Gibson's music ?
Deborah Gibson, although she lets others spin the knobs on occasion or
otherwise merely co-produces her own songs. She produced "Foolish Beat"
herself and became the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform
a #1 single.
3.7 Who has had the privilege to work with Deborah Gibson ?
On "Out Of The Blue" she worked with Fred Zarr, John Morales, Sergio Munizibai
and Lewis A. Martinee. On "Electric Youth" Fred Zarr did some of the
producing. On "Anything Is Possible", her third album, she worked with Lamont
Dozier, Jellybean and Fred Zarr. She also teamed up with Tatsuro Yamashita in
creating the song "Without You", which was released in Japan only. On her
fourth album, "Body Mind Soul", she worked with Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers,
Elliot Wolf, Phil Ramone, Carole Bayer Sager and Narada Michael Warden. The
privilege of co-writing and/or co-producing for her fifth album, "Think With
Your Heart", was given to nobody at all. On "Deborah", she teamed up with
Joy Swinea, Richard Drummie, Mark Portmann, Steve Rosen, Junior Vasquez, and
Anna-Jane Casey (duet).
Artists that have worked with Deborah outside of her own albums include Ana,
Jobeth Taylor, the Party, Chris Cuevas and the Circle Jerks. Many people were
suprised to see Deborah team up with the Circle Jerks, sing backup vocals on
their last album, and stagedive into a mosh-pit during their gig at CBGB's in
New York.
3.8 What instruments does Deborah Gibson play ?
Piano, programming synthesizers and drum machines, guitar and flute. At age
six she won first place in a piano recital, playing the full "Fur Elise". She
can hack on the drums, but not well enough to record.
********** 4. Deborah Gibson, the person **********
4.1 Who is Deborah Gibson ?
Full name: Deborah Ann Gibson
Confirmation name: Marie
Religious denomination: Catholic
Date of birth: August 31, 1970
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York
Education: Sanford H. Calhoun High School, June 1988
Marital Status: Single
Deborah has an upbeat, caring, open-minded, ambitious and family-oriented
personality. In her career she has always had the support of her family. Her
mother, Diane, is also her manager. Her sisters have also helped from the
start by doing things like designing her stage-outfits, sound engineering and
running the fan club.
She supports several charities, among which are the Pediatric AIDS Foundation,
the Make-A-Wish Foundation and St.Mary's Children & Families Foundation. The
latter is a home for abused, orphaned and/or neglected children. Deborah's
father, Joe Gibson, has spent several years there. After listing those causes,
it should come as no surprise that Deborah is very fond of children. She
has no children of her own yet, but has stated that she definitely wants
several, own as well as adopted.
4.2 What has Deborah Gibson done so far ?
Deborah Gibson started her career at a young age. She got experience in
theatre by playing roles in plays like "A Christmas Carol", "Annie" and
"Mickey Mouse and Friends". At age 12, she started songwriting seriously.
She was part of the Metropolitan Opera for several years, doing operas like
"Hansel und Gretel", "La Boheme" and "Le Rossignol", some of which meant
singing in a foreign language.
Deborah got her first recording contract at age 16, for a 12" aimed at the
dance market. In late 1986, "Only in my Dreams" was released, a song she had
written three years prior. After it became a hit, 6 months of hard work
performing at various clubs later, she recorded her first album, titled "Out
of the Blue". It went triple platinum, just like her second album "Electric
Youth", which was released in January 1989. With the song "Foolish Beat" she
set a record: she became the youngest artist in chart history to have written,
produced and performed a Number 1 song.
After Deborah's third album, "Anything is Possible", she made her broadway
debut as Eponine in the musical "Les Miserables". She continued her efforts in
theatre by appearing as Sandy in the musical "Grease" on London's West End for
a period of nine months, shortly after she had released her fourth album "Body
Mind Soul". Her fifth album, called "Think With Your Heart", once more shows
her abilities as a songwriter, musician, singer and producer. It contains
mostly ballads with Deborah playing piano, accompanied by an orchestra.
Deborah played Betty Rizzo in the National Touring Company of Grease. She was
part of the cast from October 29 1995 through March 3 1996, touring through
the USA and performing in 19 different cities in a usually sold out theatre.
Deborah recorded her sixth album, "Deborah", in the summer of 1996, after
which she starred as Fanny Brice in a brief revival of the musical Funny Girl.
She continued showing her passion for theatre by playing "Belle" in the
Broadway musical "Beauty and the Beast" for nine months, followed by starring
as Gypsy Rose Lee in the Papermill Playhouse production of Gypsy, playing the
narrator in the US touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat, and the title role in the US touring production of Cinderella.
On March 6, 2001, she released her seventh studio album, titled "M.Y.O.B.
(Mind Your Own Business)".
Besides her own career, she has written and/or produced material for several
other artists (Chris Cuevas, Ana, the Party, Jobeth Taylor) and regularly
participates on "various artists" albums benefiting charities. She surprised
many, including her own fans, by singing backup vocals for a song on the last
Circle Jerks album.
4.3 What is she doing in the theatre ?
Deborah has been involved in the theatre longer than she has been in music.
She got her "Equity" card at age 11 when she did "A Christmas Carol". From the
very beginning (even before her recording career started in 1986) she
participated in many plays and auditioned for many many more. (see also 4.2)
4.4 What are GPI, GMI, Espiritu, and Golden Egg ?
Deborah's production/management companies: Gibson Production International and
Gibson Management International. GMI also manages other artists. Both are run
by either Deborah, her sister Karen or her mother Diane Gibson. Espiritu
Records is the name of the Gibsons' first own record label, while Golden Egg
Records is their second record label.
4.5 What is this with Deborah Gibson and Tiffany ?
A long long time ago, Deborah Gibson and Tiffany were teenage artists who
appeared on the music scene at nearly the same time. That drew a connection in
the eyes of the public. The stories about them being in competition with one
another at the time were mere media hype.
4.6 Is Deborah Gibson still a teenager ?
Time marches on. She was born August 31, 1970. Do the math.
4.7 Are there any biographies about Deborah Gibson ?
The best is the authorized biography by Mark Bego: "Between the Lines". It was
written in 1989, so it is not up to date. Published by Eakin Publications,
Austin, Texas. (the book and the Internet mailing list coincidentally have the
same name).
Also, "Debbie Gibson: Electric Star" by Randi Reisfeld, March 1990, Bantam
books, New York. It is scarce and unauthorized. While it fills in the picture,
it is quite lacking in the "scandal" department, most likely due to a lack of
scandals :-)
Further: "DEBBIE GIBSON" by Gary Poole. Modern Publishing, New York 1989.
And: "DEBBIE GIBSON - UK BIOGRAPHY", 1990 Omnibus Press. (small)
They are all out of print.
4.8 Has she ever posed nude in Playboy, Penthouse or similar ?
No. Playboy made an offer to Deborah shortly after she turned 18. At that time
she refused that offer, saying flat-out: "NEVER!". The offer itself lead to
lots of rumors in the tabloids though.
Over the years, Deborah has changed her opinion on nudity though. In 1999,
a report in TV-Guide on-line stated Deborah was seriously considering posing
topless for Playboy Magazine. D.G.I.F. portrayed the report as just another
rumor in their January 22 hotline message, but Deborah herself later stated in
an interview with Music Choice Magazine that the rumor was true. The deal
didn't go through because she and Playboy could not reach an agreement on
which photographer to use.
4.9 Did she write a letter to the Times about Madonna's book ?
She wrote a letter that the New York Times never published. She questioned
that a role model of so many teenage fans would publish a book of rather
bizarre erotica, stressing the importance of being a good role model to
young people.
4.10 Is it true that Deborah Gibson did a striptease in one of her videos ?
Yes. She plays a stripper in the video of "Losin' Myself", the first single
released from her fourth album, "Body Mind Soul". Do not expect to see
anything indecent though. The video is actually pretty modest. She stripteases
down to a well-covering bathing suit.
********** 5. Miscellaneous **********
5.1 What do OOTB, BMS, LM and all those funny acronyms mean ?
These are song or album names. Some people have a habit of using these a lot.
OOTB = "Out of the Blue", BMS = "Body Mind Soul", LM = "Losin' Myself", etc...
Take a look at http://euclid.ucsd.edu/~amedrano/dnd.html for a listing.