Lopez Blogs

Aah, in 1988 and 1989, there were only 3 singers i was solidly listening to - Madonna, Kylie and Debbie Gibson. And they still happen to be my 3 favourite singers to this day. I can't really write anything about Kylie and Madonna that people don't already know, but Deborah Gibson has had a varied career over the years and continues to churn out music on her own terms that still enthralls and inspires me. Today - 1988-1993...

Back in 1988 in the USA you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing Debs sing Only In My Dreams or Shake Your Love. She was, I guess, the Britney of her day but without going through the whole dodgy marriage/active womb thing. And it was clear Debs had talent - she scored 4 self penned top 5 USA hits and when Foolish Beat hit number one, she claimed the record (that she still holds to this day) for being the youngest person to write, perform and produce a number one single...

Her debut set Out Of The Blue sold over 5 million copies worldwide and was a mix of poppy dance tunes and a few piano/sax ballads. Debbie was busy touring the world and recording the follow up....

MP3: Out Of The Blue album medley


Electric Youth was preceded by the number one single Lost In Your Eyes, another piano fuelled ballad that I gave to my then girlfriend Jenny Jones (not that one!) on valentines day. Oh how things have changed since then... For the longest time, this was my favourite song, although (despite 4 British top 20 hits from OOTB) it stiffed at 34 on the British Charts. The album also topped the US charts and went top ten here - selling another 5 million worldwide...

MP3: Lost In Your Eyes Piano & Vocal Mix

The title track was released as a single with Debs most ambitious video to date. Set in a castle with a dance routine that had my video on slo-mo and pause for days (even Darren knows it now!) it came in a variety of club mixes, my fave being the latin edit below. But the law of diminishing returns kicked in and EY stalled at 11 in the US (14 here) and No More Rhyme - another ballad - 17 (unreleased UK)...Then came Debs only UK date in 1989...

MP3: Electric Youth latin edit (previously unreleased)


And I was there! Bros in 2 Summer was the Bros concert to be at, although I was only there for Debs support slot where she premiered 2 songs from the still in gestation musical Skirts. Live fave We Could Be Together made 22 in England (71 stateside). It seemed sadly that Debs star was waning...

While waiting for the 3rd album to be released, Debs recorded 2 songs for the Wonder Years tv show soundtrack - a cover (her first one) of In The Still of The Night and the lilting acoustic throwback Come Home, which still makes me want to curl up with a mug of cocoa to this day...

MP3: Come Home

1. Only In My Dreams
2. Shake Your Love
3. Out Of The Blue
4. Foolish Beat
5. Lost In Your Eyes
6. Electric Youth
7. No More Rhyme
8. We Could Be Together
9. Anything Is Possible
10. This So Called Miracle
11. One Hand One Heart
12. One Step Ahead
13. Losin Myself
14. Shock Your Mama
15. Free Me
16. How Can This Be
17. The Most Beautiful Love Song (MP3)