From an interview on KKMG in Colorado Springs, Colorado (May 3, 2000)

(about Deborah's "goody two-shoes" image)

• "I'm always more candid than people realized. You know, they put that on you, and that's it."

(about the Debbie/Deborah name change)

• "I've always liked to be called Deborah, and I changed it to Debbie for recording purposes, and then, just after a few years, got really sick of it. It never really was my name. It was never this big, 'Hi, I'm grown up and sophisticated' statement or anything when I changed it to Deborah."

(So Deborah changed it to Debbie?)

• "Well, yeah, but you had to hear the other suggestions from the record company. They wanted me to be Debbie G, or Deborah and drop the last name. And, you know, I said, 'Oh, great. You guys are basically counting on me having one hit.' How to spell out 'one-hit wonder,' call yourself Debbie G. So, finally I said, 'OK, fine, I'll go with the Debbie, but I'll keep my last name.' It was like my big concession. And then I said, people will call my name Debbie, and I wouldn't even respond, because it just wasn't my name."

(asked about Britney spears and the other teen female singers)

• "I know, it's like the mother hen. I want to put them all in a room and give them the map."

(about writing her own material as a teenager)

• "I wrote my entire first two albums. 'Foolish Beat' I wrote and produced, because I started doing demos in my garage. I'm a pianist, and I've always heard arrangements in my head. Once I got my hands on the equipment, I basically figured out how to do it on my own."

(about the record company trying to control her early career)

• "The record company people were constantly, especially when they see a young girl, they just see the perfect opportunity to create something and have a puppet. I remember having those fights way back when saying, 'Look, I'm in high school. I know what high school people are thinking. I know what they want to hear. I write, so why are we going to go to outside people? Why are we even going to waste that energy? Let's do my stuff.' And I fought for it, and it was like a one single at a time thing to prove it. And then two albums later, they said, 'OK. OK.'"

(asked if she was ahead of Tiffany)

• "Yeah, I think by a minute. You know what's really funny. I just spoke to her yesterday."

(DJ comments he thought Tiffany was a street person)

• "She's not a street person. She's married with an eight-year-old son. She's ahead of me in that game. We kind of took different routes. We've talked about this, because I'm chummy with her at this point. It's very funny. We've gone out to dinner together, and people just really get a kick out of it. It's very funny. They think they're seeing things."

(was there a rivalry with Tiffany in the '80s?)

• "No, there wasn't ever. I mean, people create that, but my feeling always was, there's room for everybody. Even though we both did pop music, we have totally different voices, and we were doing different things, different kinds of shows. She had a bad time of it, because she had this older male manager who basically kind of brainwashed her into believing that she was nothing without him. She's actually working on a new record right now, and I've heard a bit of it, and it's really good. We took very different routes, though. Once that pop whirlwind was over for her, she decided she really wanted to kind of figure out how to have a life, and a family, and all that. And I went into Broadway. I went a different route, and I didn't want to stop performing right away."

(where was "What You Want" produced?)

• "I did this in New York. I actually wrote it in L.A. with a friend of mine who I was working on some demos with, and he said, 'Hey, listen. I've got this idea for a track.' And he played me a bit of the track, and I went, 'OK, stop the session. Get me a pen. I love this, I'm feeling this.' And we went with it. And then I got back to New York, and Tony Moran, a great producer, decided to work on it, and a radio station here, KTU, started playing it. Frankie Blue, which everyone in radio knows Frankie Blue, I think. Anyway, he kind of started breaking it for me, and we're kind of like runnin to keep up now, because it's taken on a life of its own."

(about the following Deborah still has)

• "You know what's funny, it's like people don't realize that, you know, really anybody who does anything in this business has their own following. And, it's like, I've got this really loyal fan club that have been to all the Broadway things I've done and they really follow. And I'm also aware that on the street, if you don't follow Broadway and you don't follow an artist, you kind of go, 'What rock do these people crawl out from under? Deborah Gibson? What's she been doing?'"

(how did Deborah get started?)

• I started doing theater, and I grew up right outside of Manhattan, and so, my parents would drive me into the city or I'd take a train in, and I would do shows and commerical auditions, and all that kind of showbiz stuff that you see on 'Where Are They Now?' on VH1. You see those hidden videos of everyone. I was doing all that stuff. And basically, I started getting really into writing at about twelve years old, and started going to other people's studios, didn't like the way that was going because I felt like I had ideas that they were kind of stripping me of in the studio, and so I put together my own little demo studio, and I sent tapes around, literally knocked on doors. Like I'd be in a building, going on an audition, and I'd look in the directory for music publishing or record companies or anything, and I'd drop off a tape. And I was this really awkward preteen girl, and they were like, 'What the heck are we going to do with you?' But eventually, an entertainment attorney took interest and introduced me to someone over at Atlantic Records, and it kind of went from there."

(asked about getting into movies)

• "I actually did two independent films. One was like an ensemble kind of farce comedy thing, and the other was with Dom DeLuise. I played a Jewish bride from Long Island. Big stretch, even though I'm not Jewish, but I had plenty of research material. And it was a Jewish-Italian wedding, and Dom DeLuise played this martini-drinking, swearing priest."

(about working with Dom DeLuise)

• "He was the most gracious person to work with. We would have like three hundred extras a day working on this movie, and he would sit and eat lunch with them every day, and just let them pick his brain. And he was an amazing man."

(what are Deborah's plans?)

• "Basically, I'm promoting this record and radio stations have invited me to do their big summer jam type things and all that. So I'm going to be doing a bunch of promotion coming up, and, God willing, the thing will be a hit and I can do a tour, because, I mean, I love doing theater, but I love the adrenaline of doing things in a concert setting."

From an interview on KRAV in Tulsa, Oklahoma (May 4, 2000)

(about guest hosting WKTU's morning show)

• "I was guest DJing for two weeks, getting up at four a.m., like I'm sure you guys do every day. I tell you, I think it's easier to do eight shows a week on Broadway than to get up at four a.m. every day. I mean, it was fun once I woke up, but I didn't wake up until like the last hour."

(about Deborah's music)

• "I'm really anxious to perform my own stuff now, and, you know, I'm really kind of developing a new sound that, you know, not intentionally, but, just as you get older, it's just new things start to creep into your writing, and it's really exciting, and I definitely want to put it out there now."

(What's ahead for Deborah? Movies?)

• "You know, it's like, I'm a creative person, period, and I feel like that just entails a lot. Any creative outlet that there is to tackle, I want to. And I grew up in theater, so I grew up as a singer/actress, really. And I actually did two independent films - one with Dom DeLuise, it was kind of a festival film, where I played a Jewish bride from Long Island. I'm not Jewish, but I didn't have to go far for the research. I grew up with the girls going, 'Oh my God, I gotta get a manicure, or I'm gonna die, Debbie.'"

(what advice would Deborah give to the new crop of female teen singers?)

• "Well, Christina actually called in to the radio show when I was doing it. And I said to her, she was talking about how hard it is at times to see her family, and my big advice was like, make the time, because it's your grounding force, if you stick close to people who aren't afraid to kind of keep you in line. You gotta have it, because it's really easy to get carried away when people are just kind of hanging on your every word. And to keep developing your craft, because when you're young, you're going on adrenaline, and you're going on raw talent. A lot of times you'll say, 'Oh, I have my voice lesson this week, and I'll be doing a Broadway show some time, but you'll say, 'But you probably won't receive any voice lessons.' And when you're on Broadway, that's when you really need voice lessons."

(who is Deborah's hero?)

• "I'm a big fan of, you know, Streisand and Bette Midler."

From an interview on WNCI in Columbus, Ohio (May 10, 2000)

(about Debbie/Deborah)

• "You know what, I've always been Deborah. I went with Debbie for the record company's sake and all that, and it never felt like my name."

(Does it bother her to be called Debbie?)

• "You know, the thing is, when someone calls me Debbie, I know they're a stranger, 'cause everyone that's ever been in my life has always called me Deborah. It was never a big statement, you know, 'Oh, I'm sophisticated and I'm called Deborah now.' It was never meant to be that. It was more a thing of, you know what, this is my name, and I'm sick of being called that other name."

(asked if she has a fan site)

• "I have had a fan club, you know, for the last fourteen years, and a very active fanbase. A lot of times, if people aren't up on what's going on on Broadway, I don't know what they think I've been doing. They just kind of think I disappeared. I've got this fanbase, they're up on everything I've been doing."

(If Deborah is not necessarily performing, would she get into songwriting like a Diane Warren?)

• "I've been talking to record companies, I've been approached by a lot of record companies lately about writing for other artists. Being a performer will always be number one, but I write every single day. I mean, I write like five songs a day, and I've got stacks and stacks of notebooks in my home, and I really, really want people to cover my tunes. So, yes, that's something I'm working on right now."

(Does Deborah have "stupid, crazy stalker fans who follow her around the world"?)

• "I've had that. I've approached people and said, 'How do you have the money to do this? How do you have a job?' People can make that their hobby. Like, I've gone on national theater tours, you know, you have people who follow you from city to city. In Beauty and the Beast, I had a problem with somebody."

(about being on the verge of turning 30)

• "I did an interview with People Magazine yesterday about turning thirty. Isn't that funny? It's such a rude awakening to anybody who was in high school when I was in high school."

(about possibly working with Tiffany)

• "We're talking about me possibly just like singing because she's working on an album right now. I'm working on developing a TV movie right now, and the powers that be think that it would be a real kick if the two of us did something, and also, I was in the studio when she was working on some stuff not too long ago, and I was supposed to be back in L.A. this week and I'm actually not now, but she said, 'Please come back to town if you want to sing on the album.' And I would love to. I think that would be really fun."

(about Tiffany)

• "She's very sweet. We had a really interesting conversation, because, you know, our lives took completely different paths. She decided to get married and have a kid, and her son's like eight years old now, and I went heavy into theater. So we were comparing notes. It was very interesting."

(how Deborah and Tiffany recently hooked up)

• "It was actually quite by accident. I was doing 'The List' on VH1, and she had just done it, and I said to someone, 'I want to give her a call.' And someone said, 'Oh, she's one of my good friends. Let's get her on the cel phone.' And we literally just exchanged numbers. And, you know, we used to cross paths all the time, but you're so in your own whirlwind that you have no time to really make new friends at that point, you know, so, yeah, it's very recent that we've become friends."

(what did she play during her stint on "VH1 At Work"?)

• "Actually, I picked some older tunes. I picked a Wilson Phillips tune because I love them. I've actually been writing with them, because they're working on something new. Carnie's doing great, I saw her last week. She said, 'I have basically lost a whole person.' She's doing great, she's happy, she's engaged. She's still a jolly human being. I played a tune by them, I played Don Henley's 'Heart Of The Matter,' one of my all-time favorite songs. I'm trying to think of current stuff I played. Oh, M2M. I really like those girls. They're very young, they remind me of what I was doing back then. They're very gimmick-free, which is what I like. Very natural. So those are a few of the tunes that I played."

(about being a childhood friend of Ricki Lake)

• "We used to sing together at a place where you, it was like a dessert/nightclub for kids. It was like, kids had birthday parties there, it was on the upper East Side of Manhattan, and it was like a showcase for showbiz kids. We used to see each other every Sunday for like three years we did this together."

(about Deborah's sexier image)

• "I'm very comfortable with that side of myself at this point. I think I've grown up in a really healthy way. When I was eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old, I honestly was not even anywhere near my peers were in terms of I was a late bloomer. I mean, I really was. Go back to prom days, I looked a little more like, you know, Olivia Newton-John in Grease, whereas my friends were a little more sophisticated, and that's just the way I was."

(about dating)

• "I'm at a point in my life, and I think a lot of people can relate who are twenty nine, thirty years old, that I really know after going out with someone once if it's got real potential, if I really click with someone or not. And there's no way I can fool myself into thinking that something is working. I'm pretty picky, and I love my work so much. I've been in the studio a whole lote, and if something's going to take me away from that, it'd better be good."

(if Deborah could choose anyone to go out on a date with, who would it be?)

• "That's such an easy question for me. Johnny Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I've seen him interviewed, and I think he is so soulful and real and I dig him. I just like that he's his own dude, you know?"

(about Deborah's tattoo)

• "I actually have a tattoo. It's on my ankle. It's a little rose, it's like a little Beauty and the Beast rose with the petal falling off."

(where does Deborah live?)

• "I live in Manhattan. I've lived here for, God, eight, nine years."

(when she was a teen star, were there any pressures for Deborah to be sexy a la Britney Spears?)

• "The oldest story in the book is the jailbait image thing, and the male record company executives saying, 'Would you just put on a black dress and heels?' And I used to say, 'Why, so I can look like everybody else that's out there?' and, you know, I'm very glad I did my own thing. It seems like Britney's very comfortable with what she's doing, so I don't want to judge her, because I don't really know her, but my only fear just in general watching all these young girls is that the attention you get in your real life at that age from projecting an image like that, you know, can they handle that on a daily basis? I mean, because, what starts to happen is you get older men that forget that these girls are only seventeen, eighteen years old."

(what is Deborah's favorite song that she's ever recorded?)

• "One of them is definitely 'Lost In Your Eyes.'"

(about the number of Deborah fan sites on the Internet)

• "It's funny, 'cause like for my website, I had to be deborah-gibson because somebody stole my name before I got to it. But I've got some really amazing fans. They're great, because you know what, my fans are the kinds of fans that, you know, I joke that that they later in life come out of the closet, because, you know, I wasn't the coolest person to be a fan of back in the day. And then over the years, you know, people would say, 'Wait a minute, you're a fan of who? What's she up to?' So it's like my fans had to, in a way, defend why they're fans of me and my music, and it's like they're really amazing."

(what is Deborah's opinion of Napster?)

• "I actually a few years ago went and spoke to Congress and got to be on C-SPAN, very exciting. I went and spoke to Congress when they were making home versions of recordable DATs, which, you know, is the same thing now as recordable CDs, and it really goes hand in hand with what's going on on the Internet because the problem is people don't regard music as a business, and it is, you know. And it's amazingly creative, but at the same time you do need to keep feeding your creativity with the business end of it. And if music becomes so accessible that people don't feel like it's something special to go to a store to buy a new CD, not only for the music but for the artwork and for all the labor that goes into making a CD, I just think that the appreciation of art as is the whole business in general is going to start spiralling downward. I'm not a big fan. I think it's just too accessible, and I think that it takes away, I mean, but I'm someone who, going back to the days of vinyl, I think buying an album was much more exciting to buy than a CD, you know what I mean? I think it's just losing its excitement."

(about the song she wrote for Jennifer Love Hewitt)

• "I had completely forgotten about it. I was writing for artists a while ago, you know, I mean, I would get calls saying, 'Oh, there's this girl doing this album in Japan,' and that was Jennifer, I'm sorry, Love. And I never knew her well enough to call her Love. But, yeah, I had submitted this song to her and she loved it, and recorded it. It was a new song called 'Bedtime Stories.'"

(who has recorded Deborah's songs?)

• "There was a group called The Party. Do you remember them? They did a tune of mine on their album. But, I mean, mainly I did a lot of stuff for artists in Japan and all that. So no one really you'd know, but I'm in the process right now, you know, I've got like Mandy Moore looking at songs. I actually really adore that girl, I really want to write something for her. There's no bells and whistles, it's like, 'Here I am. This is my voice, this is my vocal range, this is what I do.'"

(did Deborah ever have a doll made of her?)

• "You know what, I was approached to do one. I was approached to do the lunchboxes, and this and that, and I actually kind of came to a point where I said, 'You know what, I don't think I want to do all of that stuff, because I think it's going to take away from my music.' I had someone come to the door of, I think it was Beauty and the Beast, one of the shows I did, they had made a poseable action figure of me wearing a big black hat."

From an interview on KRBE in Houston, Texas (May 28, 2000)

(about Tiffany)

• "She's a pal of mine. She got married, she had a kid - she has an eight-year-old son. I've got to tell you, with all the showbiz stuff I've done, I don't think I would be able to be a mother to an eight-year-old son at this point in life. I give her a lot of credit."

(about the "Electric Youth" perfume)

• "I still have a bottle of that floating around my house somewhere."

(Does Deborah wear the "Electric Youth" perfume?)

• "I'm trying to save it for posterity's sake. Not to mention, it just smells a little too fruity for me at this point in time."

(about exposing midriffs)

• "Let me tell you, I was not exposing my midriff, and I'm still not exposing my midriff! These girls - where do the bodies on these girls come from? It wasn't like that when I was in school!"

(about the tattoo on her ankle)

• "I do have a tattoo. You know, I finished doing Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, and it felt like the end of a really great phase of my life, and I kind of wanted to mark it. So I got the little rose with the petals falling off, like the Beauty and the Beast logo, and I love it. I love it. I got it at Lou's Tattoos at South Beach. Or Tattoos by Lou, something like that."

(about the infamous "Beauty and the Beast" stalking incident)

• "My mom was ultimately the one who kind of spotted him, when he needed to be spotted. We had, like, all these police and detectives around, and it was actually my mom who came through. It was an interesting way to spend a Friday evening. But, you know, that stuff's been going on since the beginning of time. The minute you're in this business, you end up creating some kind of response from people who you don't want around."

(about doing theater)

• "I've been doing theater since I was five years old. When I started recording, it kind of broke my heart to have to put that on hold, because I love musicals. I love being part of a big cast, and I just love the whole tradition of it. And so, the minute I had a moment to breathe, I went and auditioned for Les Miz and got the role of Eponine, and that started me off on my kind of an eight year run on Broadway and in the West End, and it's been fun. And now I'm ready to get back to music, because I love pop."

(When was the last time Deborah was in Houston?)

• "Actually, this is kind of a funny thing. I was in Houston not too long ago. Some of the guys in the Backstreet Boys are pals of mine, and I was on my way to Utah to see the Osmonds, of course. I just got off the road with them and I was going to visit them, so I kind of made a detour through Houston, and I saw the Backstreet concert."
• "I was recording while I was in town, and wrote a tune with Howie."

(asked which night she went to see the Backstreet Boys)

• "The night Lionel Richie was there, when they sang, 'Because I'm easy...,' and all the Backstreet Boys went, 'Ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh...,' and all the mothers freaked out, while all the little kids went, 'Who's Lionel Richie?'"

(about Lionel Richie)

• "I love Lionel. I saw him recently, he opened here in New York for Tina Turner, and we had an amazing conversation. 'Cause I'm kind of more of his mold than a lot of other artists. Like in terms of the fact that I love to write, play, and I just love that good melodic singer-songwriter kind of style. And it's kind of a hard thing sometimes to be projecting, because if you're not a trendy, trendy artist, it's harder to get your stuff on the air. So we had a great kind of conversation about the longevity of singer-songwriters, and he's a cool guy."

(about money and management for musicians; first brought up in connection with Lionel)

• "The thing is, people don't realize the overhead costs of being in this business are tremendous. It's live every quote unquote job you get has to kind of have a certain prestige to it or had to propel your career forward, otherwise you're under the microscope and people think you're taking steps backwards. So, you need to get very creative with your career and with your moneymaking, and you get accustomed to a certain lifestyle. And it is an interesting thing, and I'm sure he [Lionel] knows. And I'm sure back in the Commodores days, he got ripped off. It's like what a lot of these boy bands went through with suing their record companies and their management, because I'm sure back then, he was like a salaried performer. People don't realize that performers get out there and they put everything on the line. They stand up on stage and say, 'Hi, here I am. Love me or hate me.' And that's a big thing. That should be kind of compensated."

(What was the most Deborah made during the peak of her career?)

• "It's hard to say, because my mom and I were just talking about this yesterday, that, at seventeen, my payroll, the money that I was putting out on the road, was a quarter of a million dollars a week. I paid out for a band, crew, and my touring expenses. So it's very hard to do the math on how much you were making. And we were talking about that in terms of how you don't realize until later in life how much pressure you had. I think about it, and I'm like, wow, I did know when I was signing checks every week, and consciously it wasn't where my head was at. But, man, I thought, 'Wow, if I even got sick and miss one show, there went...' You know, I can't even do the math. There went a ton of money. Money that I still had to pay out but that I wasn't making. You make it, you spend it, you make it, you spend it, it's very hard to keep track of."

From an on-line chat on America On-Line (September 7, 2000)

(What is the Smokey Joe's event all about?)

• "Well... this is an opportunity for the Broadway Network to bring Broadway to those folks who don't have easy access to the shows like we New Yorkers do. Basically, it's a live pre-show hosted by Tony Orlando and I... We kick Dawn the curb... LOL... That you can tune in to for free, with the hopes that we will get you into the Broadway spirit so much so that you will want to tune in for the performance of Smokey Joe's Cafe."

(What is your favorite Broadway musical?)

• "Oh, my god!!! I cannot choose!!! I've been fortunate enough to perform in some of my favorites, like Les Miz and Beauty and the Beast. I would still love to perform in the Sound of Music and Chicago. And I still need to see Swing. My bass player Conrad has a featured spot in it... I think the all-time musical ever written though, is Gypsy, which I'd also love to perform in."

(How different is Broadway from your other musical accomplishments? Do you miss it now?)

• "To me, all performing is about the same thing, which is connecting with an audience. But, with that said, I'm back in the pop arena with a new single. I'm actually kind of schizophrenic that way... I like to be involved in all types of music."

(What is happening with the musical you are writing? I think it is called "Skirts")

• "Yes! Actually I was in the studio just this week demoing some new tunes for this ever-evolving project. I can say that for those of you out there who don't know what I'm referring to, Skirts is a musical that I am composer and lyricist for. I hope for Skirts to be my next Broadway project."

(People find it odd that my top 3 artists are you, Tori Amos, and Ani Difranco. But even though your styles differ wildly, I think there is a sincerity and truthfulness that is a common bond. How important are these qualities as a musician?)

• "First of all, thank you for the compliment. And a word that I have been using lately is the word "authentic." Because I feel that it is the most important quality that an artist can have. Also I think that it is far more important than an artist's musical style. As a music fan, I like many different genres of music, and simply respect artists who I feel are being true to themselves and honest with the public."

(What are your goals with this new album? Will you tour with it?)

• "I would love to tour... In fact, I've been doing a lot of live performances to support the single, "What You Want"... and, as with every album I record, I really just want it to be a reflection of where I'm at personally. At age 30 (which I just turned on August 31st), I kind of feel that this next album is going to be a reintroduction to the public and the world of pop music."

(Do you have a name for the new CD yet? Or a release date?)

• "The single is in stores on September 19th. And the album will be out later this year... I'm not sure when yet. And I haven't decided on a title just yet."

(How was your birthday?)

• "My birthday was great!!! I had friends and family fly in from everywhere, and it felt like all the festivities lasted a full week."

(I finally got to see "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" recently. It was... different. Funny, though! I know you did one other movie, but do you plan on doing any more?)

• "First of all, I want to say... "What do you mean by... different?" Just kidding... I know exactly what you mean. Low budget and quirky! LOL And yes, I would love to do more film work eventually, but live performing is still my favorite."

(Who are currently some of your favorite clothing designers? How important are clothes in your everyday life? You certainly seem like a clotheshorse!)

• "I AM a clothes horse! In fact, I just went shopping today in my half hour of free time. I fondly refer to it as "retail therapy"... LOL I was fortunate enough to work with one of my favorite designers on my new video, and his name is Marc Bouwer, who has also worked with Toni Braxton and Shania Twain. But, I am also a fan of shopping in small, accessible New York City boutiques."

(Considering you were writing and producing much of your own music, what is your impression/feeling about the current crop of young female artists (Britney, Christina)? And what advice, if any, do you have for them?)

• "Well, I definitely would never hold the fact that an artist doesn't write against them. But, with that said, I do think the more involved an artist is in their career, the more personally satisfying and empowering it is. I am a fan of the new young crop of performers and actually met Brittany [sic] just two weeks ago and found her to be very personable and very grounded."

(Are you watching the MTV Video Music Awards tonight?)

• "Actually I just flipped to MTV and saw a little bit of a sneak preview. My... Christina looks sexy! LOL But, I will probably be asleep in about an hour because I have to get up to do an interview on CBS very early in the morning. Plus, I have to build in half an hour before hair and make-up to walk the dogs."

(What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment in your life?)

• "This is actually an easy question for me to answer, because I feel that the greatest accomplishment in my life has been staying sane, healthy, happy, drug-free, and optimistic in a very cynical business. The minute I let this business EAT ME ALIVE is the minute I'm done. Because nothing is worth your health and well-being. I don't, however, forsee that happening because I love performing too much.

From an interview with YourMVP Magazine (September 29, 2000)

(about shifting gears in the '90's from pop to theatre)

• "The real change was going from theater in my childhood to pop in my teens! The change back, or integrating the two, was a natural progression. I simply missed theater."

(how has she enjoyed her stage acting career by comparison)

• "Stage kept me sane at a time when the music I was writing did not fit the angst-ridden, hippie chick radio mold."

(the biggest challenge of being a Broadway performer)

• "Staying still and focused while performing as opposed to feeding off the hyper energy of a pop audience."

(which has been her most satisfying stage role and why)

• "Probably Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl." I got to use a lot of my own experiences in that role in addition to going beyond my years and my experiences."

(what has kept her music from being more widely accepted)

• "I can take you through it album by album. "Body, Mind, Soul"--I don't think people were ready for me to be funky and edgy even though a lot of it was tongue-in-cheek. Also, there was a burn-out factor in terms of the public needing me to go away for a minute! "Think With Your Heart" was an all orchestral, adult contemporary album. It came out at a time when Jewel and Sarah McLachlan were not yet in the mix. People considered this kind of music to be for a limited audience. That said, it was a dream to make a recording like that one. "Deborah" was done independently and just as it was picking up momentum, the distribution filed Chapter 11!!! Bummer! Suddenly, our promotional efforts became legal efforts, and that is not how we planned on spending our time and money! But everything happens as it should, and I feel more ready than ever to bust it wide open again!"

(about the new album that is in the works)

• "It's me--older. Lyrically and musically it's more sophisticated, but still youthful. It reflects who I am at 30, which is part 12-year-old and part 70-year-old!"

(the chances of a Deborah Gibson song achieving the success
a "Debbie Gibson" song did)

• "I'm glad you sit and think about these things so I don't have to! I just make the music and persevere!"

(will the album reposition her as an adult star, breaking
the shackles of being a "child star")

• "After six albums and seven musicals, I sure hope so!"

(did she change her name to break the child star image)

• "No. Actually, the change was from "Deborah" to "Debbie." "Debbie" was a stage name, but "Deborah" is truly me."

(when her popularity began to wane, did she think about
having someone other than her mother manage her)

• "Never! If I ever were to sit and interview managers, I'd look for undying faith in me as an artist, loyalty, honesty, and above all, true concern for me as a person. Careers (especially in pop) are roller coasters!"

(does she feel "in touch" with the music that's
prevailing today)

• "I am always influenced by a contribution of what I hear on the radio and what I feel in my gut. I am an avid music fan, and a 30-year-old Manhattan girl. I feel quite "in touch."

(does she feel it's necessary to distance herself from her
80s image)

• "No. I will never disown my past. I am proud of every accomplishment and how those "cheesy pop tunes" fit into many people's lives."

(have adult-oriented magazines asked her to pose--if so, why has she
turned them down)

• "Yes, they have! I considered it momentarily, but felt it wasn't enough "on my terms." I think leaving a bit to the imagination is sexier!"

(how do websites pasting her face onto other women's nude
bodies make her feel)

• "It's ludicrous and laughable! Does my fake bod look good???"

(was there a rivalry between Deborah and Tiffany in the 80s)

• "Not at all. It would be like comparing two artists as diverse as Whitney and Madonna simply because they're in the same age group. There's room for everyone!"

(how did it feel when Britney Spears became publicly upset
when Rolling Stone compared their careers)

• "I actually met her and spoke with her and we hit it off really well. No one likes comparisons of any kind, and again, musically we're completely different."

(has Deborah heard Tiffany's upcoming new CD yet)

• "I was at the studio for a bit of the recording and I'm really proud of the steps she's made in earning her own niche in terms of style. This album is truly her own. I support her completely."

(what was the worst part of growing up in the
limelight)

• "Rumors, speculation, expectations. Although, these are what I would call "happy problems," problems that exist as a result of using my gifts and talents and doing what I love to do."

(what is Deborah's favorite part of life right now)

• "Doing everything, both personally and professionally on my own terms. I love performing for tons of people, then coming back home to my dogs. I love that I've learned to balance my life. It took years!"

(where can fans expect to see Deborah Gibson in the future)

• "Music, of course. A new musical "Skirts," which I've written the songs for, and a VH1 movie tentatively called "Teen Queens" spoofing a lot of what we discussed about supposed teen rivalries."

From Country Music Today (October/November 2000)

(about the upcoming album)

• "I've got the new single out to radio and I'm recording this new album. It's an independent release so I have complete control."

(Was it difficult convincing record company producers to let
a very young, untested artist to write and produce her
own songs?)

• "Definitely. And especially at that time, there weren't a lot of female producers. Now it's different, Sheryl Crow does her own thing, Sarah McLachlan does her own thing, and it's not uncommon, but honestly to think back 14 years, it really wasn't common. Being a teenager and being female, it was an uphill battle to be taken seriously."

(on penning a pop treasure)

• "I think that what I do is very traditional but there's usually one sentence or even a little twist or turn that is just very me, a bit quirky. I think as you get older, you get more candid and more in touch with reality. This may sound funny, but my music has always been personal and universal at the same time. I'll never be a songwriter who bases my career on such personal lyrics and stories that I lose people along the way, where they can't relate. But now more than ever, lyrics come from personal experience."

(about collaborating with Nashville songwriters)

• "I've written with Joy Swinea (whose songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson and new artist Tammy Cochran, among others), Kent Blazy (who wrote "If Tomorrow Never Comes" for Garth Brooks), and Robert Ellis Orrall (writer of Collin Raye's "Counting Sheep") to name a few. I've written with a lot of Nashville writers. I've always loved country music. As a kid I enjoyed Kenny Rogers. And I really liked the Judds a lot."

(about the country music that she likes)

• "You know what song I really remember as a kid? Dolly Parton doing that song, 'Coat of Many Colors.' It was amazing. I remember watching the Dolly specials on HBO and I was just glued to them! But I really like the current-wave country music, too. These days, in fact, I really feel like I have more in common with someone like Shania (Twain) than with someone like Madonna. I really relate to where country's been going."

(about why she will not record a country album)

• "I feel it's a really classy genre of music. But even as playful as some of it has become, there are still those roots. I mean, you can't fake being a country artist. People have said to me, 'You know, you should do a country album,' and I say no, because I would be an imposter in that world. Even though I feel I can write in that style, I'm a New Yorker, and there's a tradition about country music, a respect that goes with it and a place that it comes from that's not me."

(about country music's "cool" factor in the pop world)

• "I'd say some of it's gotten less conservative, which I enjoy. I mean, country has become a way of really being 'out there' and edgy. Kind of like what R&B was to pop music not so long ago. Even the attitudes of the lyrics and performances, you really find a lot of outrageous, theatrical performers in country these days, which is great. And I do like that blend of country with pop. But to me, music is music, so if it's good, I'm all for the fact that millions of people are enjoying it at one time."

(has Deborah received any offers from anyone wanting to
do a country cover of "Lost In Your Eyes"?)

• "It hasn't happened yet. Garth Brooks could get his hands on it and do a number on it. I would love to see someone do something with it. Maybe not enough time has gone by yet."

(about constantly writing songs)

• "When you're a writer, you're a writer every day of your life. People will say, "Oh, are you writing the next album?' and I'll say, 'What do you mean? I've been gathering material since I was 12!' That's my anchor. The one consistent thing that I always come back to is my music."

From an on-line chat at the Baltimore Sun website (December 21, 2000)

(What do you like about playing Cinderella?)

• First of all, I love that this is an all new current production with an interracial cast and very current musical arrangements. A very hip fairy god mother (Eartha Kitt). Of course, it's every girl's dream to play the princess."

(What is working with a diva/legend such as Eartha Kitt like?)

• "It is truly an inspiration and an adventure because you never know what to expect from her on stage and off."

(How long did it take to rehearse for the role?)

• "I had less prep time for this than for previous roles because I was only approached about doing the role a matter of weeks before rehearsals started. The actual rehearsal period was three weeks followed by two weeks of technical rehearsals. Usually, I set aside time for myself -- at least a month prior to rehearsals to prepare. The upside to that is that you open the show feeling very fresh and in the moment on stage."

(What is the funniest experience you've had with "Cinderella"?)

• "Onstage, it had to be when I was at the top of the stairs entering the ball and the staircase which is supposed to gracefully glide across the stage with me on it suddenly stopped short with me on it. I kept my composure, but the cast was snickering around me. One of the craziest, unexpected things that happened on this tour was that I found an abandoned kitten outside my door in Miami and I was dealing with a new pet an hour before curtain."

(Which would you rather have -- an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony or an Oscar?)

• "Decisions, decisions. Can I have them all? But seriously, I've always wanted a Grammy and a Tony."

(I remember you saying at one time that you would like to put out an album of Broadway tunes, which I think would be a good idea. Do you think you will ever do something like that?)

• "Absolutely. I definitely want to first reestablish myself in the pop world so that I can eventually expose a larger number of people to Broadway music."

(What is your favorite Broadway show?)

• "Annie, because that's what turned me on to theater as a kid. And Les Miserables. It's so moving and so original."

(Do you sometimes want to go back to London and star in a musical?)

• "Yes, constantly I think about that. I had an amazing year in London and I would welcome the chance to go back there and do it again."

(Tell us about "Skirts")

• ""Skirts" is a musical that I am composer/lyricist on and it's something that I have been working on for what seems like an eternity. But I swear it's nearing completion. Writing a musical is a very long process. For those of you who don't have any idea what I'm talking about, "Skirts" is a musical that in my opinion combines elements of "Moonstruck," "West Side Story" and "Dirty Dancing." It takes place in 1964 and centers around an Italian family in the Bronx and focuses on a lot of racial issues that existed at that time."

(What was it like to work with Placido Domingo?)

• "Well, I worked with him at The Metropolitan Opera when I was eight years old. I actually snuck into his dressing room area and he was very gracious and answered all my questions. The production was "La Boheme."

(Who was your inspiration or who did you look up to when you first got started with your solo career?)

• "Artist-wise, the true divas like Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand, as well as singer/songwriter/pianists Elton John and Billy Joel."

(You have been a positive influence in the lives of many girls and women. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?)

• "[Screams] I guess I consider myself to be a role model for young women, although I feel I am caught between [another scream] a traditional role of a woman and the modern view of a woman."

(What do you think of the new crop of teenage singers these days (Mandy, Christina, Britney, Jessica, etc.) and do you think your work influenced them at all?)

• "Hopefully, I have saved them a few steps on their path to the charts by virtue of the fact that record company executives seemed to instantly know how to market these teenage girls. When I started there was a lot of reluctance to sign teenagers. I definitely have my favorites of the new crop, but I'm very supportive of all of them. I met Britney and she seems to be headed in a good direction."

(I have an 8-year-old daughter who loves to sing and wants to take private voice lessons. Is eight too young to be so serious about training? How do we encourage her love of singing and not become "stage parents?")

• "Great question. First of all, it's definitely not too young to start training, but more than training I recommend getting experience in community theater and local talent shows. As far as not becoming a stage mother goes, support her without pushing her and if ever she wants to stop singing allow that to be her decision. Good luck."

(This is like your second or third show in Baltimore in the past few years. What is you favorite part of our town?)

• "I really love the area near the Aquarium, but I've only been there once in the warm weather and look forward to coming back again when it's not too cold."

(Are you planning a new pop album any time soon?)

• "Yes, thank you for asking. I just put the finishing touches on my latest album, MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) a week ago. It will be released at the end of February. I finish my stint as Cinderella on March 3 and will immediately begin a national promotional tour hopefully to be followed by a concert tour. There is a possibility that I will be making an appearance on the American Music Awards, but we are still working out the details."

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