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- X-Last-Updated: 2002/02/19
- Organization: none
- From: levien@cc.gatech.edu (Levien de Braal)
- Newsgroups: rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson,alt.fan.debbie.gibson,rec.answers,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson FAQ v3.3.3
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Followup-To: rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson
- Reply-To: levien@cc.gatech.edu
- Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson
- and alt.fan.debbie.gibson. Deborah Gibson is a songwriter, producer,
- performer, actress, musician and musical star.
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 17 Apr 2004 11:26:52 GMT
- Lines: 518
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- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.music.artists.debbie-gibson:111942 alt.fan.debbie.gibson:7246 rec.answers:86534 alt.answers:72470 news.answers:269787
-
- Archive-name: music/debbie-gibson-faq
- 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 (levien@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:
- btladmin@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:
-
- http://deb.org/
-
- 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.
-
-