Deborah Gibson

Deborah: (on posing in Playboy) My real fans have grown with me, so they respect my choices. Those other people want me to be 16 forever, maybe because they don't want to admit that they're getting older too. But that's their issue. Deal with it, people.

Deborah: (on a performer being able to sustain herself over time) They don't have attitudes. They've been around a long time because they didn't get wrapped up in it - they know what their responsibilities are, they know why they're doing it - because they love music. The people who have attitudes are the ones you run across who have one record out and suddenly think they're it. Even having your picture in magazines is meaningless unless you really know that it's still a lot of work and there are responsibilities and you're not going to make instant money, then you're not going to get caught up in it. My real concern is being in the studio and being on stage - that's the fun.

Deborah: (on writing a fan letter to George Michael, 1987) I know I would have died if I would have gotten a response, but I didn't. I understand that he must get 1,000 letters a day.

Deborah: (on her songwriting, 1987) I'm very observant of everything that goes on around me. I get ideas from reading teen romances, movies, friends, my older sisters - and sometimes a phrase will spark me to make up a story.

Deborah: (from 1987) Some people don't realize what's involved. They think you wake up one morning and find an envelope with Ed McMahon's picture on it saying 'You have won a recording contract.' What they don't realize is that how much work you put in you get back.

Deborah: (from 1987) I saw Kenny G open for a Whitney Houston concert, and he walked around the stadium playing his saxophone - it was wild!

Deborah: (from 1987) I'm not an untouchable person. I often pull people on stage to dance. Or, I'll jump into the audience in the middle of a number like 'Only In My Dreams'.

Deborah: (from 1987) If I ever want to be cheered up, I read my fan mail. It's a lot of fun. I've been pretty much keeping up with the writing back, even if it's a short note to thank them. The age group is 10-24. One young girl wrote, 'I like to sing and now I know I can make it at a young age if I work hard.' It's good, kids relate to me because I'm close to their age and it gives them hope to keep following what they want to do.

Deborah: (from 1987) My friends and I are kinda like your typical all-American teens. We have fun going to movies, malls, and just hanging out at someone's house. They haven't changed towards me, 'cause I haven't changed towards them. Everyone has their own interests, you know, some of the guys are into their sports - we all go cheer them on. I have friends that are into tennis and we'll go to their matches. So, I'll perform and my friends will come see me. It's all kind of the same thing.

Deborah: (from 1987) I'd put my ear to the speaker in my bedroom and run back here to the piano and play - left and right hands together. Classical music gave me a good foundation. When I was little, I could play 15 classical pieces. I would put a ragtime beat to jazz them up for fun.

Deborah: (from her America On-Line chat on 3/27/96) What you are is God's gift to you and what you become is your gift to God.

Deborah: (on why she thinks she hasn't been asked to do Chicago on Broadway yet) For a while they were casting the role of Velma a bit older. When I auditioned for it, I was playing Belle [laughs], which I think definitely gave them the wrong idea in the perception area. After doing it twice regionally, I am quite satisfied at no longer pursuing the role on Broadway.

Deborah: I tend to get into something, like two feet and jump in, you know, she's always kind of going, 'Come on, Deb, it's your career, slow down, take it easy.'

Deborah: What we found is that there is a whole network of people who are college age and older, who are fairly well educated and are looking for an alternative to what's on pop radio. They are into books, movies, and go to cappuccino bars instead of alcohol bars - they are actually a lot like me.

Deborah: What I love about how my career has gone up to this point is that I've always, always put my head down on my pillow at night, and I've been able to say that I've done, honestly, what I've felt like I wanted to do. And that's really all you can hope for in everything you do.

Deborah: This is the time it all starts, I'm telling you. Like, 16, I mean, forget it. You could just get beat up, you could go through these grueling schedules.

Deborah: This business is about working. It's really not about glamour. For me, the most glamorous thing about it is to be able to get on stage and perform my music for people. That's the privilege. And that's what all the work leads up to, and that's why it's worth it to me.

Deborah: The music now is about my personal life, where I'm at as a 24-year-old young woman, so it's very honest and it's very pure and it's very emotional.

Deborah: The ideal situation would be to bypass all of the drama and mayhem and just get the music right to the people. I'm confident that we'll eventually figure it out.

Deborah: (on her album, Think With Your Heart) One of my favorite songs from the album is a song called 'For Better or Worse,' and it's basically about unconditional love, which is, I'd say, an ongoing theme in my personal life.

Deborah: (referring to Christina Aguilera's song "Genie in a Bottle") You can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Deborah: I tried to warn everybody that a man like Carson Daly would rise to power. But nobody wanted to listen to me.

Deborah: There's a lot of real talent in the world. Problem is...they're ugly.

Deborah: I'm kind of a quirky dresser usually. Like today, I'm actually pretty put together, but I dress kind of off sometimes, but that's just part of my personality

Deborah: Once I started writing songs, though, there was this feeling of, 'Oh my God, what a cool thing to be able to say to someone, 'You've never heard this before. And I know you haven't, because I wrote it.' I felt like, 'Wow, if I could present something new to people, that would be the ultimate thing.'

Deborah: For as long as I can remember, I walked, talked, and sang, and entertained. I mean, this picture that I look at, and, you know, I don't even remember it, obviously, because I was only two.

Deborah: And I always had people telling me, 'You can't do this. You're from Long Island, how do you expect to be on Broadway? You can't go into the city and be on Broadway.' What do you mean? It's an hour away! Of course I can be on Broadway someday.

Deborah: There are those people out there that live to destroy communities. I'm just afraid that one happened to get elected here.

Deborah: I'm glad I started so young, because you are really able to endure so much at that age.

Deborah: I think everybody changes from 16 to 24. Actually, I'm right on the verge of 25.

Deborah: I think any parent that makes their kid sit at a piano against their will and practice, they're going to have a kid that's not going to want to play the piano.

Deborah: I did, like, a couple of sexier videos, because all of a sudden I went, 'Wow, I have a body. I have this side of me that I haven't shown yet.' And I started kind of playing around with that side of things.

Deborah: Kids can see you don't have to have a sexy costume or shave your head or do crazy things to be successful. You just work at it and be normal.

Deborah: I've learned to have a sense of humor about myself. Lord knows everyone else does!