Seemingly from out of nowhere, once-squeaky-clean ’80s pop star Deborah Gibson (she was Debbie back then) just turned up in Atlantic City for a three-week run of her “Pop Goes Broadway” show at Harrah’s. I caught up with her in between vocal exercises to find out why the hell we should care.

First thing first: You’re looking fabulous, and I’m sure my body-conscious readers would like to know how you stay in shape.
Well, they might hate me for it, but I don’t do much. I basically stopped obsessing about my body about a year ago and it all kind of fell into place.

How about your voice? How do you maintain it?
Other than an interview I did just before talking to you, and this interview, I’m not going to speak the rest of the day. I also practice my voice every day. It’s just like working out. You have to keep everything in shape. I stay away from acidic foods, because reflux is the enemy of a singer. And I try to get a lot of fresh air, which I can’t do right now because I’m in the recycled casino air. It’s kind of deadly for a singer.

Your show at Harrah’s pairs your ’80s pop repertoire with Broadway standards, and I know that you did some theater after you stopped recording. But did you have theater experience before that?
I was actually in Actors’ Equity at age 11 and performing at the Metropolitan Opera in the children’s chorus. I basically was in musicals constantly from 6 to 16. I was a theater baby. I got back to it at 21 with Les Mis on Broadway, which is where I left off, because that was the last audition I went on right before I started recording. So it wasn’t like “Here’s some pop singer and like on a whim she thinks she can try Broadway.”

Where’s [fellow ’80s mall popper] Tiffany these days?
She’s out and about performing and keeping it going in her own way.

Do you Google her to keep tabs on the competition?
No, I actually know her. I just call her up.

What about Samantha Fox?
No idea.

I’m surprised you don’t pop up on the reality circuit.
I did one, the skating show on Fox. I did that mainly because, wow, what an honor to be able to skate with Kurt Browning. I basically got to learn from a world champion, which was incredible. I get asked to do insane shows all the time and I turn them down all the time. I have a motto, which is “No smooching on television.” Not for me anyway.

[This is the point at which the interviewer stupidly did not ask a followup question regarding how this modesty squares with Gibson’s 2005 Playboy spread. Instead, he chose to go with an asinine, straight-outta-the-box interview question …]

Who is the most famous person you’ve met?
Ronald Reagan. And Princess Diana. She was one of my favorites. I performed at the Prince’s Trust Concert. I was performing first, doing “Electric Youth,” and I had to be in costume, which meant being in ripped jean shorts and a bandana. Everybody else got to be in their gowns to meet her. I said, “Oh my God, I am so sorry I’m in this outfit.” She said, “You look a heck of a lot more comfortable than I am, so good for you.”

What was Reagan wearing?
A tux.

You recently had some problems with a stalker. Is this a new thing for you or something you’ve dealt with throughout your career?
Everybody quietly deals with it all the time, and then every now and again somebody gets some press, because somebody decides to sell some court papers. On one hand, it’s something I take seriously. On the other hand, it’s not a big deal because it just gets handled by the appropriate people and I just go on with my life.

Deborah Gibson appears in “Pop Goes Broadway” through May 24th at Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City. Tickets are $25.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Impresario. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by Victor Fiorillo on 5/14/08 in Impresario