The opening scene of Debbie Gibson’s new Hallmark movie, Summer of Dreams,
proves right away that she doesn’t take herself too seriously. It shows
her character — a pop singer whose story is close to Gibson’s own as a
former teen idol — prepping for a concert in what appears to be a
dressing room backstage somewhere. She’s talking to her manager and
looking herself over in the mirror. Finally, she steps out and begins
performing … for a handful of distracted customers at a mattress store.
“I
love that scene,” Gibson tells Yahoo Celebrity. “The writers came up
with that after I told them that there was one album [1995’s Think With Your Heart]
that I promoted in Borders Books and Music, which actually was amazing,
because the store was always packed with, like, a thousand fans. But
you’re still in the middle of a mall in a Borders, and you’re at a
piano. There were moments where I would think, ‘Wow, I’ve headlined
Madison Square Garden for 20,000 people, and now I’m in a Borders Books
for a thousand people’ and, you know, five years later, you’re back at
the Garden again.”
Gibson,
now 45, plays Debbie Taylor, a pop star who goes to a small town to
live with her sister when her glamorous life isn’t going so well,
personally or professionally. It’s an idea that Gibson herself brought
to the network, and fans will see references to her own life sprinkled
throughout the flick. There’s the character’s last name — a nod to her
longtime boyfriend, Dr. Rutledge Taylor — and there’s a scene where she
reluctantly gives up a memento from Bill Joel, who’s one of Gibson’s own
musical inspirations.
If
you weren’t around back in 1987, Gibson — who was writing her own songs
before Taylor Swift was born — became a star that year with the release
of her debut album, Out of the Blue. Her ballad “Foolish Beat”
made her the youngest artist ever to write, produce and perform a No. 1
song. By 1989, she was on the cover of every teen magazine and, before
many other people were doing it, she had her own fragrance, named after
her second album, Electric Youth. It’s a scent she still recognizes.
No comments:
Post a Comment