Debby Boone

Deborah Anne Boone, better known as Debby Boone, is an American singer, author, and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year. Boone later focused her music career on country music resulting in the 1980 No. 1 country hit, "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". In the 1980s, she recorded Christian music which garnered her four top 10 Contemporary Christian albums as well as two more Grammys. Throughout her career, Boone has appeared in several musical theater productions and has co-authored many children's books with husband, Gabriel Ferrer.

Beginnings
Debby Boone was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the third of four daughters born to singer-actor Pat Boone and Shirley Foley Boone, daughter of country music star Red Foley. When Boone was 14 years old, she began touring with her parents and three sisters: Cherry, Lindy and Laury. The sisters first recorded with their parents as The Pat Boone Family and later as the Boones or Boone Girls. They primarily recorded gospel music, although the sisters also released singles for the Motown and Curb labels that were remakes of secular pop music featuring Debby as the lead vocalist.

The Boones twice reached Billboard's AC charts with 1975's "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" (No. 25), a remake of the Supremes' first top 40 hit, and 1977's "Hasta Mañana" (No. 32), a cover of a track from ABBA's Waterloo album.

With her older sisters married and younger sister, Laury, in college, Boone was actively encouraged by producer Mike Curb to launch a solo career. Boone released her first solo effort, "You Light Up My Life" (which had been featured in the film of the same name) in 1977. The song became the biggest hit of the 1970s  spending ten consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — longer than any other song in Hot 100 history to that point. (In 2008, Billboard ranked the song No. 7 among all songs that charted in the 50 year history of the Hot 100.) The song earned Boone a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop Single of 1977. "You Light Up My Life" also succeeded on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (No. 1 for one week) and Country (No. 4) singles charts. The single and the album (No. 6 Pop, No. 6 Country) of the same name were both certified platinum.

Christian Music
Boone then followed her heart and turned her musical career to contemporary Christian music winning two GMA Dove Awards and two more Grammys.  Boone first recorded in this genre in 1980 with the Grammy winning With My Song. Subsequent Christian albums included Surrender (1983), Choose Life (1985), Friends For Life (1987), and Be Thou My Vision (1989). In 1989, Boone released her Christmas album, Home For Christmas, which boasted a duet with her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney, of Clooney's signature White Christmas.

Acting career
During 1981–82, Boone toured the United States in a production of the stage adaptation of the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The play was a commercial and critical success nationwide before opening on Broadway in July 1982.

Boone continued her theater work, appearing periodically in stage productions nationwide including lead roles in Camelot, Meet Me in St. Louis, Mississippi Love, South Pacific, The Human Comedy, and The King and I. Boone returned twice to the New York stage. She starred as Maria in the 1990 Lincoln Center production of The Sound of Music, which was nominated as Outstanding Musical Revival by the Drama Desk Awards. In 1996, Boone played against her image as Rizzo in the 1990s revival of Grease.

Boone occasionally acted on television as well. Her first foray into television was a 1978 musical adaptation of O'Henry's The Gift of the Magi co-starring John Rubinstein. Boone headlined two of her own NBC television music specials - The Same Old Brand New Me (1980) and One Step Closer (1982). She stunned many in 1984 by portraying Clarissa Hope, a former call girl-turned-Christian singer, in the television movie Sins of the Past. The film, co-starring Anthony Geary, Barbara Carrera and Kim Cattrall, was a Top 10 Nielsen hit. Boone also made guest appearances on several television shows including Step by Step and Baywatch Nights and was featured in the television films Come on, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story and Treehouse Hostage.

2005 - Present
Once her children were grown, Boone revived her recording career in 2005 with the release of Reflections Of Rosemary. The CD was a fond tribute to her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney, featuring songs performed by Clooney as well as other songs not associated with Clooney which Boone felt showed her as the person she and her family knew and loved. Boone toured extensively for the album, including several nights at New York's famed cabaret, Feinstein's, where Clooney had often performed. In 2011, Boone released an album—and subsequent concert tour—called Swing This!, celebrating the swing music and culture of 1960s Las Vegas.

Debby Boone. (2012, September 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:40, September 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Debby_Boone&oldid=511004443