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Deborah Anne Boone (born September 22, 1956)
is an American singer, author, and actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life", which spent 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 her husband Gabriel Ferrer.
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.
The song, written and produced by Joe Brooks, was from the film of the same name. Brooks earned Song of the Year awards at both the 1978 Grammys
and Oscars for writing the song. (Boone performed the song at both awards shows.) Boone's version was not used in the film, nor featured on its soundtrack. The song was lip-synched in the film by its star, Didi Conn, performing to vocals recorded by Kacey Cisyk. It was written as a love song, but Boone interpreted the song as inspirational and stated that she recorded the song for God.Boone's overnight success led to a tour with her father and frequent television appearances, but she was unable to maintain her success in pop music after "You Light Up My Life". Her follow-up single, "California" (also written and produced by Joe Brooks), peaked at No. 50 Pop and No. 20 AC, and was included on Boone's second album, Midstream, which faltered at No. 147 Pop. Her next single, the double-sided "God Knows"/"Baby I'm Yours", also struggled, peaking at No. 74 Pop, becoming her last entry on the Hot 100. However, the single charted AC (No. 14) and returned Boone to the country chart (No. 22). Boone then released another film theme, "When You're Loved", from The Magic of Lassie. Like "You Light Up My Life", the song was nominated for an Academy Award for its composers, the Sherman Brothers, but it failed to replicate the success of her first single, charting only No. 48 AC. Boone's wholesome persona contrasted with the image-conscious pop-music industry, leading her career in different musical directions.
Her next album, 1980's Love Has No Reason (No. 17 Country), was produced by Larry Butler who helmed many of Kenny Rogers' records during the late 1970s. It resulted in the No. 1 Country and No. 31 AC hit, "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". Two weeks before Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again ascended to No. 1, Boone was part of a historic Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart. For the week ending April 19, 1980, the Top 5 positions were all held by women:
The album generated two more country singles, "Free to Be Lonely Again" (No. 14) and "Take It Like a Woman" (No. 44). The latter single charted simultaneously with her father's "Colorado Country Morning" (No. 60). Butler also produced Boone's next album, 1981's Savin' It Up (No. 49 Country), which yielded two more country singles, "Perfect Fool" (No. 23 Country, No. 37 AC) and "It'll Be Him" (No. 46). Boone has not charted on either the Billboard AC or Country charts since the release of Savin' It Up.
In 1989, Boone released her Christmas album Home For Christmas, which boasted a duet with her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney, on Clooney's signature song "White Christmas".
| In musical theater, usually the challenge for me is that everything is too high. I am a true alto. There are not a lot of leading roles written for altos... I love musical theater and I love working in a company. There's nothing quite like the energy of working with a full cast and an orchestra. Citing That show ... is so well constructed from beginning to end.... There is something so incredibly beautiful in the arc of the character of Anna & how she evolved and what she learned. It's such a beautiful story with such a beautiful message. It has everything from beautiful costumes, dancing and cultural differences... The King grows & learns, & she grows and learns... Everybody makes transformations in that show. It's a huge undertaking to do. When that show starts, from the time you set foot on the stage to the final bow, it's like riding a wave, it's so well written. You go with it. |
In 1981, Boone made her debut as a stage musical actress in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with a June showcase engagement in the Akron-based Kenley Players season Akron Beacon Journal June 17, 1981 "Debby Boone Carries 'Seven Brides' in Kenley Opener" by Bill O'Connor p.B1 followed by an eighteen-month US tour launched with a December 1981 engagement at the Fox Theater (San Diego). A critical and commercial success on tour, the production opened on Broadway theatre in July 1982 to generally lackluster reviews, with a particularly scathing critique by Frank Rich in The New York Times being blamed for the show's closure after five performances.
Boone has remained an occasional stage musical actress mostly in regional theater productions, although she did play the lead role of Maria in the 1990 revival of The Sound of Music mounted at Lincoln Center (nominated as Outstanding Musical Revival by the Drama Desk Awards): Boone had earlier played Maria on tour in both 1987 and 1988 with 1987 dates including the Sacramento Music Circus (premiere), the O'Keefe Centre (Toronto), the Starlight Theater in Kansas City (Missouri), and the Westbury (New York) Music Fair, and 1988 dates including the Fox Theatre (Atlanta) (premiere), Benedum Center, Fair Park Music Hall (Dallas), Hilton U. Brown Theatre at Butler University (Indianapolis), and also four dates in Japan. Boone returned to the Broadway stage in 1996 to play—cast in opposition to her own wholesome image—"bad girl" Rizzo in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre revival of Grease,[1] and on March 7, 2011, performed at the Gramercy Theater in the 24 Hours Musicals original production Things Can't Always Be Awesome. Her regional theater credits include lead roles in Meet Me in St. Louis (Fair Park Music Hall, Dallas; Fox Theatre, St. Louis; Orange County Performing Arts Center/ 1991), South Pacific (Valley Forge Music Fair/ 1995), The King and I (Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center/ 2001; Tucson Music Hall/ 2002; California Center for the Arts (Escondido, California)/ 2002; San Jose Center for the Performing Arts/ 2006), Mississippi Love (Mark Twain Playhouse, Branson/ 2001),
and Camelot (North Carolina Theatre/ 2005), with more recent theatrical credits in ensemble cast: The Human Comedy (Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire County/ 2006), Into the Woods (Candlelight Dinner Theater, Denver/ 2016), and 42nd Street (Tempe Center for the Arts/ 2018).
In 2012, Boone's profile, as well as her most popular hit song, were enhanced when she became the official spokesperson for Lifestyle Lift, a company that provides facial and neck cosmetic procedures. She appears in extended TV commercials and hosts a 30-minute infomercial. In all promotions, her signature song, "You Light Up My Life", is pervasively featured throughout. In the infomercial, Boone is portrayed recording the song, because she indeed re-recorded the 35-year-old song, with full orchestration. However, at no time does the singer state that she has personally utilized the company's services.
The Snow Angel was released both in book form and in a special audio edition featuring original songs by Mari Falcone, Boone's musical director for many years. Boone also released the two-volume children's video series entitled Debby Boone's Hug-a-Long Songs. She and her children appeared frequently on the cover of Good Housekeeping magazine during their childhood.
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