Chart entered : 26 September 1987
Chart peak : 54 ( 11 on reissue in 1988 )
Number of hits : 11
There's a lot to like about Debbie but it's hard to make a case that her work is worth re-visiting.
Debbie was born in Brooklyn in 1970. Her family were musical and legend has it that she wrote her first song aged 5 entitled "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom". In her teens she churned out demo tapes and in 1986 an A & R man at Atlantic heard "Only In My Dreams" and signed her up. She started playing small clubs and writing more material.
"Only In My Dreams" duly became Debbie's debut single in February 1987. The song was written by Debbie and arranged with her producer Fred Zarr. It's difficult to see what prompted Atlantic to sign her. It's an already-dated piece of pop dance candyfloss that might have passed muster as an early Madonna B-side or a Five Star album track. The lyrics are pure teen fluff about a lost romance ; that they were written by a genuine teenager should be acknowledged but they're still trite. The very mediocre tune is overwhelmed by the production and Debbie's bland voice conveys nothing beyond an eagerness to please. The peppy sax solo is actually the best part of the record.
The single took a while to chart in the US so I'm guessing it owed a lot of its success to the video in which Debbie, a pretty girl with nice legs, bops around like Madonna's squeaky-clean kid sister. It eventually reached number 4 .As Debbie had never visited the UK at this point, I'm guessing it was a plug on one of Jonathan King's shows that got things underway here.
No comments:
Post a Comment