Debby Boone

Deborah Anne Boone was born on September 22, 1956, in Hackensack, New Jersey, the third of four daughters of singer-actor Pat Boone and Shirley Foley Boone, whose father was country music star Red Foley. A singer, actress, and author, Boone began performing at age 14 when she joined her parents and sisters Cherry, Lindy, and Laury on tour. The siblings recorded together initially as The Pat Boone Family and later under the names the Boones and the Boone Girls, releasing gospel music as well as secular pop singles on the Motown and Curb labels, with Debby serving as lead vocalist. The group placed two singles on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart: a 1975 remake of the Supremes' "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes," which reached No. 25, and a 1977 cover of ABBA's "Hasta Mañana," which reached No. 32.

Producer Mike Curb encouraged Boone to pursue a solo career, and in 1977 she released "You Light Up My Life," a song written and produced by Joe Brooks that had appeared in the film of the same name. The recording spent ten consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, longer than any other song in the chart's history to that point, and in 2008 Billboard ranked it No. 7 among all songs charted across the Hot 100's first fifty years. The single also reached No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 4 on the Country chart, and both the single and its accompanying album were certified platinum. The song earned Boone the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop Single of 1977, and she received additional Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female and Record of the Year. She performed the song at both the Grammy and Academy Award ceremonies that year, the latter being relevant because Brooks won Song of the Year at both shows for writing it.

Boone was unable to sustain her pop momentum after that breakthrough. Her follow-up single, "California," peaked at No. 50 on the Hot 100 and No. 20 on the AC chart, while the album Midstream stalled at No. 147. The double-sided single "God Knows/Baby I'm Yours" became her final Hot 100 entry, peaking at No. 74, though it reached No. 14 AC and No. 22 Country. She subsequently released "When You're Loved" from the film The Magic of Lassie, which charted at No. 48 AC. Drawing on the country crossover success of her earlier singles, and with family roots in the genre through both her grandfather Red Foley and her father, Boone shifted her focus to country music. Her 1979 remake of Connie Francis's "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" reached No. 11 Country, and she released additional Connie Francis covers including "Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart" (No. 25 Country) and "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" (No. 48 Country). Her 1980 album Love Has No Reason, produced by Larry Butler, reached No. 17 on the Country albums chart and generated the No. 1 Country and No. 31 AC single "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again." For the week ending April 19, 1980, that single held the No. 3 position on the Billboard Country chart during a historic week in which all five top positions were occupied by women, alongside Crystal Gayle, Dottie West, Emmylou Harris, and Tammy Wynette. The album produced two additional country singles, "Free to Be Lonely Again" (No. 14) and "Take It Like a Woman" (No. 44). Her 1981 follow-up album Savin' It Up reached No. 49 Country and yielded "Perfect Fool" (No. 23 Country, No. 37 AC) and "It'll Be Him" (No. 46 Country).

Boone then redirected her recording career toward contemporary Christian music, beginning with the 1980 Grammy-winning album With My Song. Subsequent Christian albums included Surrender (1983), Choose Life (1985), Friends For Life (1987), and Be Thou My Vision (1989), and her work in the genre earned her two GMA Dove Awards and two additional Grammy Awards, bringing her total Grammy wins to three. In 1989 she released the Christmas album Home For Christmas, which included a duet with her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney, on Clooney's signature song "White Christmas." Throughout her career Boone has also co-authored numerous children's books with her husband, Gabriel Ferrer.

Boone made her screen acting debut in 1978 in a television musical adaptation of O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi, co-starring John Rubinstein. She headlined two NBC television music specials, The Same Old Brand New Me in 1980 and One Step Closer in 1982, and in 1984 co-starred in the television movie Sins of the Past as Clarissa Hope, alongside Kirstie Alley, Barbara Carrera, Kim Cattrall, and Anthony Geary; the film became a Top 10 Nielsen hit. She later made guest appearances on Step by Step and Baywatch Nights and appeared in the television films Come on, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story and Treehouse Hostage.

Boone's stage career brought her to Broadway, where she performed from 1982 to 1994. She starred in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Meet Me in St. Louis, and also appeared in Grease. Her theatrical work in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers began with a June 1981 showcase engagement before her Broadway run commenced the following year.