Song:You Light Up My Life
Album:You Light Up My Life: Greatest Inspirational Songs
You Light Up My Life topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks in 1977. Even back then the record was criticized for being overly sappy. That didn't prevent it from being a million seller. It was the only pop hit for Debby Boone. She also had some success in country music. But mostly she has recorded Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). She was born Sept. 22, 1956 in Hackensack, NJ. Of course she is the third of Pat Boone's four daughters. And her grandfather was country music legend Red Foley. Of course Pat Boone was a big pop star in the 50s. When that faded, he turned to Christian music. All four girls toured with dad and they recorded CCM in the mid-70s. Debby was usually the lead singer. Family friend and Curb Records owner Mike Curb convinced Debby to go solo. You Light Up My Life was released as a single. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks. The song was written for the 1977 film You Light Up My Life by Joe Brooks. He also wrote and directed the film. Brooks started out as a jingle writer and he got into films in the 70s. In the film, You Light Up My Life was performed by actress Didi Conn and dubbed by opera singer Kasey Cisyk. Brooks knew her from the jingle business. Her version was a minor hit but Curb wanted Debby to record it. Brooks came to the studio with his backing track and Debby just sang over it. After the single was a huge hit, Curb had to scramble to put an album together. He brought in old buddies Michael Lloyd and Bob Gaudio to help and the album was certified Platinum. Debby also won a Best New Artist Grammy. It looked like she was going to be a big star. But she only recorded four albums for Warner Bros. and her only other hit Are You On The Road To Lovin' Me Again was a #1 country hit. Since then Debby has mostly recorded CCM. She's had a lot of success in that market. You can get You Light Up My Life on this Curb comp. Neither the album or soundtrack You Light Up My Life have been released on CD. Debby continued to record Christian music in the 80s. Her most recent album Swing This in 2013. It appears to be a jazz album. She also turns up on TV occasionally and she still tours. Here's Debby Boone performing You Light Up My Life.
I remember hearing that song and many people did indeed criticize it for being to nice sounding. The other thing people were saying that she was singing about Jesus Christ in the song and radio stations were not going to play it because they felt it was now a religious song. Decent song when I look back on it. She has a great voice. But she did the right thing staying with Christen music.
ReplyDeleteIn the context of the film, it's a love song. Joe Brooks is Jewish. His real name is Joe Kaplan. It was Debby's choice to interpret it as a gospel song. Her mistake was admitting that when asked about it. She didn't want to be a pop singer anyway. Curb insisted and she gave in. By the time she said it the song was already a hit. Much ado about nothing.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Frank, it was just that. I am not surprised about the part of not wanting to be a pop singer, that makes sense looking back. And it seems to me she made a smart choice staying away from the pop scene. It can be destructive if your not careful.
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