The day after Thanksgiving, Debbie Gibson kicks off her Winterlicious tour in support of her new holiday album of the same name. It’s actually Debbie’s first-ever Christmas project, because unlike most teen stars, she refused to strike while the iron was hot.
“I didn’t want to churn out a holiday album just to capitalize on my success, which I feel like a lot of artists were doing at that time,” she tells ABC Audio. “Their labels were like, ‘Quick, let’s get out the holiday record and cash in!’ That I knew I didn’t want to do.”
After years of acting and doing stage musicals, returning to recording, playing Las Vegas and battling health issues, Debbie says, “I woke up and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, yeah, it is 36 years later. Here I am now. OK, well, let’s do it now.'”
The album features holiday favorites, duets with her pal Joey McIntyre and her father, and new original songs Debbie wrote. For the tour, she’s mixing them together with her her past hits, like “Shake Your Love” and “Lost In Your Eyes,” some of which will get holiday makeovers.
“I am working out some arrangements of my hits to fit the vibe of the holiday album,” she says. For example, she’s reworking “Only In My Dreams” to match the “campfire” vibe of one of the new songs, “Christmas Dreams,” so she can do them as a “little dream medley.”
As for that album title, if something is “winterlicious,” what does it taste like? Debbie explains:
“Winterlicious is, like, a drink and a smell for me, and it involves peppermint and vanilla and chocolate,” she laughs. “It’s kind of like the pumpkin spice latte of the holiday season!”
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