Who was bigger: Tiffany or Debbie Gibson?

Debbie Gibson was bigger.

Gibson for sure

Tiffany never made it out of the mall....

Tiffany's career went sideways when she had problems with her parents and manager - She lost traction and direction. Gibson wrote her own material and produced most of her hits.

Debbie Gibson had tons of hit songs. Tiffany had two at most.

Tiffany was a sensation. Her career didn’t have longevity but it had genuine, grassroots excitement.

Debbie who?

Tiffany is the biggest!

Debbie Gibson had more hits, as the above poster said Tiffany only had a couple.

Neither one lasted very long. I think Gibson only had about three years and Tiffany maybe a year and a half.

I was quite an authority on both of them at the tender age of 8...

Debbie had the bigger career in the sense that she churned out a considerable greater amount of hits (offhand... 7 or 8 major hits to Tiffany’s 3 or 4). She also wrote all her own songs. If memory serves correct, she was celebrated at the time for being the youngest artist to write and perform a #1 song (Lost In Your Eyes).

Tiffany had family/bad management issues. However I will say, I think her last Top 10 hit “All This Time” is a far superior ballad to any of Debbie Gibson’s.

Their shelf lives both expired after their sophomore albums, around 1989-90, but in different ways. Tiffany’s second album was a diminishing return from her first (“All This Time” was the only major hit while none of the other singles made a big impact), whereas Debbie’s “Electric Youth” album was a hit and gave her her biggest song of her career with “Lost In Your Eyes”.

After that Tiffany sort of disappeared, though I remember her turning up in “Voices That Care”, one of those cheesy “We Are The World” type of songs around 1992-93. That was the last I saw of her. Debbie put out a third album “Anything is Possible” in 1990 only a year after a huge tour and the success of “Electric Youth”. The album was more adult R&B as Debbie wasn’t 15 anymore. But it didn’t generate any hits and after that I believe she went to college and was cast as Eponine in Les Mis on Broadway.

Tiffany had the far better Playboy layout, that's all I know or care about. Two words: awesome rack.

When grunge got big in the early 90s, the music scene changed and there was not a market for Debbie Gibson typess for a while Then crappy female singers made a comeback starting with Britney Spears.

“Feelings of Forever” was a ballad from Tiffany’s first album and was only a minor hit, barely denting the Top 40.

It’s a cheesy, teenage girl ballad complete with requisite 80’s synths and power chords, but I think it really captures that raw, urgent teenage emotion that can’t really be faked.

Tiffany always had a little more of that edgy, authentic feel than Debbie did.

Debbie was much bigger and bonafide star. Unfortunately, Debbie lost her voice. She still plays a few gay festivals, but her vocals are gone.

R12 holy shit I forgot this song existed! So cheesy but so good- an anthem for big haired girls in the mall circa 87

If you go back and look at both Debbie and Tiffany’s videos and albums, it’s amazing how modestly dressed they were. This was truly the last round of teen stars churned out by major record labels that weren’t overtly sexualized as a way to sell records. The next go-round of teenage girl pop stars was about 8 years after Debbie/Tiffany and that was Britney/Christina and by then it was a whole different game.

In the 80’s, the mega stars like Madonna and Prince sold records with sex, as did B-grade acts like Samantha Fox and Vanity. But teen stars were still allowed to be innocent and “kids”. No cleavage, no suggestive lyrics, no skin.

Tiffany is pulling at my heart strings with this one!

Would it have killed you to have at least posted a picture or link OP? Would it? I mean would that have really been that hard? Would it? Why don’t you try to think more of others next time before you post? Can you give us a straight answer? At least be honest for once in your life and tell us why you were so inconsiderate?

Debbie Gibson because she had an album or two and Tiffany was a splash in the pan with a one hit wonder cover of an oldie.

Debbie had enough big clit energy to go from Debbie to Deborah and back to Debbie. Plus, I think she did ice arena work.

Blame MTV R15. Blame MTV because it showed Tiffany and Debbie Gibson staring at sexier dressed women. Blame Madonna for her book Sex. Fucking Madonna did it and everyone copied.

I've been through Betty Lynn and I'm here.

I only remember Tiffany's one hit, which was a cover. Maybe she had a couple of others, but I'm drawing a blank. Debbie Gibson had several big hits, but the funny thing is you never hear them anymore. All the 80s stations never play her songs, and they were played a lot in the late 80s.

Were they friends? Did they hate each other? They should tour together.

Debbie sold out Madison Sq Garden and big venues, Tiffany was never more than an opening act.

Cunts

Gibson was our Brittany Spears and Tiffany was Christiana...always runner up. Man I loved Electric Youth!

Tiffany thought we were alone now, while Debbie was only in our dreams.

Debbie was pure Long Island suburban mean girl. Tiffany was Ohio trailer park trash.

Debbie would give her left eye to have a 21st century relevant revival moment like this.

Debbie has a few more hits, but I preferred Tiffany’s music better - especially New Inside.

Really, Robin Sparkles was the standout from this era.

[quote]If memory serves correct, she was celebrated at the time for being the youngest artist to write and perform a #1 song (Lost In Your Eyes).

It was actually for "Foolish Beat". And "Only in My Dreams" is a pretty catchy pop song.

Tiffany had better stalkers

Best song, best tits, best plastic surgeon

Debbie had a good career going until she dropped this musical turd of a song and video. She never recovered.

Did either of them make the Gap In-Store Playlist?

A Debbie Gibson scented candle! What does it smell like?

The only thing I know about either one of them is "Only in my dreams."

Whoever sang that is my favorite.

Diffany or Tebbie, I don't care.

That was Deb

Debbie may have been bigger, but Tiffany had the batshittier fans:

lol nevermind I didn't see r33

Debbie's first album is really strong.

But Electric Youth just got too cheesy for me.

Martika was actually more interesting than both of them.

Debbie was right there with La Liz on the ground floor of the celebrity fragrance craze.

I remember even Britney’s debut album came out I looked at the cd cover at the record store and all I could think of was this is this generations debbie gibson. The pose (although more provocative) was the same.

Tiffany had three top 10 hits from her debut album, two of which were back-to-back #1s. She had one Top 10 hit from her 2nd album, and her third album spawned no hit singles, but actually featured her best vocals. She was a far better singer than Debbie Gibson. This song should have been a hit.

Tiffany had four Top 10s. Two of them were covers.

Debbie Gibson had five Top 10s (+ Electric Youth which made #11), all of which were originals she wrote. She was like the precursor to Taylor Swift. Swift was conceived during the month Gibson's final #1 hit Lost in Your Eyes reigned. OMG.

[quote]Swift was conceived during the month Gibson's final #1 hit Lost in Your Eyes

I can see Scott Swift watching MTV while fucking Andrea, hoping, wishing. Now that's a stage parent.

If Debbie and Tiffany got into a fight, who would win? I think Tiffany for sure. She'd be nasty.

Yeah Tiffany would win. She would just motorboat Debbie with those giant knockers of hers til she passed out!

R45 Always loved that song and her third album is very underrated

Who released a career-spanning 13 disc box set which is now sold out?

Foolish Beat and Lost in Your Eyes are absolutely incredible songs. Foolish Beat reminds me how ubiquitous the sax was in popular music at the time. Lady Gaga brought it back for her Born This Way album but for the most part, it's been mostly phased out of popular music.

Debbie Gibson was a talented singer-songwriter. Tiffany was a mall-based gimmick.

R28 Tiffany always reminded me of New Jersey or a NKOTB type. Her music was better though and she was more watchable for some reason, less produced. Later when she did reality shows she appeared traumatized like a deaf mute. Not the happy carefree kid. I think her husband at the time beat her or something and she was afraid of him.

Didn't Tiffany out Jonathan Knight?

R11 not true, Madonna, Whitney, Janet, Mariah etc all had MASSIVE commercial success in the 90s alongside and POST grunge

Grunge was really only big for TWO years (92-94) and it was never that huge globally

Even in the US it wasn't that huge, if you look at Billboard's top 10 selling artists of the 90s in the US, there's NO grunge acts but there is Mariah, Janet, Madonna, Whitney and TLC and Toni Braxton

So there is a disturbing link between them, according to DG’s Wikipedia page both she and Tiffany were objects of affection for Robert Bardo, who had walls covered with their images. He was also the stalker of My Sister Sam actress Rebecca Schaeffer who he would go on to murder at her apartment after obtaining her address from the DMV.

r56 only the big A-List dance-pop stars like Madonna and Janet made it into the 90s. The other dance-pop singers were done overnight when the music scene changed to grunge and hip-hip.

Thinking of Roxette and Marie Fredriksson (RIP) and they were one of the acts who seemed to lose favour in the early '90s. They were so big between 89 and 91 and then they faded like a flower (in the States). Which is a shame because Roxette were so good and I never found their music cheesy.

It was understandable with Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. In Debbie's case, Electric Youth sounded dated on arrival. I agree r52 that Foolish Beat is an incredible song but I find Lost in Your Eyes has not aged well. The lyrics are cheesy ("I just fell... don't know why") and the title track of EY was bad even in 1989. Tiffany released an album in the late '90s which got great reviews but she wasn't able to propel it into a big comeback.

Martika seemed like she was going to be able to break the mould with Love... Thy Will Be Done, that fabulous song she recorded with Prince. But, she, too, disappeared.

Other acts like Paula Abdul and Taylor Dayne also fell out of favour. The MTV Awards performance was a disaster for Abdul who was trying to overcome the Yvette Marine lawsuit. The MTV performance just quickened the death of her pop career. Dayne seemed to conflict with Clive Davis and that didn't help her out. I think she may have been able to weather the '90s if she and Davis had been able to work things out.

I'm curious why Gibson can't sing anymore. Listening to her on YT is painful. She always seemed to take care of herself. I follow her on social media and I have noticed she is getting thinner. I wonder if she's sick.

I AM "big"!

It's the shopping malls that got small...

[Quote] I'm curious why Gibson can't sing anymore.

I'm not familiar with her voice but if she sounds strained, it may be that she sings in original keys that are now too high for her.

Clive Davis was so preoccupied with Whitney Houston in the early 90s that the other Arista artists like Taylor Dayne and Lisa Stansfield (among others) didn't get the attention they should've had.

"Lisa Stanfield" was a self-contained unit - the same writing-production trio that made up "Blue Zone."

Lisa Stansfield was on Arista, and didn't get as much attention as she should've as far as promotion and marketing, publicity etc. because Clive Davis was too focused on Whitney.

Ultimately Debbie, but not by much. Out of The Blue was a bigger album than Tiffany's debut. Two of Tiffany's hits were covers. They both had accomplishments - Debbie was the youngest artists to write, sing and produce a #1 hit. And Tiffany was the first artist to have two consecutive #1's from a debut album. It was a sad state of affairs by 1990. Tiffany was the voice of Judy Jetson and Debbie was an under 5 on Beverly Hills 90210 before it was popular.

This thread is very timely because I’ve been listening to a lot of Tiffany lately. Loved both of the girls’ music, but Tiffany could sing Debbie under the table. She also had a little something extra that Debbie lacked visually. Debbie was corny, and she was definitely the precursor to Taylor Swift, who also possesses that same cornball vibe no matter how hard she tries to appear “cool”.

“Spanish Eyes” from Tiffany’s first album is an excellent little pop tune about a girl finally getting laid by her leather-wearing Latino lover. It’s sexy but not dirty

Both got ugly as hell as they got older.

Most people think “I Think We’re Alone Now” was Tiffany’s first single, but that title goes to the excellent “Danny”...

Tiff had the grittier vocals. Deb was bubble gum and lollipops.

Neither of them were that big internationally it should be pointed out

There were only a handful of TRULY big global female singers in the 80s, Whitney and especially Madonna were the most global by far, even Janet's success outside of the US wasn't that great

Madonna was massive on a global level. Tina Turner was also huge globally back then. Whitney, too. Sade also had a pretty good international following, but not as big as the others.

[quote]even Janet's success outside of the US wasn't that great

Must you invade every diva thread, cunt?

Janet wasn't that big in the UK, the second major market after the US, until the "Janet" album. Look at the chart peaks for the "Rhythm Nation" singles. She was really more of a 90s artist to the UK.

Keep it focused on us, bitches!!

Tiffany had better hair.

Tiffany was a mall rat. No one took her seriously as an artist.

^Oh they certainly did. She was a fave of Carson and Bob Hope...

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It's interesting to look at teen pop stars of the 80s/early 90s and how fast they peaked and fizzled. Like Debbie, Tiffany, Martika, New Kids On The Block and many others. It's also funny that adult radio stations and MTV/VH1 which were gatekeepers to mainstream success didn't play their music much. I think Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah, TLC and Usher were the first teen pop stars to get a ton of media attention and airplay and even though they were R&B but they were crossover acts. Then Spice Girls which had this teenybopper aesthetic became a huge phenomenon and also Hanson and MTV played the hell out of their videos. All of this led to teen-oriented acts like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Christina and P!nk getting legitimized by the mainstream media and making it to Top 40 Radio.

It's a shame that Debbie and Tiffany didn't enjoy more success but were insanely talented. Debbie wrote her material, so she was basically the Taylor Swift of the late 80s more than Britney Spears.

R5 lol. What a crock!

Which one was the one who said two of her boyfriends turned out to be gay ? One was a really hot actor, if I'm remembering correctly.

Tiffany "dated" Jonathan Knight from New Kids On The Block who is in a gay common law marriage now.

Neither came close to Candi.

I remember when Debbie Gibson tried to reignite her faltering career 1993, with a raunchier image, and a sound that was a little bit like a mashup between Madonna and Kylie Minogue. She did lash out at Madonna in an 1993 interview saying "Madonna is guilty of misleading an entire generation...", and that sex can be fun without S&M, multiple-partners, voyeurism etc. When she said that I kind of wished her well, but knew she was over in that era without a willingness to completely prostitute herself.

Debbie and Tiffany were so saint-like compared to Aaliyah, Britney and Christina who had such sexualized grown-up images. I think that's also why the latter three reached a higher level of success they appealed to horny teen boys who wanted them and teen girls who wanted to look like them. Debbie and Tiffany seemed more for actual kids in comparison. Even NSYNC and Backstreet had a more sexualized sound and image than New Kids On The Block who had more innocent puppy love songs.

Tiffany is the better vocalist, but Debbie's best single (Only In My Dreams) is a better song than Tiffany's best single (All This Time).

Tiffany was definitely the one more likely to do anal.

Traci Spencer was nice. Great voice.

[quote]Tiffany "dated" Jonathan Knight from New Kids On The Block who is in a gay common law marriage now.

I’ve always wondered why Jonathan won’t legally marry his partner of 13 years, but will call him his husband, exchange rings, play house, etc. I’ll be damned if I’m someone will be my pretend husband but won’t make it official.

talent and vocally, tiffany was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than debbie gibson... tiffany could actually sing... and even today, in 2021 she sounds really really good in fact, better than in her heyday as her voice has grown mature but she can still belt!...

I guess now Taylor Swift is the Debbie and Ariana the Tiffany. One a better singer and the other a better singer. Though I think Debbie and Tiffany are still more talented than both. Tiffany has soul and emotion in her voice unlike Ariana and Debbie wrote about other topics than just breaking up with boys and being the victim unlike Taylor.

Debbie Gibson is so cheesy. That's her problem. I as 8 or 9 when she was popular but by the time I was 12 or 13, Debbie Gibson was the epitome of uncool. I watched the posters video of her being sexy posted above and she just has absolutely no sex appeal. When you had Nirvana becoming huge concurrently with Madonna's Justify My Love/Truth or Dare/Erotica trifecta there was literally nothing more to talk about in the early 90's. There were definitely lots of one hit wonders by random artists that if I come across today, I smile, but again super cheesy.

Nirvana and Madonna also actually got played on MTV. I can't picture actual teenagers wanting to watch Debbie and Tiffany videos. They were like the Disney pop stars of the late 80s/early 90s, only kids and middle schoolers followed them. Though they are actually talented and their music while cheesy isn't the worst. Debbie's first album is actually quite nice and Tiffany's ballads are beautiful.

The comments were last year but for the DLers who wondered why Debbie Gibson’s voice hasn’t held up (and one who wondered why she’s so thin), I think she caught Lyme disease a few years ago and it can affect your voice apparently.

TIFFANY

It's funny that they were both more talented than Kylie and Paula yet they were forced into the bubblegum teen pop section while Kylie and Paula were mainstream pop stars even though their lyrical content was just as cheesy and juvenile.

They're still doing Tiffany's music.

Really liked the lead single off Debbie Gibson's third album....Catchy and you know they spent a shit ton on producers....Jellybean Benitez worked on the album

As quant and silly as they were. If I had a young daughter I rather they listen to innocent stuff like Tiffany and Debbie in the 80s as little girls and strong/independent women stuff like Alanis, Lauryn and Fiona as teenage girls/young women in the 90s. As adored as The Spice Girls are, they turned the whole "girl power" thing into a merchandising empire and the idea of being this bubbly perky sexualized doll screaming "feminism" while selling Pepsi and sweatshop-made clothing was in hence Britney, Christina, Destiny's Child, etc.