<\/p>\n
Debbie Gibson<\/strong> says legends arrive from almost anywhere.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be solitary work, working at a craft, I think there is a lot of risk-taking involved and a motivational aspect,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cBut I think you need to be hungry, be curious, be ageless.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson, who turns 55 Sunday, was curious enough to climb in the boxing ring with onetime WBA light-heavyweight champ Beibut <\/strong>Shumenov<\/strong>. Gibson later hauled into that ring her mirror-plated, Liberace Baldwin piano, and rocked with guitar virtuoso DJ Ashba<\/strong> (formerly of Guns N\u2019 Roses) and rock-drumming great Fred Coury<\/strong> (formerly of Cinderella).<\/p>\n A Las Vegas resident for 16 years, Gibson brought in local entertainment pros Eddie Bennett, Serena Henry <\/strong>and Christine Shebeck<\/strong> as ringside judges\/singers. She even invited someone who works with words (yo) to play \u201cPress Photographer.\u201d<\/p>\n This was all for the video to \u201cLegendary,\u201d on her 2021 album, \u201cThe Body Remembers.\u201d The video was released Thursday. Gibson recorded the scenes last month at a sound stage at David Saxe <\/strong>Productions. Gibson sought several non-celebs who had legendarily \u201cblazed some trails,\u201d as she puts it.<\/p>\n \u201cI ran a social media contest to find real-life legends,\u201d Gibson says.\u201dPeople nominated everyone from a woman in her mid-70s who\u2019s out hiking the Appalachian trails to a firefighter who sends us his video, and he\u2019s scaling the side of a building.\u201d<\/p>\n Seizing the boxing metaphor makes sense for Gibson, who was a heavyweight in term of ticket and album sales in her days as a pop star. To inhabit the role of a fighter in the video, even took boxing lessons. Shumenov who held the WBA title for four years ending in 2014, volunteered to lead those sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle did I know he was going to say, \u2018Oh! I\u2019d love to train you!\u2019\u201d Gibson says. \u201cI jumped into that, not quite knowing if my body would take to it or keep up. But ended up being, becoming such an instant passion of mine, and really the message of the video is that it\u2019s never too late to try something new.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson burst on the scene in the late-1980s, and is still the youngest female youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a Billboard No. 1 hit with \u201cFoolish Beat.\u201d Her debut album, \u201cOut of the Blue\u201d (1987) produced the hits \u201cOnly in My Dreams\u201d and \u201cShake Your Love,\u201d going platinum. Gibson\u2019s follow-up, \u201cElectric Youth (1989)\u201d also topped the charts, led by the No. 1 single, \u201cLost In Your Eyes.\u201d Gibson has sold more than 16 million albums internationally.<\/p>\n Gibson\u2019s new video coincides approximately with the release of her autobiography, \u201cEternally Electric,\u201d due Sept. 9. Similar to \u201cLegendary,\u201d the tome shows Gibson\u2019s badass business side. She burst on the scene seeming to have lived a charmed existence. But the music icon knows how to fight.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that people just thing back to that time, and it was like, \u2018She\u2019s a pop princess in a bubble, she has no cares in the world,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cLike, I didn\u2019t have to pay rent, and I had an uncle in the music business or something.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson shares her family\u2019s involvement in her career.<\/p>\n \u201cI write about this in my book, I technically did have an uncle in the music business. Vic Damone was my uncle through marriage, but he refused to help me in my career,\u201d says Gibson, managed throughout her career by her mother, the \u201cOG momager\u201d Diane. \u201cSo Mom and I were really in the trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson\u2019s mother died in 2022. She instilled a wealth of life lessons in her daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that as any career women, especially showbiz women, who start as young girls, there is self-motivation and reinvigoration and, \u2018Who am I going to be next?\u2019\u201d Gibson says. \u201cBut for me, there is always another round, another lap, and it might be uphill. I haven\u2019t stopped and asked, \u2018Who am I going to be next?\u201d because I have always been me.\u201d<\/p>\n Small change<\/strong><\/p>\n Sphere Entertainment Chairman and CEO James Dolan<\/strong> and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav<\/strong> enlisted AI artists to place their faces over Munchkins\u2019 faces in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz at Sphere.\u201d Dolan revealed the move during a press event prior to Thursday\u2019s opening, saying the scene lasted \u201ca very short two seconds,\u201d adding, \u201cI challenge you to find it.\u201dI didn\u2019t catch it in the premiere showing, but sharp eyes on social media did.<\/p>\n Dolan is also listed as \u2018Chief Muckety-Muck\u201d in the closing credits, and made an unbilled appearance as the Wizard in the post-show production at Sphere Atrium. Otherwise you would have no idea he was involved in the project \u2026<\/p>\n Two sisters and an ex<\/strong><\/p>\n Jessica Simpson<\/strong> visited her sister, Ashlee Simpson\u2019s <\/strong>show at Voltaire at The Venetian on Friday night. Simpson and her ex-husband, Eric Johnson,<\/strong> flew to Vegas together and were at the show together and maybe they are reconciling. No PDA from these two.<\/p>\n Jessica Simpson is moving forward on her return to live performance with a one-off at PH Live on Nov. 8. Her latest EP, \u201cNashville Canyon, Pt. 1,\u201d is her first original music in 15 years, was issued this spring. \u201cNashville Canyon, Pt. 2\u201d is out Thursday. This Vegas visit can only generate buzz for both Simpsons\u2019 projects, regardless of matrimonial adjustments.<\/p>\n Tease this \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n A famous, veteran, resident headlining DJ on the Strip is joking (we think) of driving a Suburu in the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in March. Return to this channel for an update and explanation \u2026<\/p>\n Cool Hang Alert<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe Sailing Club\u201d yacht-rock nights are taking over Caspian\u2019s at Caesars Palace at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays. Radical West spins tunes by Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins <\/span><\/strong>and<\/span><\/span><\/span> Pantera<\/strong> (just kidding there). No cover. Pack the captain\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n