The picture of Debbie Gibson the imagemakers feed us is of a normal teen. Gifted and dedicated, to be sure, but not weird or wild - no Madonna-like tramp or spaced-out Michael Jackson.
In conversation, the cheery, articulate 19-year-old more or less jives with her image. But she admits leading a normal life is difficult."Basically I feel that if I don't get out and do normal things, I'll go crazy," says Gibson. "So I do make an effort to do normal things and not take security. And it's like a constant argument I have with my mom, `cause she gets worried.
"But I say, `Look, if I just go on being afraid of going out, it's really unhealthy.' So I'll take a chance and I'll go out, and if I see that there's going to be a problem, I'll go somewhere else."
Fame has forced her parents to fan-proof their house in the middle-class suburb of Merrick, Long Island, where Gibson still lives.
"We had gates put up. It's not that I mind seeing people, but I've got my whole family to think about."
One experience Gibson will skip for now is college.
"I was gonna try to figure out a way to do both (career and school). But first of all it really wasn't possible. And second of all, when I started looking into what I wanted to study - obviously I'm doing what I want to be doing. An audio class or an engineering class would be really of no use to me, because they don't let you touch the equipment till the second semester. And I've had a studio now for six years."
Gibson has perfect pitch. She studied classical piano for 11 years, sang in the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, did commercials and musicals before signing with Atlantic Records at the age of 16.
What followed were two multi-platinum albums - "Out of the Blue" and "Electric Youth." Gibson wrote the songs and helped with production and arrangements.
With such a broad background, one wonders if she is getting itchy to spread her wings beyond the conventional pop-song format. A symphony perhaps? A Broadway show?
"I've written a lot of different things lately. Even on the `Electric Youth' album, a lot of the songs were like 4 1/2 minutes, which kind of hurt me with radio.
"I do write theatrical-sounding songs. A lot of people ask, `When are you going to write about world issues?' Well, I didn't want to write about a world issue for the sake of writing about a world issue, because to me that's even more gimmicky . . .
"If I had come out with an artsier image and singing songs about politics, the critics would've loved me. (But) I don't think it would've been too believable if I would've done that. Whereas Tracy Chapman came out, and you believe her, because you know she's been through the things she writes about."
Gibson differs from a typical teen in at least one other respect: She's making a whole lot more money. Most of it goes directly into the bank, she says. On the road she's issued a modest per diem allowance, just like the musicians in her band.
But she has made a couple of big purchases - investing in her high-tech home studio and indulging her love of old cars with a 1957 Ford Fairlane.