NEED TO KNOW
- Debbie Gibson recalls the moment she met Princess Diana while wearing “blue-jean cutoff shorts, a vest and a bandana”
- Fresh off multiple big hits in the U.S., Gibson was invited to perform at the Prince’s Trust Concert in London
- Gibson details her meeting in her new memoir, Eternally Electric: The Message In My Music
In 1989, Debbie Gibson’s career was skyrocketing and putting her in front of new audiences, including the royal family.
Fresh off multiple top-five singles and a No. 1 hit, the “Only In My Dreams” singer was invited to perform at the Prince’s Trust Concert in London. The concert, which supported the Prince’s Trust charity (which later became The King’s Trust), was a who’s who of talent. The acts also got the chance to meet members of the royal family.
In her new memoir, Eternally Electric: The Message In My Music, Gibson recalls being underdressed while meeting the ever-glamorous Princess Diana.
“It was such a surreal evening, with me telling the princess how the special gown I’d wanted to wear for my receiving-line moment had been vetoed by the producers because they wanted me ready to open the show,” she writes in the book. “They had insisted I wear my video-look performance outfit — blue-jean cutoff shorts, a vest, and a bandana in my hair — but she could not have been more gracious.”
“’You look a heck of a lot more comfortable than I am,’ she leaned in and whispered,” Gibson recalls.
Shortly after, the “Lost In Your Eyes” singer, then just 18 years old, took the stage to sing “Electric Youth” after being introduced by Sir Sean Connery.
“She’s one of the biggest, most successful recording artists in America,” the James Bond actor said in his introduction before she hit the stage.
That night turned into one Gibson, now 55, would never forget. Later in the evening, her friend convinced a restaurant with live music to stay open late — a memory she still holds dear.
“I wrote a song about it a few years ago called ‘The Band Plays On,’ because it was such a memorable life moment,” she recounts in the memoir.
“That sweet scene we started; I can rest my head upon; Proof that love stays like the band plays on.”