Debby Boone on the cover of her 2001 collection You Light Up My Life: Greatest Inspirational Songs Debby Boone (b. September 22, 1956) is an American singer and theater actress, best known for her 1977 movie theme and hit, "You Light Up My Life", which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the charts. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, she was the daughter of a famous singer, 1950s icon Pat Boone, and later added to her musical relations by marrying Gabriel Ferrer,brother of actor Miguel Ferrer and son of Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer.
When asked who it was that 'lit up her life', Debby said it was God that she was singing about, but the popularity of her first hit grew to be an annoyance. "Nobody would let me do anything else," she says. "It got a little frustrating. On TV, they would let me sing another song if I sang that one. It was never even my favorite song to begin with."
Boone is no one-hit wonder, reaching No. 1 on the country charts a few years later with "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". She was a major presence on the Christian-music scene in the 1980s, winning two Dove Awards to add to her three Grammys. Theater kept her busy in the 1990s. She earned solid reviews for The King and I, The Sound of Music and the bad girl role of Rizzo in Grease and together with her husband has written books and recorded songs for children.
The mother of four told an interviewer, "...I would be happy at a piano bar, singing. I just want to home in on being the best singer I can be."
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