She is a singer and actress born Deborah Ann Boone in Hackensack,
New Jersey, as one of four sisters.Her
father is the singer Pat Boone, Her mother Shirley Lee Foley, and
her grandfather was the singer Red Foley. When she was 14 she began
singing and touring with her parents and sisters as The Boones and
her first success was seen when their single "When the Lovelight
Starts Shining" entered the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart at
No. 25, followed closely by "Hasta
Manana". Going solo she was catapulted into the limelight in
1977 when she did a cover version of "You
Light Up My Life
" which stormed the Billboard
Hot 100 and stayed at No. 1 for 10 weeks.This earned her two Grammy nominations and a platinum
album and single.Unfortunately she couldn't keep that momentum going though and her
next few singles just entered the charts and no more.She sang another Oscar nomination
for "When You're Loved" which was the theme from The Magic of Lassie but
reaching No. 48 on the chart it couldn't emulate her previous success.Because "You
Light Up My Life " had
also been successful on the Country chart she moved over to that genre and
would reach No. 11 in 1979 with "My Heart Has a Mind of It's Own" which had
previously been recorded by Connie Francis.She saw a further three songs entering the Top 50, but
the accompanying album did not see the same success.1980 came around and at last she
reached the Country No. 1 spot again with her "Are You On the Road to Lovin'
Me Again" which would share the Top 5 with 4 other female artists, which
had been unknown.Releasing several more Country
chart entering albums she left the music scene in the early 1980s to
become a member of the cast of Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers
that would reach Broadway for five performances in 1982 before it
was closed.During the 1980s
she would work on several other musicals such as Meet Me in St. Louis,
South Pacific and The King and I and began to appear in TV
films.She moved into singing
Christian music and this would earn her two Grammy awards.Releasing many albums in this genre
she would also sing White Christmas in a duet with her mother-in-law, Rosemary
Clooney on her 1989 Home for Christmas.Concentrating on bringing up her family and writing
towards the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s she collaborated with her
husband, Gabriel Ferrer, on publishing several children's books which her
husband illustrated.She also
released Debby Boone's Hug-a-Long Songs as children's videos.She began recording and touring again
in 2005 and released the album Reflections of Rosemary in tribute to
her mother-in-law.
