Deborah Ann Gibson, credited as Debbie Gibson (born August 31, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York, is an American singer who was initially a teen idol appearing repeatedly on the cover of such teen magazines as Tiger Beat. In contrast to the prevalence of the name "Debbie" in her teen-idol phase, she showed a preference for "Deborah" even then, and her fans had, before the release of Naked, signalled a departure from that image by using this name to refer to her.

Gibson was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up living in the Long Island suburb of Merrick, New York. At the age of five, she and her sisters began performing in a community theater, and she wrote her first song. When she was eight, she sang at the children's chorus in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where she got to meet such singers as Plácido Domingo and others. When she was 12, Gibson was already performing in Broadway, but as an actress.