Debby Boone is a rare bird -- a third -generation pop star.

Her dad, Pat Boone, defined white American wholesomeness in the '50s,
blanching countless early rock 'n' roll songs for the Eisenhower
generation, plus his 1957 No. 1 hit "Love Letters in the Sand." Her
grandfather, Red Foley, topped the charts seven years earlier with
"Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy.

Debby's turn came in 1977, when she became the third in the lineage to
become a household name. After years singing with her father -- indeed,
her entire family -- in concerts across the country, Debby went solo and
hit No. 1 with the timeless ballad "You Light Up My Life." The song won
Boone an Oscar (from the movie of the same title) and a Grammy.

These days, Boone is an active artist -- on stage, on screen, in
bookstores. She just finished a run in "Mississippi Love," a
Broadway-style comedy that played in Branson, Mo., and her most recent
book, "Counting Blessings," is the latest in a long line of children's
books the singer-actress has written with her husband, illustrator
Gabriel Ferrer.

She was due in Tulsa early in December as part of the star- studded
Christian pop Christmas tour, Child of the Promise. However, along with
many other late- 2001 shows, the tour was canceled.

Before the cancellation, though, we got to speak with Boone -- an
interview that ranged across her many talents, her years as a solo
artist and a Boone family singer, and what she thought of her dad's
heavy metal album.


Thomas Conner: Have you enjoyed playing Branson?

Debby Boone: Very much. This show ("Mississippi Love") is fun. It's
about Mark Twain and his wife, when he was writing "Huckleberry Finn."
We're in a funny old theater, too -- the Mark Twain Playhouse, which was
the Will Rogers Theater when I saw my dad doing "Follies" here, and
before that it was the Mel Tillis Theater. It sort of becomes whatever
it contains.

TC: You've performed in Branson once before, right?

DB: Two years ago my dad and I filled in for Andy Williams when he had
vocal trouble. We did his Christmas season. If we hadn't done that, I
might not have come back. Now I know that it's not some hole-in-the-wall
where I'd feel completely stranded.

TC: You've done a lot of theater in recent years. Do you prefer that to
pop singing, or do you like writing books better? Where is your
passion?

DB: I love it all. The most fulfilling part of my career is the variety
it has afforded me. Theater and guest appearances on TV shows and books
-- they all have a special appeal in and of themselves. I kind of pinch
myself every now an then and remind myself how lucky I am. It's
definitely taken turns I had never planned on.

TC: What other writing projects are you working on?

DB: Well, I've done children's books for the last 10 years, and I'm
actually considering writing for grown-ups now. In the formative stages
right now is a book I've been doing about journaling, what I've gained
from the practice of it, maybe some excerpts from my journals. It could
be a daily devotional thing. I've kept a journal for about eight to 10
years. It's so healthy. You look back and see things you went through
and fears you were addressing and then you see where you came out on the
other end.

TC: Do you have the same feeling when you read your autobiography from
the '70s, "Debby Boone -- So Far"?

DB: Oh, Lord, no. I can't go back and read that without being
humiliated. That was written when I was 21 and published when I was 23.
Who writes their autobiography at that age?

TC: So why did you?

DB: I'd been pressured by the publisher after "You Light Up My Life"
became such a huge hit. They told me, "Who you are right now is who
people are interested in. You'll never be who you are now at any other
time. You have something to say that's interesting to people." I
thought, "You know, there are probably people out there who can identify
with things I've gone through. I was a teenager who wanted to gain some
independence -- everyone can relate to that. I was rebellious and
confused and didn't want to be a carbon copy little Boone girl, the
perfect product of Mr. All- American Pat Boone.

TC: So did you actually rebel as a teenager?

DB: I really did struggle. Not in any shocking ways -- the book's not
about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll -- but emotionally I did. I wanted
separation from my parents. It was as painful to them as it was to me.

TC: I heard that you almost bought a motorcycle and headed for
Height-Ashbury. True?

DB: I somehow got a poster from "Easy Rider," and I hung it on my
bedroom wall. I had visions of getting a motorcycle and leaving my
parents forever and going to San Francisco. But I never saw the movie --
I wasn't allowed -- and it fizzled.

TC: Well, then, I must ask: What did you think of your dad's album of
heavy metal covers ("No More Mr. Nice Guy") from a few years ago?

DB: Oh, my goodness. I thought I was certifiably out of his mind. I
thought, "He's finally snapped." I thought it was a horrible idea. Then
I saw him on the American Music Awards in front of the rest of the world
in a studded choker, fake tattoos and leather, and I found it funny and,
oddly enough, courageous. When I actually heard the music, I thought,
"You know, he really did something so off-the- wall that it's
interesting." The songs are all great big-band arrangements. The heavy
metal community supported it, thought it was great. The Christian
community overreacted and didn't get the joke.

TC: Was going solo in '77 part of your own rebellious instincts?

DB: Sure. My dad put us all in the act as a means of keeping us
together as a family. He was on the road and tired of always being gone.
The Osmonds opened together in an extensive tour of the Orient, and my
dad thought that if the Osmond family can travel together, why couldn't
he put his family in the act and not be separated all the time? He never
imagined it would turn into a lifestyle for us for so long. I was 14,
and once I got my feet wet on stage I knew this was what I wanted to do.
I had sort of the loudest voice and the largest range of all of us, so I
got a lot of the solos. We traveled like this for 10 years.

"Light Up" came along while I was still working with the family.
(Producer) Mike Curb had been on my case to do my own stuff for a couple
of years, but my parents felt the timing wasn't right. Mike was involved
with this soundtrack, and he brought a tape of the song over and played
it for my parents. They loved it, and they waited for me to come home
one afternoon and said, "We think you should go record this." It was the
first time we were all in sync.

TC: The song is a template for the modern romantic ballad, but you're
not exactly singing to a romantic interest, are you?

DB: Privately, I'm singing it to God. It was written as a romantic
ballad in the context of the movie's love story, and it was never
intended to be anything but that. I've had a lot of people since then
say to me that they sing this song to their child or their friends. It's
a generic love message that could go either way. It just really
expressed how I felt about God and what he had done in my personal life.
It sang it to God to feed myself. ... The guy that wrote it is not
thrilled about my interpretation of it, either.

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Thomas Conner, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8473 or via e-mail at thomas.conner@tulsaworld.com.