Debby Boone Vegas style

Famous singer will come swinging into the Clark State PAC.


How to go

What: Debby Boone “Swing This: The ’60s, Vegas and Me”

Where: Clark State Performing Arts Center, Kuss Auditorium, 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield

When: 8 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 19

Cost: $60, $55, $30, $25; student ticket (ages 22-younger) $50, $45, $25, $15

More info: (937) 328-3874 or go to www.springfieldartscouncil.org/boone.htm

To most people, she’s Pat Boone’s daughter or that girl who sang “You Light Up My Life,” one of the biggest pop smashes of all time.

As soon as that song slid down the pop charts, she faded into obscurity almost as quickly as she rose.

But, Debby Boone has never left the scene. You just didn’t know where to find her.

Her artistry has included country music, Grammy-winning gospel songs, musicals and authoring children’s books, in addition to her current stint as a television commercial spokeswoman. And she’s still branching into new directions.

Boone will perform songs from the classic 1960s Las Vegas era with her show “Swing This: The ’60s, Vegas and Me” at 8 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Clark State Performing Arts Center’s Kuss Auditorium.

The show, presented by the Springfield Arts Council, is appropriate for all ages.

“I love it when people say they had no idea what I have done and what I am doing,” Boone said.

“Swing This” is a tribute to music she grew up with when her dad played Las Vegas in 1964. Impressionable grade-schooler Debby was exposed to a world far different from the family-friendly Vegas of today.

It was an adult town ruled by the Rat Pack and other stars of the day. Between songs, Boone will share stories of her encounters with the legends of the Las Vegas Strip and other artists, such as Elvis Presley and a then up-and-coming legend in the making: Barbra Streisand.

“We met and just, wow, I became a fan,” Boone said of Streisand. “She really helped form my love of theater.”

Songs will include “Mack the Knife,” “That Old Black Magic,” “Sing, Sing, Sing” and “Cry Me a River,” an important early number in Streisand’s early career.

Boone said that era represents “the high school years of our country” people now think about as the “Mad Men” era, a special time before The Beatles and the tumultuous years to come. “It’s like a class reunion, you remember those years through the music.”

And even though it came years later, Boone will perform her signature tune, “You Light Up My Life,” which sat atop of the top 40 chart for 10 weeks in 1977. She’s eternally grateful for it despite never having another top 40 hit.

“Its success surprised even me,” she said. “ It was impossible to follow up that song. Nobody told me how hard it would be.

“People dream of a hit record. Now everywhere I go, audiences know me for it.”

Boone counts it as just one of many projects she’s proud of, including a tribute to Rosemary Clooney and that of the classic Vegas era.

“I hope people will come out for lots of fun and glamour.”

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