
- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Tumblr
Forty years ago this summer, Debby Boone set a record by topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 straight weeks with the title track of her first solo album, “You Light Up My Life,” which eventually became the biggest hit of the 1970s.
The singer will commemorate the occasion by performing the song on Aug. 11 at an event dubbed Icons of Aging, where she’ll sing on the same stage as her dad, Pat Boone, who will perform his hit song “Love Letters in the Sand,” which, 60 years ago this summer, spent five weeks as No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100.
While performing with her dad is rare, Debby Boone says she still sings “You Light Up My Life” regularly.
Related Stories
“The lyrics are transcending,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Couples use it as their wedding song, parents say it reminds them of their children, and some say it has a religious meaning for them.”
The mellow love song led to Debby Boone winning a Grammy for best new artist in 1977, but she acknowledges that she doesn’t relate to a lot of the music that is racking up Grammy wins nowadays.
“Times have changed. Songs that are hits now would never be hits in 1977. I remember driving my kids to school at 8 a.m. and hearing these really sexual lyrics,” she says. “But I don’t lament the good old days. I’m not a curmudgeon. My kids turned out great. Maybe I’ll be horrified all over again when my grandkids listen to those lyrics.”
Debby Boone, 60, and Pat Boone, 83, will be performing in La Mirada, Calif., on behalf of the Season of Life conference series founded by gerontologist Di Patterson.
“I’m as healthy as I was at 20,” Pat Boone told THR. “Sure, I inherited good genes, but I’ve never trusted in just that. I’m looking forward to the event so my daughter and I can share our health secrets.”
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day