Debbie Gibson boxing in new Las Vegas video

Debbie Gibson says legends arrive from almost anywhere.

“It can be solitary work, working at a craft, I think there is a lot of risk-taking involved and a motivational aspect,” Gibson says. “But I think you need to be hungry, be curious, be ageless.”

Gibson, who turns 55 Sunday, was curious enough to climb in the boxing ring with onetime WBA light-heavyweight champ Beibut Shumenov. Gibson later hauled into that ring her mirror-plated, Liberace Baldwin piano, and rocked with guitar virtuoso DJ Ashba (formerly of Guns N’ Roses) and rock-drumming great Fred Coury (formerly of Cinderella).

A Las Vegas resident for 16 years, Gibson brought in local entertainment pros Eddie Bennett, Serena Henry and Christine Shebeck as ringside judges/singers. She even invited someone who works with words (yo) to play “Press Photographer.”

This was all for the video to “Legendary,” on her 2021 album, “The Body Remembers.” The video was released Thursday. Gibson recorded the scenes last month at a sound stage at David Saxe Productions. Gibson sought several non-celebs who had legendarily “blazed some trails,” as she puts it.

“I ran a social media contest to find real-life legends,” Gibson says.”People nominated everyone from a woman in her mid-70s who’s out hiking the Appalachian trails to a firefighter who sends us his video, and he’s scaling the side of a building.”

Seizing the boxing metaphor makes sense for Gibson, who was a heavyweight in term of ticket and album sales in her days as a pop star. To inhabit the role of a fighter in the video, even took boxing lessons. Shumenov who held the WBA title for four years ending in 2014, volunteered to lead those sessions.

“Little did I know he was going to say, ‘Oh! I’d love to train you!’” Gibson says. “I jumped into that, not quite knowing if my body would take to it or keep up. But ended up being, becoming such an instant passion of mine, and really the message of the video is that it’s never too late to try something new.”

Gibson burst on the scene in the late-1980s, and is still the youngest female youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a Billboard No. 1 hit with “Foolish Beat.” Her debut album, “Out of the Blue” (1987) produced the hits “Only in My Dreams” and “Shake Your Love,” going platinum. Gibson’s follow-up, “Electric Youth (1989)” also topped the charts, led by the No. 1 single, “Lost In Your Eyes.” Gibson has sold more than 16 million albums internationally.

Gibson’s new video coincides approximately with the release of her autobiography, “Eternally Electric,” due Sept. 9. Similar to “Legendary,” the tome shows Gibson’s badass business side. She burst on the scene seeming to have lived a charmed existence. But the music icon knows how to fight.

“I think that people just thing back to that time, and it was like, ‘She’s a pop princess in a bubble, she has no cares in the world,” Gibson says. “Like, I didn’t have to pay rent, and I had an uncle in the music business or something.”

Gibson shares her family’s involvement in her career.

“I write about this in my book, I technically did have an uncle in the music business. Vic Damone was my uncle through marriage, but he refused to help me in my career,” says Gibson, managed throughout her career by her mother, the “OG momager” Diane. “So Mom and I were really in the trenches.”

Gibson’s mother died in 2022. She instilled a wealth of life lessons in her daughter.

“I think that as any career women, especially showbiz women, who start as young girls, there is self-motivation and reinvigoration and, ‘Who am I going to be next?’” Gibson says. “But for me, there is always another round, another lap, and it might be uphill. I haven’t stopped and asked, ‘Who am I going to be next?” because I have always been me.”

Two sisters and an ex

Jessica Simpson visited her sister, Ashlee Simpson’s show at Voltaire at The Venetian on Friday night. Simpson and her ex-husband, Eric Johnson, flew to Vegas together and were at the show together and maybe they are reconciling. No PDA from these two.

Jessica Simpson is moving forward on her return to live performance with a one-off at PH Live on Nov. 8. Her latest EP, “Nashville Canyon, Pt. 1,” is her first original music in 15 years, was issued this spring. “Nashville Canyon, Pt. 2” is out Thursday. This Vegas visit can only generate buzz for both Simpsons’ projects, regardless of matrimonial adjustments.

Tease this …

A famous, veteran, resident headlining DJ on the Strip is joking (we think) of driving a Suburu in the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in March. Return to this channel for an update and explanation …

Cool Hang Alert

“The Sailing Club” yacht-rock nights are taking over Caspian’s at Caesars Palace at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays. Radical West spins tunes by Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins and Pantera (just kidding there). No cover. Pack the captain’s hat.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.