If you turned on the radio at all during the '80s and '90s, you're sure to remember Deborah Gibson and her string of infectious songs such as Only In My Dreams, Shake Your Love, Electric Youth, and the smash hit Foolish Beat. Since then, the singer has been busy performing in musicals, including the lead role as Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. She's currently working on the Internet's biggest singing competition, Total Pop Star, which she co-hosts with Joey Lawrence and Andrew Van Slee. She's also gearing up for a string of performances in Atlantic City from May 4-24th, where she'll be performing an original show at the Harrah's Casino called Pop Goes Broadway. During a rare moment of downtime, we recently had the chance to talk to this tremendously busy singer.

Why do you think gay men tend to idolize female pop stars? I go through this in my head all the time. In fact, I just got off an Atlantis gay cruise, where I was performing for Valentine’s Day. Personally, I feel that the gay audience is discriminating, and yet open-minded at the same time. My show is a slick and sophisticated, but it’s also a big party. It fluctuates between the two. I’m familiar with the gay community, so it’s been a long-lasting love affair on both ends. I love it, but I haven’t yet figured out what makes certain women into gay icons. I don’t know, but I’m not going to question it.

What is the secret to your survival in this business? My motto is, “Life’s tough, but I’m tougher.” Because showbiz can be really intense. I love what I do — so much that it’s worth any torture that comes with it. I feel like I have deep roots in the entertainment community. I’m not concerned with being the flavor of the month and I never have been. I know who I am, I know what I do, and I keep doing it. I don’t really pay attention when people say, “Oh my god, your career is so hot right now,” or, “Your career is so not hot right now.”

What’s your creative process like? DG: Everyone has a running dialogue in their head all the time and I just pull from it. This might sound funny, but I almost sing my thoughts a lot of times. I musicalize my life. I jokingly say that life is a musical, because I hear music in my head all the time. Everything has a melody to it and just I tune into that.

With iTunes and downloading, do you think artists are struggling to sell entire albums? It’s harder to be creative because it’s a singles-oriented market now. Gone are the days of concept albums because so few albums are mega-hits. Albums are almost promotional tools now. They’re not what you go out there to sell. Whatever my next record is, I want it to compliment whatever I intend on doing live. My ultimate goal is Vegas. I might want to do a straight-up show in Vegas or I might want to create more of an experience and do something different — and maybe do an album to accompany that.

What’s on your iPod? Oh, so many things. Mika — I love his album, Michael Buble... I’m all over the map with music. There’s an artist called James Morrison who is a great singer and songwriter. I’ve got some Fergie — I love her. She’s a survivor and I like survivors.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your gay fans? Thank you — for real — because I feel like the gay community is at least three-quarters of my fan base. They bring me so much joy, and they are so loyal. Pop music can be fickle, so I find the loyalty to be really overwhelming. So thank you. If you guys keep showing up, I’ll keep doing better and better shows.