In Germany, Branigan's version outsold Raffaele Riefole's original Italian language version.īranigan's later hits included The Lucky One (1985), from the television drama An Uncommon Love, and Spanish Eddie (1986). It was the title song of her third album, and a top 10 hit in both the US and Britain. In 1984, Branigan recorded Self Control, a translation by Steve Piccolo of another European hit composed by Bigazzi. Her popularity continued in 1983 with the hits Solitaire (co-written with Diane Warren) and How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, composed by the then unknown Michael Bolton. The accompanying album, called Branigan, was equally successful and the prelude to a career in which she was to sell more than 10m records in the US alone. This brought her to the attention of Atlantic Records, which signed her to a long-term contract - and the result was Gloria. She next sought work as an actor and singer, but her breakthrough came in 1979 when she was hired as a backing singer for a European tour by Leonard Cohen. After playing the lead in a high school musical theatre production, she attended the Academy for Performing Arts in Manhattan. It was also a British top 10 hit.īranigan was born in Brewster, New York, the fourth of five children of a stockbroker and a housewife. Gloria remained in the United States top 40 for 22 weeks in 1982 and peaked at number two. It was given an arrangement in the power ballad style pioneered in America by Pat Benatar and the music video of the song showed Branigan, in the spirit of the Eighties, in black spandex trousers and knee-high boots with a single discoball spinning above her head. It was an English language version of a then recent Italian hit sung by Umberto Tozzi composed by Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi. Her first and biggest hit, in 1982, was the Grammy-nominated Gloria. Although she appeared off-Broadway in a show based on Janis Joplin's life, Branigan's forte was the rock ballad, of which she was a leading female exponent in the 1980s. Here are some beautiful photos of Laura Branigan from her early life and music career.Laura Branigan, who has died of a brain aneurysm aged 47, was a powerful singer with a five-octave range who in an earlier generation would have graced the Broadway stage. Her ashes were scattered over Long Island Sound. She had been experiencing headaches for several weeks before her death but did not seek medical attention. Laura Branigan’s deathīranigan suffered a brain aneurysm and died in her sleep at 52 in East Quogue, New York, on August 26, 2004. Branigan also had a relationship with the drummer of her band Tommy Bayiokos. He was a lawyer and died of colon cancer on Ju15, 1966. Laura Branigan married Larry Ross in 1978.
#GLORIA LAURA BRANIGAN SERIES#
Acting careerīranigan made her acting debut in 1981 with a TV show, ‘An American Girl in Berlin.’ After her single ‘Gloria,’ she made several guest appearances on many American TV series including ‘Chips,’ ‘Monsters,’ and ‘Knight Rider.’ She also appeared in movies including ‘Mugsy’s Girls (1984)’ and ‘Backstage (1988)’. She left the music industry in 1994 after seven years. Her popularity began to decline in the early 1990s, and she released her final album ‘Over My Heart’ and it went unnoticed and failed to get any attention. Throughout the 1980s, Branigan released several superhit albums and songs. In 1983, she released another album ‘Branigan 2’ and it also gathered a vast audience from all across the world. A year later, she released another album ‘Branigan.’ The album earned four subsequent Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance. In 1982, she made her first song, ‘Looking Out for Number One,’ in the album ‘Silver Dreams.’ It made a brief appearance on the U.S. The album failed to gain any attention, and eventually, the band broke up. In 1972 she met guitarists Walker Daniels and Chirrs Van Cleave, and they formed a flock-rock band named ‘Meadow.’ The group released their first album ‘The Friend Ship’ in 1973. Before entering the music world, Laura worked as a waitress.