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POST-DISCO DIVA CAPTURED POP ZEITGEIST IN THE '80s
Iain Shedden, The Australian
September 01, 2004
Laura Branigan
Singer and actor. Born Brewster, New York, July 3, 1957. Died East Quoque, New York, August 26, aged 47.
POP singer Laura Branigan will be best remembered for her worldwide hit Gloria, a disco anthem in 1982-83, long
after disco fever had subsided.
The song reached No.1 here and stayed in the charts for 33 weeks. The top spot was one better than the single's
achievement in the US, although it did receive a Grammy nomination.
The New York singer had three more top 10 hits here over the next two years, but Branigan had another, less successful
association with Australia that in a sense embodied her ambitions and her failings – not as a singer, but as an
actor.
In 1986, while still a household name, she came to Melbourne to film "Backstage", a movie about an American
rock singer who becomes a successful actor over here.
The film bombed when it was released in 1988, an event that coincided with the rapid decline of her pop career.
After five albums and millions of sales, the rest of her life would be divided between bit parts in movies and
on television, and the occasional musical interlude, including a duet with Baywatch star David Hasselhoff in 1994.
Branigan grew up in New York and first considered a career as a singer after landing the lead role in a school
musical. From there she moved on to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, before becoming a backing singer and touring
in the late 1970s with Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.
The touring experience helped develop her voice. She had a wide range and depth that was equally suited to dance
music and the power ballads that came later in her successful '80s run.
In 1980 she signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Her first release, "Looking Out for Number
One", failed to make the charts and her fledgling career went on hold during a legal battle with her ex-manager.
When "Gloria" and the accompanying album, "Branigan", were released two years later, she was
on her way. Gloria somehow managed to capture the pop Zeitgeist while extolling the virtues of the Hi-NRG dance-floor
craze.
Hits such as "Solitaire", "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (co-written with Michael
Bolton), "Self Control" and "Ti Amo" followed, alongside albums such as "Self Control",
"Hold Me" and "Touch", the last of which was recorded immediately after her ill-fated movie
stint in Australia.
Three of the hit songs – "Gloria", "Self Control" and "Ti Amo" – had been recorded
by Italian artists before Branigan brought them to a wider audience.
At the height of her success she made her first moves into acting, appearing as a guest on the TV cop show CHiPs
and landing a bit part in the movie Mugsy's Girls.
She also developed as a songwriter and her material appeared in films such as "Flashdance" and "Ghostbusters".
Branigan married lawyer Lawrence Kruteck, 20 years her senior, in 1981 and she spent several years caring for him
after he developed cancer. He died in 1996.
The singer retired as a performer after her husband's death. Just as she was considering a comeback in 2001, she
broke both legs after falling from a ladder at her home. A year later, however, she returned to the stage, the
theatrical one this time, where she received plaudits for her performance as tragic rock singer Janis Joplin in
the musical "Love, Janis".
Branigan died in her sleep at home from an aneurysm of the brain.
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"GLORIA" SINGER LAURA BRANIGAN DIES AT 47
By Madison J. Gray
NEW YORK (AP) - Laura Branigan, a Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her 1982 platinum hit "Gloria,"
has died. She was 47.
Branigan died of a brain aneurysm Thursday, August 26, 2004, in her sleep at her home in East Quogue, NY, said
her brother Mark Branigan. He said she had complained to a friend of a headache for about two weeks before she
died, but had not sought medical attention.
"Gloria," a signature song from her debut album "Branigan," stayed atop the pop charts for
36 weeks and earned her a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocalist, the first of four nominations in her
career.
She also made television appearances, including guest spots on "CHiPs," and in the films "Mugsy's
Girls" and "Backstage."
Branigan released seven albums after her debut "Branigan," including "Solitaire,""Self
Control," and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," which was co-written with Michael Bolton.
Her songs also appeared on soundtracks for the films "Flashdance" and "Ghostbusters."
Branigan was born July 3, 1957, and grew up in Brewster, N.Y. She attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan.
During the late 1970s, she toured Europe as a backing vocalist for Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen.
She signed as a solo artist with Atlantic Records in 1982.
After her run of success in the 1980s, her releases in the early 1990s attracted little attention. In 1994, she
sang a duet with David Hasselhoff called "I Believe" for the soundtrack of the television show "Baywatch."
She released a 13-track "Best of Branigan" LP the next year.
After the death of her husband, Lawrence Kruteck, in 1996, Branigan stopped performing but returned to the stage
in 2001. In 2002 she starred as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical "Love, Janis," which earned
her rave reviews.
Branigan recently had been working on material for a new release.
She is survived by her mother, two brothers and a sister. Funeral services were
scheduled for Monday, August 30, 2004.
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US pop singer Laura Branigan dies
The Jamaica Observer
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan, the US pop singer who delivered a throaty cover of the 1970's Italian song Gloria and turned it
into a worldwide hit in 1982, died in her sleep last week She was 47. Her official Website listed the cause of
death as a brain aneurysm.
Branigan was born July 3, 1957, and raised in Brewster, New York, where she attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts
in Manhattan. During the late 1970s, she toured Europe as a backing vocalist for Canadian singer and songwriter
Leonard Cohen. She signed as a solo artist with Atlantic Records in 1982.
After her run of success in the 1980s, her releases in the early 1990s attracted little attention. In 1994, she
sang a duet with David Hasselhoff called I Believe for the soundtrack of the television show Baywatch. She released
a 13-track Best of Branigan LP the next year.
After the death of her husband Lawrence Kruteck in 1996, Branigan stopped performing but returned to the stage
in 2001. In 2002 she starred as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis which earned her rave reviews.
Branigan has a strong following in Jamaica. She not only hit number one in Jamaica in 1982 with Gloria, but she
had chart hits with Forever Young, Self Control, Ti-Amor, and Power of Love (which was made popular by Jennifer
Rush).
Branigan co-wrote How Am I Supposed to Live Without You with Michael Bolton. Her original recording of that song
reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 1983, but Bolton's version became a worldwide smash
in 1989.
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