Laura Brannigan

Mention Laura Branigan and even the most tone-deaf among us will start to hum Gloria. The chart-topping platinum hit which launched her career. It held its position at the top of Billboard's Top Ten for 22 weeks, so it's not surprising that many consider this to be her signature song. However, Laura Branigan, a four-time Grammy Award nominee with album and single sales exceeding ten million in the United States alone, has had three other top ten hits, Self Control, How Am I Suppose To Live Without You, and Solitaire, and many other top forty hits including Power Of Love, The Lucky One, and Spanish Eddie, to name just a few. Laura describes herself as being "obsessed with music" and says that as much as she enjoys working with other musicians in the studio --she's recorded eight albums and is currently working on another--nothing compares to performing for a live audience. She has performed for audiences in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, touring the world several times, but the thrill of performing live never fails her." When you're on stage", she says "the audience becomes your other half. It's the ultimate high you can reach as a musician--an incredible feeling. And no matter where I am it's the same; there's a reason we call music the universal language." Laura's five octave range, and sheer power of her vocal instrument, make it possible to not only fill an arena with the wail of raw emotion, but to also caress a lyric so tenderly it seems to shimmer with sound. To even the most causal observer it is clear she was meant to sing. Surprisingly though, it was not always clear to Laura. She talks freely about her development as a musician, explaining that it was only after touring with Leonard Cohen as a background vocalist that she realized what she wanted most was to sing. After returning from Europe with Cohen, she met with music industry legends Ahmet Ertegen and Doug Morris. The rest of the story is well documented in music history. In addition to platinum sales of her Self Control album and the single Gloria, Laura struck gold with the Self Control title track well as with the albums Branigan and Branigan2.She has sung for audiences on every continent and her Best Of... albums have sold millions in every world market including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Rim. Impressive as her career has been, however, Laura doesn't believe in looking back. Instead she is focused on the work she is doing now. "In the beginning" she says "all I wanted was to express myself emotionally with my voice. That's all that mattered to me. But over the years I learned a lot about the different elements it takes to make a song work. Now I think I'm getting it all down. I know I'm doing the best work of my career and I'm really excited about what the future holds." Laura's Gloria-99 The Remix and Back In Control were released in 1999. Branigan returned to the public eye in 2002, earning rave reviews with her portrayal of Janis Joplin in the hit New York City musical - Love, Janis. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide Off the officalwebsite www.laurabranigan.com