Laura Branigan

1952年出生于紐約的女歌手蘿拉布蘭妮根(Laura Branigan)成名之前曾是加拿大詩人兼歌手Leonard Cohen的合音，1982年以一曲Gloria聞名歌壇，此后五年間她受到全球性的歡迎，也是她的黃金年代。聲音高亢、略沙啞又帶奔放的蘿拉擅長以歐陸舞曲風(fēng)格賦予舊曲新生命并且選曲上有獨(dú)到的國際色彩，數(shù)首暢銷曲都是以英文翻唱意大利歌曲像在美國拿下亞軍的Gloria；Ti Amo還有1984年度臺(tái)灣地區(qū)英文歌曲票選總冠軍Self Control。這張精選收錄的其它歌曲像麥可伯特恩(Michael Bolton)所作How Am I Supposed To Live Without You、唐娜?，?Donna Summer)的亞軍曲Dim All The Lights、電影【霹靂男兒】插曲Show Me Heaven、日后被席琳迪翁(Celine Dion)唱紅的Power Of Love都是蘿拉布蘭妮根的佳作。從此張精選中可以感覺外表冷艷的蘿拉雖以情歌為主但注重節(jié)奏與旋律，每每都以奔放的歌聲傳達(dá)其豐沛的情感。
Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004)was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She had hits in the 1980s with the platinum-certified "Gloria," "Self Control," "Solitaire," and the No. 1 Adult Contemporary (AC) hit "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" as well as several other U.S. top-40 songs.
Branigan contributed songs to motion picture and television soundtracks, including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack (1983), the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984), and the Baywatch soundtrack (1994).
Her signature song "Gloria" by Umberto Tozzi stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist; the song holds a place in the top-100 singles of both 1982 and 1983.
Branigan died at her home from a previously-undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm.
The album spawned one of the year's top pop hits, the Donna Summer-like "Gloria," a remake of an Italian pop song from the '70s that peaked at number six in the U.K. and number two in the U.S. (the song also earned Branigan her first of four subsequent Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female). The song's popularity reached massive proportions in other parts of the world, especially Germany, where the Branigan version of "Gloria" sat at the number one position while the original Italian version held the number two spot. 1983's Branigan 2 spawned another two sizeable U.S. hit singles with "Solitaire" and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (the latter of which was co-written by a then-unknown Michael Bolton), while she also appeared on the hit soundtrack to Flashdance that same year with the track "Imagination."
Further albums were issued during the remainder of the '80s, 1984's Self Control, 1985's Hold Me, and 1987's Touch, all of which spawned hit singles: the title track from Self Control, "The Lucky One," "Ti Amo," "Spanish Eddie," "I Found Someone," the title track from Hold Me, "Shattered Glass," and "The Power of Love." But, by the dawn of the '90s, the hits had dried up for Branigan, as such albums as 1990's self-titled release and 1993's Over My Heart went completely unnoticed. In 1994, Branigan dueted with David Hasselhoff on the track "I Believe" for the Baywatch soundtrack, and a year later, the singer's first hits compilation, the 13-track The Best of Branigan, was issued. In addition to issuing albums, Branigan kept her acting career going all along, as evidenced by guest spots on the TV show CHiPS, the movies Mugsy's Girl (1984) and Backstage (1988), plus the German television movie An American Girl In Berlin (1981). 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. On August 26, 2004 Laura Branigan suffered a brain aneurysm and died in her sleep.