Laura Branigan was an Italian-American singer-songwriter and actress. She is best known for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and for the number-one single "Self Control". Also, she is remembered for the Top 10 "Solitaire" [1] and for the number-one adult contemporary hit "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You", as well as four other US Top 40 hits.
Branigan also contributed songs to notable motion picture and television soundtracks, including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack, the Ghostbusters soundtrack, and the Baywatch soundtrack, as well as having songs featured in the popular Grand Theft Auto video game series.
In the early 1970s, Branigan was a member of the band, Meadow, which recorded one album in 1973 called The Friend Ship. In 1979, her single called "Looking Out for Number One" made a brief appearance on the U.S. Dance chart. Two other early singles, "Tell Him" and "Fool's Affair", followed. None of these three singles were included on her first album or ever reissued on any compilation LP or CD to date.
Her first solo album, "Branigan" [2], was released in 1982; the first single from this album was "All Night With Me," which hit #69 on the Billboard charts in early 1982. American radio was initially unreceptive to "Gloria" but it was embraced by dance clubs, especially gay clubs. The song eventually won over American radio stations and it became one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. The album went Gold, and the single was eventually certified Platinum.
Branigan's vocal performance of "Gloria" was nominated for a Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female Grammy Award; "Gloria" marked Branigan's only solo nomination. The following year she received a second nomination as one of the various artists on the Flashdance original soundtrack album when it was nominated for Album of the Year. The album also won the Best Soundtrack Grammy.
In the spring of 1983, Branigan released her second album, Branigan 2. Her English-language version of the French song "Solitaire" hit the U.S. charts. Branigan's debut recording of "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" reached #12 on the Hot 100 and spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The 1983 film Flashdance contained two Laura Branigan songs, "Gloria" and a new song, "Imagination". The latter song was included on the Grammy Award winning Flashdance soundtrack, which reached #1 and sold more than six million copies in the U.S. alone.
In 1984, "Self Control", the title track of Branigan's third album, became her biggest hit internationally, topping the charts in over six countries. Other hits from Branigan's Self Control album include "The Lucky One", the continental ballad "Ti Amo" and the Dance hit "Satisfaction." The album also featured an understated version of Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". Branigan was also nominated for an award at the American Music Awards of 1985 for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Video Artist. Also in 1985, Branigan performed the main theme song for the highly rated television mini-series Hollywood Wives, based on the novel by Jackie Collins.
Branigan's fourth album, 1985's Hold Me, featured "Spanish Eddie," which was her sixth US Billboard Top 40 Pop hit in two and a half years. The subsequent single release "Hold Me" was a U.S. top 40 dance hit, and Branigan's introduction of the rock ballad "I Found Someone".
Touch was released in 1987 and marked a change in Branigan's careeas she took a more active role in her work and in the studio. Touch featured the songs "Shattered Glass", her cover of Jennifer Rush's "The Power of Love" and "Cry Wolf".
Branigan's 1990 self-titled album brought the singer back to the Hi-NRG charts and gay clubs with "Moonlight On Water", and she scored a Top-30 Adult Contemporary hit with "Never in a Million Years". Also, the album featured her cover of Vicki Sue Robinson's disco-era "Turn the Beat Around" and "Let Me In," a cover of an Eddie Money song. The album also included "Unison," which was the title track for Céline Dion's English debut CD in the same year. The album's closing track is a cover of Bryan Adams' "The Best Was Yet to Come".
Branigan's seventh and final studio album, Over My Heart, was released and included a cover of Roxette's song "The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye," and "Is There Anybody Here But Me?". Shortly after the album's release, Branigan left the music industry in 1994 to spend more time with her husband following his diagnosis of colon cancer.
During these years, Branigan would do several global tours and had official hit collections released in South America, Japan, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. The United States collection was released in 1995: The 13-track The Best of Branigan and included two newly recorded covers: "Show Me Heaven" and the Donna Summer hit "Dim All the Lights".
In 2002, her second official United States hits collection, The Essentials: Laura Branigan, was released, including the long out-of-print hit "I Found Someone".
Branigan died in her sleep at her lodge in East Quogue, New York, on August 26, 2004. The cause was attributed to a previously undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm. It was reported in the media that she had been experiencing headaches for several weeks before her death but did not seek medical attention.
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