Branigan died of a brain aneurysm in her sleep Thursday at her East Quogue home, according to her brother Mark Branigan. He claimed she had complained to a friend about a headache about two weeks before her death, but had not sought medical attention. "Gloria," a signature song from her debut album "Branigan," stayed on the pop charts for 36 weeks and earned her the first of four Grammy nominations for best female pop vocalist.
Her 1984 album Self Control was her most successful, earning platinum sales. Branigan's biggest international hit was the title track, which topped the charts in several countries and peaked at No. 4 in the United States. The Self Control music video was one of the first to be directed by an Academy Award winner. Director of The French Connection and The Exorcist, William Friedkin. Because of the sexual imagery in the video, MTV requested that it be edited.
She also appeared on television, including guest spots on "CHiPs," as well as in the films "Mugsy's Girls" and "Backstage."
Branigan followed her debut "Branigan" with seven albums. Other hit singles included "Solitaire," "Self Control," and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," all of which were written by Michael Bolton. Her songs were also featured on the soundtracks of the films "Flashdance" and "Ghostbusters."
Branigan rose to prominence by belting out danceable numbers, but she also had success with ballads such as 1987's Power of Love. She was most influenced by French torch singer Edith Piaf, whose life and career spanned the 1950s and early 1960s. Laura has also contributed songs to film and television soundtracks such as 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.
Laura Branigan 2004 Photos
Ms. Branigan released her first album, "Branigan," in 1982, after touring as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen. It included the hit "Gloria," which stayed on the pop charts for 36 weeks. Other hits followed, including "Solitaire," "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" and "Self Control," but she was best known for "Gloria," according to her brother.
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Laura Branigan, who died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 47, was a powerful singer with a five-octave range who would have graced the Broadway stage in a previous generation. Branigan's forte was the rock ballad, of which she was a leading female exponent in the 1980s, despite appearing off-Broadway in a show based on Janis Joplin's life. Gloria, her first and biggest hit, was nominated for a Grammy in 1982. It was an English-language version of Umberto Tozzi's then-recent Italian hit, composed by Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi. It was arranged in the power ballad style pioneered in America by Pat Benatar, and the music video featured Branigan dressed in black spandex trousers and knee-high boots, with a single discoball spinning above her head, in the spirit of the Eighties. Gloria remained in the top 40 in the United States for 22 weeks in 1982, peaking at number two. It was also a top ten hit in the United Kingdom.
Laura Branigan was a Grammy Award-winning pop singer, songwriter, and actress. Her cinematic, synth-driven, club-friendly dance-pop songs propelled her to fame. Gloria, one of her songs, reached number one in Australia and Canada. It also spent 36 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Two of her songs were chosen for the soundtracks of the films Flashdance and Ghostbusters. A career in music
Laura Branigan 2004 Death
She also appeared on television, including guest spots on "CHiPs," as well as in the films "Mugsy's Girls" and "Backstage." Branigan followed her debut "Branigan" with seven albums. Other hit singles included "Solitaire," "Self Control," and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," all of which were written by Michael Bolton. Her songs were also featured on the soundtracks of the films "Flashdance" and "Ghostbusters."
Career
Branigan was born of Irish ancestry in Westchester County, New York. Her career began in the late 1970s, but her first album, Branigan, was released in 1982, and featured a song, "Gloria," which launched Branigan to stardom, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and staying on the chart for 36 weeks, a record for a female solo artist at the time), going platinum, and earning her a Grammy nomination. Branigan 2 featured the Top 10 singles "Solitaire" and "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" (co-written by Michael Bolton, who charted his version in 1990). She also contributed "Imagination" to the soundtrack of the film Flashdance. Branigan's third album, Self Control, featured the title track and "The Lucky One," her last Top 10 single. Branigan left music in 1994 to care for her dying husband, Larry Kruteck, after releasing several more albums, none of which were as successful as her first three. After his death from colon cancer in 1996, she attempted a comeback, appearing on several TV shows in the late 1990s, including the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis.
Larson had been showing symptoms of depression, according to Astrid Young, her friend and Neil Young's half-sister, and her fatal seizure was in no small part due to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM.
Larson also sang background vocals for the Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Linda Ronstadt, Christopher Cross, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, among others.
Laura Branigan, born in 1952 in Rewster, New York, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single Gloria, stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, a record for a female artist, peaking at No. 2. It also topped the charts in Australia and Canada. Branigan's No. 4 hit in the United States, Self Control, reached number one in Canada and Germany in 1984. She also had success in the United Kingdom, where both Gloria and Self Control charted in the top ten.
Laura Branigan..Died August 26 2004
Career Branigan was born of Irish ancestry in Westchester County, New York. Her career began in the late 1970s, but her first album, Branigan, was released in 1982, and featured a song, "Gloria," which launched Branigan to stardom, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and staying on the chart for 36 weeks, a record for a female solo artist at the time), going platinum, and earning her a Grammy nomination. Branigan 2 featured the Top 10 singles "Solitaire" and "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" (co-written by Michael Bolton, who charted his version in 1990). She also contributed "Imagination" to the soundtrack of the film Flashdance. Branigan's third album, Self Control, featured the title track and "The Lucky One," her last Top 10 single. Branigan left music in 1994 to care for her dying husband, Larry Kruteck, after releasing several more albums, none of which were as successful as her first three. After his death from colon cancer in 1996, she attempted a comeback, appearing on several TV shows in the late 1990s, including the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis.
Touch, Branigan's fifth album, was released on July 7, 1987, and marked a turning point in her career. Branigan took a more active role in her work and in the studio under new management and with different producers, resulting in her return to dancefloors with the Stock-Aitken-Waterman-produced track "Shattered Glass," written by Bob Mitchell and Steve Coe of the band Monsoon. On September 5, 1987, Branigan appeared as the final guest performer on the final episode of American Bandstand (hosted by Dick Clark) to be broadcast on ABC (the show would continue for two more years, first in first-run syndication and then on the USA Network). [16] The album also featured her return to the Billboard top-40 with her cover of Jennifer Rush's "Power of Love," which was one of the top 20 bestselling singles in the United States during the holiday season. The album's third single, "Cry Wolf," a top-30 AC hit, failed to capture pop radio stations' attention and stalled; the ballad was recorded two years later by Stevie Nicks, and more recently by its writer Jude Johnstone. 1990-2000: Post-career and hiatus [Correction]
Zodiac Signs in China
Laura Branigan was born in the Dragon Year. The Chinese Zodiac sign of the Dragon is a powerful sign, and those born under it are energetic and warm-hearted, charismatic, lucky in love, and egotistic. They are natural born leaders, capable of issuing orders and doing whatever it takes to stay on top. Monkey and Rat are both compatible.
Branigan's other singles included the Top 10 hit "Solitaire" (1983), the U.S. AC chart number one "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (1983), the Australian No. 2 hit "Ti amo" (1984), and "The Power of Love" (1985). (1987). Self Control, her platinum-selling album from 1984, was her most successful. She also wrote songs for film and television soundtracks, including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack (1983) and the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984). (1984). With the song "The Lucky One," she won the Tokyo Music Festival in 1985. Her chart success began to wane as the decade came to a close, and after her last two albums, Laura Branigan (1990) and Over My Heart (1993), received little attention, she largely disappeared from public view for the remainder of the 1990s. In the early 2000s, she began performing again, most notably as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis. She died at her home in August 2004 from a previously undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm while recording new music and preparing for a comeback in the music industry.
