1952年出生于纽约的女歌手萝拉布兰妮根(Laura Branigan)成名之前曾是加拿大诗人兼歌手Leonard Cohen的合音,1982年以一曲Gloria闻名歌坛,此后五年间她受到全球性的欢迎,也是她的黄金年代。声音高亢、略沙哑又带奔放的萝拉擅长以欧陆舞曲风格赋予旧曲新生命并且选曲上有独到的国际色彩,数首畅销曲都是以英文翻唱意大利歌曲像在美国拿下亚军的Gloria;Ti Amo还有1984年度台湾地区英文歌曲票选总冠军Self Control。这张精选收录的其它歌曲像麦可伯特恩(Michael Bolton)所作How Am I Supposed To Live Without You、唐娜桑玛(Donna Summer)的亚军曲Dim All The Lights、电影【霹雳男儿】插曲Show Me Heaven、日后被席琳迪翁(Celine Dion)唱红的Power Of Love都是萝拉布兰妮根的佳作。从此张精选中可以感觉外表冷艳的萝拉虽以情歌为主但注重节奏与旋律,每每都以奔放的歌声传达其丰沛的情感。
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.