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View Full Version : Your nobody called today, and it was you: Laura Brannigan [R]


jamison
30 Aug 2004, 01:06 PM
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002J4M.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Laura Branigan died of a brain aneurysm Thursday in her sleep at her home in East Quogue, said her brother Mark Branigan. He said she had complained to a friend of a headache for about two weeks before she died, but had not sought medical attention.

"Gloria," a signature song from her debut album "Branigan," stayed atop the pop charts for 36 weeks and earned her a Grammy nomination for best female
pop vocalist, the first of four nominations in her career.

Branigan released seven albums after her debut "Branigan," including "Solitaire," "Self Control," and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," which was co-written with Michael Bolton.

After her run of success in the 1980s, her releases in the early 1990s attracted little attention. In 1994, she sang a duet with David Hasselhoff called "I Believe" for the soundtrack of the television show "Baywatch." She released a 13-track "Best of Branigan" LP the next year.

Okay, I'm the only one on the planet save Footix who remembers the early 80s when Laura Brannigan's pop-whiteness ruled the airwaves, albeit briefly.

She may be best remembered, aside from "Gloria", for giving Michael Bolton the opportunity to (years later) kill a song of hers to ill effect, giving "How am I supposed to live without you?" the ill deserved light of day it needed to reach into the charts and ruin your life.

My father was a big LB fan, inexplicably, so I used to spend a lot of time listening to her while driving around Long Island, looking for traffic jams to get stuck in on the LIE. Anyone on Exits 33-54 tonight, pour a sip out for a homie.

Father Ted
30 Aug 2004, 04:09 PM
Anyone remember the episode of CHiPs when she was in it with John and Ponch?

JPH
30 Aug 2004, 04:12 PM
I used to always confuse her with Christie McVie. That's about all I can add to this thread. Sorry.

billreeves
30 Aug 2004, 04:26 PM
Wasn't "Nobody" by Sylvia, not Laura Branigan?

I liked "Self Control", that was my favorite Laura Branigan song.

jamison
30 Aug 2004, 05:12 PM
It could be. My bad if I confused that.

Footix
30 Aug 2004, 05:27 PM
It could be. My bad if I confused that.

Yeah, it was Sylvia, but it's still a great thread title.

Someone once told me that despite really only being known for "Gloria" here, she was a gigantic star in Italy and a few other markets, and would make a killing with a couple-week tour of those places once a year. That's a cool career.

JPH
30 Aug 2004, 05:31 PM
Or maybe it was Melissa Manchester I used to confuse her with...

KDdidit
30 Aug 2004, 05:32 PM
Self-Control was in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Ironic considering the game's content. But I did like it better than Gloria

Michael K.
30 Aug 2004, 06:02 PM
Or maybe it was Melissa Manchester I used to confuse her with...

Make that two of us.

"Gloria" is one of those songs that really, really take me back to my early-80's childhood - the first couple years of MTV and all that. Not only did have that absolutely-can't-get-it-out-of-your-head riff that Pulp deftly ripped off for 'Disco 2000', but the made-for-a-buck-eighty-nine-in-the-producer's-basement video was the subject of one of the more amusing I Love The 80's segments.

A sad day.