Laura Branigan

I had no idea that Laura Branigan had passed away. I do not think I had heard more than a handful of her songs and seen more than a couple of her videos. She was famous for her hit singles "Power Of Love", "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", "Self Control" & my favourite of hers - "Gloria". Laura Branigan (July 3, 1957 – August 26, 2004) was a popular American singer/actress from Brewster, New York. She recived four Grammy nominations and for sometime was a huge star, especially during the 80's. I remember her mostly for the song "Self Control", because my older sister was a huge fan of it and played it constantly while we were growing up in Kuwait. She has the video taped in her favourites list and was a huge fan of Branigan for a while (changes in recent years probably mean that, I bet my sister does not even remember the name Laura Branigan).

"Gloria" was probably the essential Branigan song; it tell us about a troubled & disturbed young woman ("all the voices in your head") and Laura sings it in a wonderful style. She was also an actress and did act in off-Broadway productions. Branigan's musical success was kind of limited to the first three albums and did not appear in the limelight once we reached the 90s. She was forgotten almost entirely except for her hardcore fans, despite being a tremendous success throughout the world when "Self Control", a partly sung & partly whispered singled sky rocketted to the top of the charts in every major country and it was the craze on the dance floor. She left the industry in 1994 to be with her ill husband, who died in 1996. Laura herself died suddenly on August 26, 2004; her death was attributed to a brain aneurysm, which had also caused the deaths of her father and her paternal grandfather. In 2005, a memorial for her friends and fans was held on the anniversary of her death near the Long Island home in which she was caring for her mother at the time of her death. Its success made it an annual event, with a second such gathering in 2006 as a celebration of her life.





Song for the day - "Gloria" - LAURA BRANIGAN