Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952[nb 1] â€" August 26, 2004) was an
American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the
platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. Billboard
Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking at
No. 2. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada. In 1984,
she reached number one in Canada and Germany with the U.S. No. 4 hit
"Self Control". She also had success in the United Kingdom with both
"Gloria" and "Self Control" making the Top 10 in the UK Singles
Chart.Seeing her greatest level of success in the 1980s, 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), her return to the top 40 "The
Power of Love" (1987), the top hit 15 dance Shattered Glass. Her most
successful album was 1984's platinum-selling Self Control. She also
contributed songs to motion picture and television soundtracks,
including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack
(1983), and the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984). In 1985, she won the
Tokyo Music Festival with the song "The Lucky One". Her chart success
began to wane as the decade closed and after her last two albums Laura
Branigan (1990) and Over My Heart (1993) garnered little attention,
she generally retired from public life for the rest of the 1990s. She
began returning to performing in the early 2000s, most notably
appearing as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis. As
she was recording new music and preparing a comeback to the music
industry, she died at her home in August 2004 from a previously
undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm.Branigan and her music saw renewed
popularity and public interest in 2019 in the US after "Gloria" was
adopted by the NHL's St. Louis Blues as their unofficial victory song
while they completed a historic mid-season turnaround to win their
first Stanley Cup in franchise history, leading to the song entering
ice hockey lore as an "unlikely championship anthem". Branigan's
legacy manager and representative Kathy Golik embraced the trend and
traveled to St. Louis to publicly represent Branigan among the Blues
fanbase during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, later stating her belief
that Branigan and "Gloria" "will forever be intertwined" with the
Blues and the city of St. Louis.
American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the
platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. Billboard
Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking at
No. 2. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada. In 1984,
she reached number one in Canada and Germany with the U.S. No. 4 hit
"Self Control". She also had success in the United Kingdom with both
"Gloria" and "Self Control" making the Top 10 in the UK Singles
Chart.Seeing her greatest level of success in the 1980s, 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), her return to the top 40 "The
Power of Love" (1987), the top hit 15 dance Shattered Glass. Her most
successful album was 1984's platinum-selling Self Control. She also
contributed songs to motion picture and television soundtracks,
including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack
(1983), and the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984). In 1985, she won the
Tokyo Music Festival with the song "The Lucky One". Her chart success
began to wane as the decade closed and after her last two albums Laura
Branigan (1990) and Over My Heart (1993) garnered little attention,
she generally retired from public life for the rest of the 1990s. She
began returning to performing in the early 2000s, most notably
appearing as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis. As
she was recording new music and preparing a comeback to the music
industry, she died at her home in August 2004 from a previously
undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm.Branigan and her music saw renewed
popularity and public interest in 2019 in the US after "Gloria" was
adopted by the NHL's St. Louis Blues as their unofficial victory song
while they completed a historic mid-season turnaround to win their
first Stanley Cup in franchise history, leading to the song entering
ice hockey lore as an "unlikely championship anthem". Branigan's
legacy manager and representative Kathy Golik embraced the trend and
traveled to St. Louis to publicly represent Branigan among the Blues
fanbase during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, later stating her belief
that Branigan and "Gloria" "will forever be intertwined" with the
Blues and the city of St. Louis.
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