Gioia Bruno

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Gioia Bruno

Background information
Birth name Carmen Gioia Bruno
Born June 11, 1963
Origin Bari, Italy
Genre(s) Dance-pop, House, Hi-NRG, Dance Music, Adult Contemporary
Occupation(s) Vocalist
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 1986 - Present
Label(s) Arista Records (1986-1996)
Koch Entertainment (2003-present)
Associated
acts		 Exposé, Wet

Gioia Bruno (born Carmen Gioia Bruno June 11, 1963) is a popular music singer, most noted for her membership in the group Exposé.

Bruno was born in Bari, Italy, during a vacation her parents took. She was raised in New Jersey. At the age of 16, she started singing in night clubs with bands. Sometime later, she decided to move to Florida.

When performing at the Gee Wiz nightclub in Miami, Florida, she was approached by Frank Diaz, of Pantera Group Enterprises, who offered her a role in Exposé. After over nine months of recruitment attempts, Bruno finally accepted the offer and ended up joining the group, along with Jeanette Jurado and Ann Curless.

In 1990, a benign throat tumor ended up putting her singing career on hiatus. An operation was considered but rejected by Bruno since it could possibly permanently damage her vocal cords. She was forced to cut short the "What You Don't Know" tour in 1990. She left Exposé in 1991 (though fans weren't told until mid-1992, shortly before the release of the next album).

Bruno ended up co-founding the West Broward Performing Arts Academy in Florida. Her tumor ended up dissolving in a few years. She went back to singing, and for a few years was the singer in the band Wet, with her friend John Thomas. She performed in WET for a few years, then left the group to work on a solo career and song writing. She worked on writing songs with Ritchie Supa. She then worked with Richie Sambora, performing both background vocals and percussion for his solo tour.

Her first solo single was the anthem "Free To Be" became very popular with her fanbase, especially her gay male fanbase. Her second single "From The Inside" was prominently featured on the primetime cable series "Queer As Folk." Bruno gained more new fans and success after it was featured on one of the QAF soundtrack. Her third solo single "Wrecking My Nerves" saw similar success in the dance music community. After several years of trial and error, in 2004, her first album, Expose This, was released on Koch Records. The albums two singles, "Be Mine" and "Incredible" performed well, making the Top 30 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Expose This sold moderately among dance music lovers and fans of Exposé.

Bruno also co-produced and sang lead vocals on Will To Power (band)'s 2005 remake of Dreamin' (again) Which hit #1 on most US record pool charts and dance radio stations like WMPH 91.7 where it remained #1 for many months.

In 2006, Bruno stoped touring as a solo artist[1] and reunited with Exposé with members Curless and Jurado after a 15 year hiatus.

Bruno has been married and divorced three times. She has a daughter from her first marriage to Joseph Pastore, Brianna Bruno, who was born in 1988. In January 2006, she admitted to being bisexual on the Q Television Network show Brunch. [2][3]


[edit] External links

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