Lory Bianco
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Lory Bianco (born August 19, 1963 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg, Pennsylvania as Lory Lynn Bianco) is a singer and actor from the United States. However, she started her career in Italy and later became successful in Germany.
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[edit] Biography
While only being 15 years old, she recorded her first single "Give Me A Minute" with her sister Holly. Her career finally took off when the Italian producers Guido & Maurizio de Angelis came to the US to look for a talented young girl. They persuaded Lory Bianco to come to Italy with them and started to record a number of songs with her. Altogether they procuded 4 hit albums with Lory and renamed her to "Bonnie Bianco."
In 1983 she landed the female leading role in the mini TV series "Cinderella 80." The series was a renewed adaptation of the fairy-tale "Cinderella." She starred along with French actor Pierre Cosso (known from his famous movie "La Boum 2" with Sophie Marceau). Bianco, who played a singer in "Cinderella 80," also recorded the soundtrack for this TV series. The soundtrack album included a duet with Pierre Cosso, the hit single "Stay."
From 1983-1985 she also acted as a show-girl, singer and dancer in the famous Italian TV Show "Al Paradise".
When the TV series finally aired in Germany in 1987, it was an instant success. The duet "Stay" went straight to No. 1 on the German charts and stayed there for several weeks. Cosso and Bianco became overnight sensations in Germany and she quickly signed a new record deal for the European market with Metronome Records. They quickly produced a new album with her. Among the producer list were Stephen Singer (who also worked with Audrey Landers, Amanda Lear and Brigitte Nielsen. The first single off the album "Miss You So" was an instant Top 10 hit on the German charts. It was produced by Gunter Mende (Alexis, Falco)and Candy DeRouge (who scored a worldwide No 1 hit with Jennifer Rush's "The Power Of Love" in 1985). Bianco slowly harmed her own career by having continuous quarrells with her record labels. She desperately wanted to drop her new stage name "Bonnie Bianco" and wanted to release under the name Lory Bianco instead.
She managed to get out of her contract with Metronome and signed a new deal with the German WEA company (belonging to Warner Bros. records). She produced a new album "True Love, Lory" but was still declined to release under her own name Lory Bianco. Therefore the album title included her own first name. The record company stated that she had become famous by the name "Bonnie Bianco" and people would not know who Lory Bianco was. The album was quite successful and included Mende/Derouge as producers as well, such as Gus Dudgeon (who was responsible for Cher's comeback in the 80's as well). Although the new album with WEA Records was quite successful, none of the two singles off that album cracked the German charts. WEA hired German hit producer Dieter Bohlen (formerly of the 80's pop group "Modern Talking") and let him produce the song "A Cry In The Night," which indeed was another hit single for Bianco.
By then she had finally managed to persuade her record label to release under the name "Lory 'Bonnie' Bianco." For the sophomore album "Lonely Is The Night" she finally went under the name Lory Bianco only. The album was produced and written by international top-notch producer, such as Klarmann/Weber (who also worked with Tracie Spencer or Jamie Stevens), one of America's most successful songwriters Diane Warren, and Jeff Lorber (successful from his work with Karyn White and Sheena Easton). Bianco finally had so many quarrells with her label that WEA didn't promote the album properly. Neither the album nor any singles did chart at all.
Bianco wanted to get out of this record deal again and so she agreed not to produce any new songs in Germany for a total of 5 years! She had systematically ruined her own career and ever since then, has never been able to sign another record deal in Germany again. Although she often tried to sign new record deals (for example with BMG in 1993) in Germany in the 90's, she never released here again.
She did a guest appearance on the 90's album by Chris Norman from Smokie and recorded the duet "Send a sign to my heart" with him. Even then she had to compromise for her stage name "Lory 'Bonnie' Bianco."
In the year 2001 she finally managed to produce and release a new album on her own. She recorded the album "On My Own ... but never alone" and distributed it through the internet and the biggest independent record online store CDBaby. Because of her loyal fan base she even managed to present her new album on German television in 2001.
A few years later she announced that she would not record any more pop music but only record Christian music from now on.
However, Bianco still has a loyal fan base and her own international Fan Club. She has a close connection to all of her fans and encourages them to go for their dreams. She is also very religious.
Lory Bianco currently resides in the Pacific Northwestern United States and is working on a new CD-project.
[edit] Albums
- 1982 Bonnie Bianco (Italy + Germany)
- 1983 Cenerentola ' 80 (Italy)
- 1984 Al Paradise EP (Italy - Songs of the TV Show)
- 1985 Un'Americana a Roma (Italy + Germany)
- 1985 Molly ´O (Italy)
- 1987 Cinderella ´87
- 1987 Un `Americana A Roma (Germany Re-release)
- 1987 Stay
- 1987 Rhapsody
- 1987 Just Me
- 1988 Too Young
- 1988 True Love, Lory
- 1989 True Love ("A Cry In The Night" included)
- 1990 Lonely Is The Night
- 1993 Miss you So - The Very Best Of
- 1993 Un `Americana A Roma (re-release)
- 1993 Stay - The Very Best Of
- 1993 You`re The One
- 1996 Lonely Is The Night (re-release)
- 2001 On My Own...But Never Alone
Lory is hoping to release her triple-CD (traditional, Christian-worship and meditative music) Album in 2007.
[edit] Singles
- 1984 EP-Single "Al Paradise"
- 1987 Stay (with Pierre Cosso)
- 1987 My First Love
- 1987 Miss You So
- 1987 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
- 1988 When The Price Is Your Love
- 1989 Straight From Your Heart
- 1989 A Cry In The Night
- 1989 Hold On (Austria only)
- 1990 Heartbreaker
- 1990 Lonely Is The Night
- 1992 Talking Eyes
- 1993 Stay (The 1993 Remix)
- 2002 I Feel The Rhythm (promo CD only)
[edit] Chart Positions
- 1987 "Stay" Germany: #1 Austria: #3 Switzerland: #2
- 1987 "Miss You So" Germany: #9 Austria: #7 Switzerland: #12
- 1987 "My First Love" Germany: #52
- 1989 "A Cry In the Night" Germany: #41 Austria: #1
