| Matt Bianco | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Sophisti-pop, jazz, pop, soul, dance, latin pop, bossa nova |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | current: Edel Victor Entertainment past: Warner Music Group Emarcy East West Records ZYX Music Intercord Universal Music |
| Associated acts | Basia |
| Website | MattBianco.com |
| Members | |
| Mark Reilly Mark Fisher |
|
| Past members | |
| Basia Trzetrzelewska Danny White Jenny Evans Kito Poncioni |
|
Matt Bianco is a UK band that was formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid 1980s and their jazz, Latin-flavoured music.
Popular during the mid 1980s in continental Europe, Matt Bianco was part of the new jazz pop genre, that they shared with acts such as Working Week, Sade, Everything but the Girl, and The Style Council. The name suggests that Matt Bianco is a personal name, often referred to the main constant member and frontman, Mark Reilly, but Matt is in fact "a made up spy, a secret agent; we loved spy TV themes and film scores".[1]
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Formed by Mark Reilly (vocals), Danny White (keyboards), and the late Kito Poncioni (bass) in 1982 from the shards of the abandoned art pop group, Blue Rondo A La Turk, for their first album, Whose Side Are You On?, they hired then unknown Polish vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska. Her vocal arrangements gave the album a jazzy dimension. Mixmaster Phil Harding applied what would become his signature style to the recordings. Hits like "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" and "Half a Minute," which Basia would feature live throughout her solo career, turned Matt Bianco into one of the biggest acts of Europe in 1984.
Basia and Danny White, who subsequently formed a romantic relationship, left the group soon after the first album to pursue a very successful international solo career with Sony, under the name Basia, on the Epic label. They maintained their working relationship with Phil Harding until 1990 , he continued to work with Matt Bianco as well.
Reilly found two new musical partners: Jenny Evans became the new female singer for Matt Bianco, contributing mainly backing vocals, and lead vocals on two album tracks, and ex-Wham and Second Image keyboarder and session musician Mark Fisher became White's collaborator as songwriter and producer, and the band's keyboard player. This line-up recorded the (self-titled) Matt Bianco album.
With the addition of Mark Fisher, the sound changed considerably. Fisher, a keyboardist, composer and studio wizard, contributed a more contemporary sound, compared to that of the early Matt Bianco. The use of synthesizers increased notably: Yamaha's DX-7 can be heard providing the slap bass in most songs, but the choice of noted studio musicians remained consistent with Ronnie Ross being the most prominent example. After the first album with the new line-up, they took a 13-piece band on to a European tour, that saw them perform in front of an audience of more than 250,000 attendees in total.
Jenny Evans left the group shortly after the recording of the group's self titled album and was not replaced.
Matt Bianco was now a household name in Europe, and Warner Brothers sought to market them in the United States. They hired Gloria Estefan's husband and producer Emilio Estefan to produce a few songs, and recorded their third album, Indigo, with the Estefan productions being chosen as singles. 1988's "Don't Blame it on That Girl" and "Good Times" only made a moderate impact. "Wap-Bam-Boogie", an album track originally on the B-side of the first single , which did well on the dance charts, and pushed the joint single release up to Number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Matt Bianco's most successful single.
Their first Greatest Hits album, entitled The Best of Matt Bianco, collecting their greatest hits from 1983 to 1990, was released in 1990. Another studio album was released in 1991 by Warner Brothers, the fractured Samba in Your Casa, the fourth long-playing by the group.
Reilly and Fisher then split from their record company and went freelance. From then on, they recorded their albums in their own studios, and then offered them to independent distributors worldwide.
The drummer of Matt Bianco was Mark phillips and was fantastic as he made the band to what it was. He then had to retire as he had to bring up his two beautiful children Jordan & Joshua Phillips.
They scored contracts with ZYX Music and Intercord in Europe, and Victor Entertainment in Asia, but failed to sign on with another major label. The next albums did not sell well in Europe, but they created a loyal fan base in Japan and the rest of Asia. The albums Another Time Another Place, Gran Via, World Go Round, A/Collection (not a greatest hits album, but more of a compilation album, compiling a number of remakes of Matt Bianco's stand-out album tracks plus remixes of a few of their hits), Rico, and Echoes sold well enough for a comfortable lifestyle in the South-East of England.
After twenty years recording and touring, the two split amicably.
Initiated by a mutual friend, Basia and Danny White joined with Mark Reilly to reform the "original" Matt Bianco, in 2003, signing to the Emarcy label. In 2004, Matt Bianco released the album Matt's Mood (the name is from one of their most popular early instrumental tracks), which featured well-crafted adult-contemporary/jazz numbers, in the spirit of their first album. This was accompanied by an extensive PR exercise, giving the album plenty of airtime. The following year, they embarked on a world tour, which included stops in the UK, Japan, and the United States.
After the success of Matt's Mood, Basia and White left Matt Bianco again to reinvigorate the Basia brand. Reilly reunited with Fisher, and Matt Bianco were back as a duo. Three compilation albums were marketed between 2005 and 2008, including The Best of Matt Bianco - Volume 2, containing many of the Asian tracks, which were so far only available in Germany for European fans, and the re-release of the original 1990 The Best of Matt Bianco, featuring their European hits from 1983 to 1990. In May 2009 Fisher and Reilly released their first album as a duo for eight years in Europe, the UK and Japan. With HiFi Bossanova the band secured a recording contract with Edel Music in Europe and continued their cooperation with JVC-Victor in Japan.