| Gioia Bruno | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Carmen Gioia Bruno |
| Born | June 11, 1963 |
| Origin | Bari, Italy |
| Genres | Dance-pop, House, Hi-NRG, Club/Dance, Adult Contemporary |
| Occupations | Vocalist, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, Percussion |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Labels | Arista Records (1986-1996) Koch Entertainment (2003-present) |
| Associated acts | Exposé, Wet |
Gioia Bruno (born Carmen Gioia Bruno June 11, 1963, sometimes professionally credited as just Gioia) is an Italian-born American popular music singer, most noted as a member of the vocal group Exposé.
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Bruno was born in Bari, Italy. She was raised in New Jersey. At the age of 16, she started singing in night clubs with bands, after being encouraged by her friend David Fields to make serious efforts with her musical career. After high school, she moved to Manhattan. In 1986 she auditioned for a group in Florida and relocated there. 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.
Bruno sang lead on the Exposé singles Let Me Be The One, What You Don't Know, and Tell Me Why. She toured with the group between 1986 and 1990, except for a short period where she was replaced by Julie Albers, while on maternity leave.
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 permanently damage her vocal cords. She was forced to cut short the "What You Don't Know" tour in August 1990, just before Exposé was slated to perform at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She left Exposé in 1991, though fans in the Exposé fan club were not told until mid-1992, shortly before the release of the next album. She was replaced by Kelly Moneymaker.
Bruno co-founded the West Broward Performing Arts Academy in Florida. She was unable to sing for a few years and even had to keep regular talking to a minimum. Finally, after about 4–5 years of healing, vocal retraining and development, she fully regained her voice, resumed her singing career. When Exposé reformed in 2006, she returned to the group for the first time in fifteen years.
As of July 2010, Gioia has rejoined Ann Curless and Jeanette Jurado, recording tracks for a new Expose' album to be released in the near future. This will be the trio's first album together since 1989.
Bruno's return to the charts was a release by Mayday Records. She did a demo track for them called Make That Move, which was released to dance clubs under the pseudonym G-Spot and was sold via the Exposé Fan Club, marketed directly to members in 1995. The single ended up reaching 21 on the Top Dance-Club Play charts of Billboard. A remix version was released and sold via the fan-club as well.
For a few years, Bruno worked in the band Wet, with her friend John Thomas, performing lead vocals and co-writing several songs with the group. This group performed in local venues in Florida. She performed in the band for a few years, then left to work on a solo career. She worked on writing songs with Richie Supa. She then worked with Richie Sambora, performing both background vocals and percussion for his solo tour.
Bruno's first solo single was "Free To Be", which topped charts across the U.S. and Canada. Her second single, "From The Inside", was prominently featured on the prime time cable series Queer as Folk. Her third solo single, "Wrecking My Nerves", produced by Chris Cox, saw similar success in the dance music community. In 2004, her first album, Expose This, was released on Koch Records. The album's two singles, "Be Mine" and "Incredible", made the Top 50 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts.
Bruno has also done projects with others. Bruno also co-produced and sang lead vocals on Will To Power's 2005 remake of "Dreamin' (again)" which hit the #1 position on most US dance charts and dance radio stations, including WMPH where it remained #1 for many months. She has also worked on solo music projects independently, including "Why Did You Call Me Again", co-produced by original Exposé producer Lewis Martineé, and a remake of the Kenny Loggins song "This Is It", produced by Anila R. Monterrey and Eric Nunez.
In September 2006, Bruno temporarily stopped touring as a solo artist[1] and reunited with Exposé with members Curless and Jurado after a 15 year hiatus. In the fall of 2007, she began devoting time to her solo career again while still touring with Exposé. A remake of Jackie Wilson's 1967 hit Higher and Higher on Harlequin Records has been released and is being marketed to dance clubs.
In the summer of 2008, Gioia went into the studio to begin working on her second solo album. A couple of collaboration efforts are currently being promoted - "Kiss & Tell" with Win Marcinak and "Obama - Yes We Can" with Andy Fraser.
Bruno has been married and divorced two times. She has a daughter from her first marriage to Joseph Pastore, Brianna Pastore, who was born in 1988. In January 2006, Gioia acknowledged she is bisexual on the Q Television Network show Brunch.[2][3]
| Year | Song | U.S. Club/Dance | U.S. Dance Airplay | U.S. Dance Singles Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Make That Move" (as G-Spot) | 21 | - | - |
| 2001 | "Free to Be" | 1 | - | - |
| 2003 | "From the Inside" | 1 | 1 | - |
| 2004 | "Wrecking My Nerves" | 3 | 8 | - |
| "Be Mine" | 34 | - | - | |
| 2005 | "Dreamin'(again)" | 1 | 1 | - |
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