Encyclopedia of Laura Branigan 1952-2004

Link to... Website about Laura's life and career

James and Kathleen Branigan (Laura's parents)

James and Kathleen Branigan married March 12, 1945, in a Manhattan ceremony. They lived at 949 St. John's pl, Brooklyn, New York. After a couple of years they moved to a house at 85 Knoll Lane, Levittown, Nassau County, Long Island, with their 3 children. But the Branigan's once again decided to move. This time away from New York, to settle down at 8 Brundage Street in Armonk Village, Town of North Castle, Westchester County. Documents shows this happened in February 1952, just shortly before Laura was born. In April 1952, Kathleen and her father William O'hare, was involved in a car accident at Route 22 in Armonk. Though Kathleen were expecting a child in July (Laura) she was taken to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco. According to newspaper she had suffered of a fracture rib and ankle and multiple abrasions in the accident. 

July 3, 1952, she was back at the hospital for another cause. This time to give birth to a daughter who was named Laura Ann.  

Read more... Branigan lived at 8 Brundage street Armonk  

Laura Branigan wiki at Everipedia

Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) [41] was an American singer, songwriter, and actress best known for her 1982 platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and for the top-5 single "Self Control". Branigan is also remembered for the top-10 song "Solitaire", and for the No. 1 Adult Contemporary (AC) hit "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You", as well as several other U.S. top-40 songs.

Branigan also contributed songs to notable motion picture and television soundtracks, including the Grammy and Academy Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack (1983), the Ghostbusters soundtrack (1984), and the Baywatch soundtrack (1994).

Her signature song "Gloria" by Umberto Tozzi stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, at the time a record for a female artist; the song holds a place in the top-100 singles of both 1982 and 1983.

Branigan died at her home in 2004 from a previously undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm.

December 16, 2016, Laura Branigan's rewritten and correct obituary was published by Associated Press, AP.  [53] 

February 1st, 2017, IMDb recognized Laura Branigan's birth to 1952, Mount Kisco. [57]  

February  17, 2017, AP published a new correction of Laura Branigan's obituary. [59]  

Read more.... Laura Branigan correct wiki    

Laura Branigan magazine "Moda Divas" (Italian)

di Francesca Fortini LA REVE PR & ADV
ricerca di Giuseppe Spenain collaborazione con Laura Branigan Forever www.facebook.com/LauraBraniganForever 

Laura Branigan: un nome che forse per molti di voi è quasi sconosciuto o, per altri, semplicemente riconducibile a tre soli brani di grandissimo successo, la versione inglese delle canzoni “Gloria” e “Ti Amo” di Umberto Tozzi e “Self Control” di Raf. Laura è stata una cantante pop dalla carriera straordinaria, i suoi brani famosi erano anche molti altri, gli anni Ottanta li vive tutti da protagonista e la sua canzone "Imagination" finisce nella colonna sonora del film "Flashdance". Con le sue corde vocali da “violino” ed il suo cuore da “pianoforte” era paragonata ad una delle voci più famose di tutti i tempi: Celine Dion.  Di origini irlandesi, a tutti è noto che Laura Branigan sia nata nel 1957 ma, in realtà, nacque nel 1952, questa fu una strategia per attirare un pubblico giovane al quale le sue canzoni erano  dedicate. Suo fratello minore Billy Branigan, invece, nacque veramente nel 1957 e non essendo gemelli si evince chiaramente che non avrebbero potuto nascere nello stesso anno! Oggi, 3 Luglio 2016, Laura avrebbe compiuto 64 anni, vogliamo  dedicare a sua madre, ai suoi cari, ai suoi amici e ai suoi fans, ma soprattutto a lei, questo articolo e la ricerca che ci ha permesso di stilarlo, per la quale abbiamo avuto la fortuna di avere preziose, personali informazioni e curiosità direttamente da colei che è stata la sua assistente sino agli ultimi giorni di vita. La prima volta che Laura apparve su un quotidiano fu nel febbraio del 1952 poiché sua madre, già incinta, ebbe un incidente automobilistico. Per fortuna riportò solo lievi ferite, la frattura delle costole e di una caviglia ma nessun problema per la bimba ancora nel ventre materno.  Laura Branigan amava molto venire in Italia, amava viaggiare ed incontrare persone di tutto il mondo. Il suo grande cuore insieme a quella sua capacità di trascendere lo spazio tra il pubblico ed il palco l’hanno resa così unica e “blasonata” per sempre. Durante un’intervista al settimanale italiano “Il Monello” Laura Branigan aveva dichiarato che la sua più grande paura era quella di perdere una persona cara, parlava spesso dei suoi nonni, dei familiari e degli amici più stretti. Era una persona molto emotiva e sensibile, Laura mostrò i primi segni di dolore quando perse suo padre e, dopo breve tempo, anche suo fratello James, “Jim Jr.” Laura mentre cantava si accarezzava spesso i capelli tirandoli indietro e se si trattava di un brano molto ritmato come Self Control o Satisfaction alzava energicamente una gamba e mostrava i pugni aprendo le braccia prima da un lato e poi dall’altro. Non amava cantare in playback e quando era accompagnata da un’orchestra oppure da una band che non era la sua si sentiva quasi estranea, come se le mancasse qualcosa, aveva una grande sintonia con il suo gruppo per il quale provava, naturalmente, sincero affetto. Nel 1991 fu ospite al Festival di Sanremo (qualcuno si ricorderà che i cantanti in quel periodo venivano accompagnati da un’artista straniero), e, quell’anno, fu proprio Laura Branigan ad accompagnare una giovanissima Fiordaliso in Don't Walk Away (Il Mare Più Grande Che C'è).

Leggi di più... La rivista Laura Branigan Moda Divas 

Laura Branigan magazine "Moda Divas" (English)

English version:

Laura Branigan…”Forever”!

by Francesca Fortini LA REVE PR & ADV
material research and info by Giuseppe Spena
in collaboration with Laura Branigan Foreverwww.facebook.com/LauraBraniganForever 

Laura Branigan: a name that perhaps for many of you is almost unknown or, for others, simply attributed to only three songs by the great success, the English version of the songs "Gloria" and "Ti Amo" by Umberto Tozzi and "Self Control" by Raf. Laura was a pop singer from the extraordinary career, her famous songs were also many others, she lives the eighties entirely as the protagonist and her song "Imagination" became part of the  movie soundtrack "Flashdance". With her vocal chords as a "fiddle" and her heart as a "piano" she was likened to one of the most famous voices of all time: Celine Dion. By Irish heritage, everyone knows that Laura Branigan was born in 1957 but, in reality, she was born in 1952, this was a strategy to attract a younger audience to which her songs were dedicated. Her younger brother Billy Branigan, instead, really was born in 1957 and not being twins is clear that they could not be born in the same year! Today, July 3rd, 2016, Laura would have turned 64 years, we want to dedicate to her mother, to her loved ones, to her friends and to her fans, but especially to her, this article and the research that has allowed us to write it, for which we were lucky enough to have precious, personal info and tips directly from woman who was her assistant until the last days of her life. The first time that Laura appeared in a newspaper was in February 1952 because her mother, already pregnant, had an automobile accident. Fortunately she reported only minor injuries, the fracture of the ribs and an ankle but no problem for the child in the womb. Laura Branigan loved very much coming to Italy, loved to travel and meet people from around the world. Her big heart along with that her ability to transcend the space between the audience and the stage have made she so unique and forever "blazoned". During an interview with the Italian weekly "Il Monello", Laura Branigan had stated that her greatest fear was to lose a loved one, she often spoke of her grandparents, family members and closest friends. She was a much emotional and sensitive person 

Read more Laura and Moda Diva

Justice for Laura Branigan by Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Justice for Laura Branigan

PHILIP MARTIN 

I hadn’t thought about Laura Branigan in years.

You probably haven’t, either. But she had her time in the spotlight. You may recall her biggest hit, a song called “Gloria” which isn’t the “Gloria” associated with Van Morrison and Patti Smith but an English language version of a 1979 Italian hit by Umberto Tozzi. It was a power anthem with a disco beat and the otherworldly feel of an Eurovision Song Contest winner. There was an interesting tension between the re-written English lyrics, which described a delusional woman with imaginary lovers and “voices in her head,” and the upbeat spirit of the singer.

Somehow I got it in my mind that Branigan—despite her Irish surname—was an Italian singing phonetic English. I was wrong about that; I soon realized she was a handsome New Yorker with a five-octave range.

I loved the track and still do. I followed Branigan’s career with some interest into the ’90s, when she dropped off my cultural radar. (She cut back her schedule to care for her husband, who died of cancer in 1996.) Her name blipped back briefly in August 2004 when she died in her sleep of a brain aneurysm. According to the Associated Press she was 47 years old.

Every once in a while I’d hear one of her songs and it would make me a little wistful, remembering the ’80s and how bright and pretty we all were back then.

Then on Feb. 17 of this year the AP issued a correction to the 2004 obituary.

To be accurate, the February story was a second correction; AP issued one in December 2016 correcting Branigan’s age—to 52—and New York hometown (Armonk, not Brewster.). It went on to say they that after a thorough review they’d discovered other errors in the 2004 obit.

For example, “Gloria” didn’t top the U.S. pop chart for 36 weeks, it was on the charts for that period, reaching its peak position of No. 2. And the singer had been nominated for two Grammy Awards, not four. The original obit wrongly referred to her songs “Solitaire” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” as albums, and incorrectly credited Branigan with co-writing the latter.

Also, she’d signed with Atlantic Records in 1979, not 1982. And she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, not the Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The AP said it had relied on misinformation supplied by Branigan’s management company.

Branigan wouldn’t have been the first showbiz kid to shave a few years off her age, and publicists aren’t known for laser accuracy and restraint. But it’s odd that a correction should come more than a dozen years after a story originally ran. In the February addendum to the December 2016 correction, the AP noted it had begun a review of the story after “being contacted by one of Branigan’s fans.”

I found that fan. He is Stig-Ake Persson of Halmstad, Sweden, and is the world expert on Laura Branigan. He’s also a remarkable researcher who can tell you all about the time in 1969 when three high school girls—Branigan and her friends Ali Ryerson (who grew up to become a renowned jazz flutist) and Lisa Podell accidentally sailed to Southampton, England, after missing the “all ashore” whistle on an ocean liner while bidding a friend bon voyage. He can show you Branigan’s hand-written application for a Social Security number, filled out on Sept. 29, 1970, when she was 18—not 13.

You can see a lot of Braniganalia Persson has collected over the years on his Pinterest page, pinterest.com/born53. He also wrote a remembrance of Branigan for her hometown newspaper, the Armonk Daily News, that was published on what would have been her 64th birthday.

For years he’s worked to correct the errors in Branigan’s various biographies in places like Wikipedia, Encylopedia Britannica and the Internet Movie Database, with varying degrees of success. He tracked down the reporter who wrote the original AP obituary.

“I am sorry, but this is a story I did as a brief more than 10 years ago,” the reporter emailed Persson. “So I don’t really remember much about it. If memory serves me correctly, I got the information I wrote from a press release sent out by her management, but I’m not quite sure.”

There are times when reporters working on deadline rewrite press releases. The guy who wrote the original obituary was an overnight general assignment reporter whose focus was on crime reporting. The obit was probably not the most important thing he did that evening. Most publications that ran it didn’t credit him with a byline.

This made sense to Persson, who has had runins with Branigan’s former manager. He says she banned him from commenting on the singer’s “official” online site, for bringing up inconvenient biographical facts. He began working on the AP in early 2016.

“They didn’t believe me in the first place,” Persson writes. “But I kept on sending emails into the dark AP office in New York . . . So I started to send over all material I had about Laura’s childhood in the early ’50s, her Catholic school in Chappaqua in the late ’50s early ’60’s. Silence!!”

But then, last fall, an AP editor got back to him.

“After 65 emails he understood I was right in my corrections and he should take it further,” Persson says.

I can understand AP’s position. In our business there’s always some obsessive lunatic Swede claiming you got it all wrong. Most of the time, all you can do is listen politely, then go with the more authoritative source.

But this time the obsessive lunatic Swede had the goods. And, as they say in Alabama, it took a while but the system worked. Truthtelling prevailed. Branigan’s error-riddled obituary has been corrected.

When the Internet first became a thing two decades or so ago, some of us thought it meant it would make it harder for lies to survive. Turns out that was a naive notion, and the Internet enables the manufacture and curation of all sorts of false narratives. But people like Mr. Persson give me hope. They affirm my faith in one of the fundamental truths of the news business—you cannot get away with making things up for very long. You cannot pretend to knowledge you don’t have. There are always obsessive lunatic Swedes out there who know better.

—––––– ❖ –––––—

Philip Martin is a columnist and critic for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at pmartin@arkansasonline.com and read his blog at blooddirtandangels.com.

AP correction: Laura Branigan obituary

Link to AP Correction obituary

NEW YORK (AP) — When the pop singer Laura Branigan died, The Associated Press, relying on information from her management company, reported in an obituary on Aug. 28, 2004, that she was 47 and had been born on July 3, 1957. After being contacted recently by one of Branigan’s fans, the AP conducted a thorough review and established that she was actually 52 when she died. School records, newspaper articles written about her in the 1950s and 1960s, and testimonials from childhood friends all indicate she was born in 1952. She also is best described as having grown up in Armonk, not Brewster, as the AP’s original obituary said.

The AP issued a correction on Dec. 16, 2016. Since then, the AP has identified other errors in the obituary:

Her hit song “Gloria” was on the U.S. pop chart for 36 weeks, not atop it for that long. Its peak position was No. 2, according to Billboard.com.

She was nominated for two Grammy Awards, not four.

The titles “Solitaire” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” are songs, not albums. A reference to the latter song should have made clear she was not credited with co-writing it.

The full name of the school she attended is the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, not the Academy of Dramatic Arts.

She signed with Atlantic Records in 1979, not 1982, according to the record company.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Laura Branigan, ‘Gloria’ singer, dies at 52

NEW YORK (AP) — Laura Branigan, a Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her 1982 platinum hit “Gloria,” has died. She was 52.

Branigan died of a brain aneurysm Thursday in her sleep at her home in East Quogue, said her brother Mark Branigan. He said she had complained to a friend of a headache for about two weeks before she died, but had not sought medical attention.

“Gloria,” a signature song from her debut album “Branigan,” stayed on the pop charts for 36 weeks and earned her a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocalist, one of two nominations in her career.

She also made television appearances, including guest spots on “CHiPs,” and in the films “Mugsy’s Girls” and “Backstage.”

Branigan released seven albums after her debut “Branigan.” Other hit singles included “Solitaire,” ″Self Control” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” for which Michael Bolton had a songwriting credit. Her songs also appeared on soundtracks for the films “Flashdance” and “Ghostbusters.”

Branigan was born July 3, 1952, and grew up in Armonk, New York. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan. "During the late 1970s", she toured Europe as a backing vocalist for Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen She signed with Atlantic Records in 1979.

After her run of success in the 1980s, her releases in the early 1990s attracted little attention. In 1994, she sang a duet with David Hasselhoff called “I Believe” for the soundtrack of the television show “Baywatch.” She released a 13-track “Best of Branigan” LP the next year.

After the death of her husband, Lawrence Kruteck, in 1996, Branigan stopped performing but returned to the stage in 2001. In 2002 she starred as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway musical “Love, Janis,” which earned her rave reviews.

Branigan recently had been working on material for a new release.

Note! The European tour took place between April-July, 1976.