Singer Laura Branigan Dies at 47

EAST QUOGUE, N.Y. -- Laura Branigan, a Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her 1982 platinum hit "Gloria," has died. She was 47.

Branigan died Thursday in her sleep at her home, said her manager, John Bowers. He would not disclose the cause, although her official Web site listed it as a brain aneurysm.

"Gloria," a signature song from her debut album "Branigan," stayed atop the pop charts for 36 weeks and earned her a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocalist, the first of four 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," including "Solitaire," "Self Control," and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," which was co-written with Michael Bolton. Her songs also appeared on soundtracks for the films "Flashdance" and "Ghostbusters."

Branigan, born July 3, 1957, and raised in Brewster, N.Y., attended the 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 as a solo artist with Atlantic Records in 1982.

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.

She is survived by her mother, two brothers and a sister. Funeral services were scheduled for Monday.

47?

Gone too soon...

Her Self Control song fit nicely on the Flash FM station in Vice City. She will be missed.

RIP

I'm speechless.

RIP

She was hot looking.

What?!

I don't know what to say because this death was totally out of left field.

It's really very sad with her being so young. What you need to get out of this is not to go two weeks with a headache without seeking medical care. That story never ends well.

She sang backup for Leonard Cohen? That's certainly surprising.

Sad... god that is young.

The same thing happened in my family, stubborn old-fashioned people end up in graves way too early in life.

If somebody is complaining for more than a day, DEMAND to take them to a doctor.

These things don't have to happen with modern medicine.


She'll be missed. RIP

Sad ... 6 month older than I am.

This blows man! She was one of my favorite 80s singer.

She was big when I was a wee lad for about ten minutes there, and circa 1983 I had a bit of a crush on her -- I didn't like the song "Gloria" which was her big hit as much as I did "Self Control," a follow-up single that I can still geekishly remember the words to. It was way cool. It had a video which seemed really sexy to me at the time although I saw it years later on some VH1 program and couldn't believe how melodramatic and cheesy it was. She's someone whose career I never really followed past the age of 14 or so, but she sang a few songs that made me smile once. Man, a tragic thing to drop dead at only 47 like that. RIP, Ms. Branigan.

Today, we must all dust off our Laura Branigan CD's (or records) and include one of her songs on a "mix-tape."

So sad

I also preferred "Self Control" to "Gloria", but I never saw the video to it. I just remembered thinking she was hot from the cover of the Self Control cassette tape that my aunt bought for me.

You hate to go to the doctor for a headached, just doesn't seem severe enough, but it's a lesson learned for me.

Sad

Ironic that recently "Self Control" played on an episode of Nip/Tuck just a few weeks ago. Gone but not forgotten.

I still have one of her record albums from the early 1980s!

Just heard the news on the radio this morning, and I couldn't believe she passed away so young. She had been complaining about headaches, but didn't seek medical attention and just died in her sleep. Wow.

i keep coming back to this thread hoping for news that this was all just a mistake and laura didn't really die.

I thought I was the only one who thought her Self Control video was hot and sexy. I too was around 14 years old when it came out. I haven't seen it in a very long time. It would be interesting to see it as a grown up and not as a hot and horny teen-ager.

I just downloaded the "Self Control" video, and thought it was pretty damn sexy. I mean...am I wrong, or is she...y'know...playing with herself at the very beginning, when we first see her sitting in that chair? And the part where that female mime (or whatever she is) starts caressing Laura seemed pretty hot for an early-80s music video.

I just realized that Self Control may have been the very first pop album I ever owned. Makes me feel old.