Deborah Salvatrice Blando (born March 3, 1969) is an Italian-born

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

singer and composer. She has sold about six million copies sold worldwide, with six albums released between 1991 and 2002. She has seven number 1 single and ten Top 10 singles in Brazil, five singles in the American Hispanic market, and two of them in the Top 10 which became known in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, such as the

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

"Innocence" in 1992.

Biography

Blando was born in

Sant'Agata di Militello Sant'Agata di Militello ( Sicilian: ''Sant'Àita di Militeddu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about west of Messina. Sant'Agata di Militello b ...

, the daughter of an

father and a Brazilian mother of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent, who was raised in

. In 1975 she moved to

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

, Brazil. At age 12, she was invited to record her first album under the pseudonym Giovanna, entitled ''Alegria da Gente'', which was recorded completely in

and performed on major television shows. Her parents, however, did not allow her to pursue her career as it would disrupt her studies and thus forced her to stop. Later, she resumed her musical career working on

Oswaldo Montenegro Oswaldo Viveiros Montenegro (Rio de Janeiro, March 15, 1956) is a Brazilian musician. In addition to being a singer, Montenegro has composed soundtracks for plays, ballets, film, and television and was married to actress Paloma Duarte. It has one ...

, including The Minstrels.

International career

''A Different Story''

In 1989, Deborah Blando was already contracted by the

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Brazil and met

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

and her manager at the time, David Wolff. Deborah soon moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and signed with

International to release her new album ''A Different Story''. The first single, "Boy (Why Do You Want to Make Me Blue)", joined the American

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

chart, and traded in the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

(Diet Coke). ''A Different Story: Special Edition'' was released in 1993, including a new version for "Décadence Avec Élégance" by Lobão, and a version of "A Maçã" by

Raul Seixas Raul Santos Seixas (; 28 June 1945 – 21 August 1989)allmusic Biography/ref> was a Brazilian rock composer, singer, songwriter and producer. He is sometimes called the "Father of Brazilian Rock" and "Maluco Beleza", the last one roughly transla ...

and

Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho de Souza (, ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His novel ''The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller and he has published 28 more books ...

. "Innocence" reached number 13 on major radio stations in

, and peaked at number 31 on the

Australian singles chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. In 1995, Deborah was invited by the Spanish

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

band

B-Tribe B-Tribe, or The Barcelona Tribe of Soulsters, is a musical project of the German-born musicians and producers Claus Zundel, Markus Staab and Ralf Hamm ("The Brave"), who are also known for their Sacred Spirit project. Driven by the use of classi ...

to join the album ''

Suave Suave ''Suave Suave'' is the second album by B-Tribe, released in 1995. Track listing #Suave Suave #Que Mala Vida (Album Version) #Sensual (Based on Jules Massenet's Méditation (Thaïs)) #Ahoy #Hablando #Interlude (Based on Eric Satie's Gymnopé ...

''. She was also invited by

to record the track "Seven Seas Of Rhye", the single selling one million copies in Brazil.

''Unicamente''

In 1997, Deborah released the CD ''Unicamente'', which exploded onto the charts. In the same year, the single "Cat" was used as the title song for the Brazilian soap opera ''

Malhação ''Malhação'' (, ''Young Hearts'' in English) is a Brazilian soap-opera that aired on TV Globo from 4 March 1995 to 3 April 2020. The series is targeted at a teenage audience. Each season runs for about a year with cast members changing every ...

'' on the

Rede Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

network. This album had the participation of renowned producers such as

Patrick Leonard Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...

and

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

. In 1998, Blando released a new CD and once again entered the charts with the single "Somente O Sol" version of the song " I'm Not in Love". Her second single and first music video this year was "Eagles". Produced by Blando and Marc Moreau, this album became her most successful in Europe, being certified gold in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Career changes

In 2000, Blando faced a major crisis with the recording label

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, generating a boycott of her songs on international radio. Concealed by April Music back to basics with the album ''Salvatrice'' with only rewrites recent Italian with covers of

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

and

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

. At this time, she recorded "Junto Com Teu Sonho" for the Portuguese release of '' Where the Dream Takes You'', the theme from the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

movie '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire''. In 2002,

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

released a greatest hits collection, with a bonus with five previously unreleased tracks.

Ronan Keating

In 2003, she recorded the Brazilian cover of "

When You Say Nothing at All "When You Say Nothing at All" is a country song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was a hit song for four different performers: Keith Whitley, who took it to the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart on December 24, 19 ...

". The single reached the top 10 in the Latin charts. Her duet of the song in English with Irish singer

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

was a great success in the UK.

Decline and withdrawal from media

Blando suffers from

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

and this greatly hindered her career. She decided to leave her career aside to move back to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and study Kadampa Buddhism to search for inner peace. With Blando's illness, her musical projects were left to the background as she sought treatment.

''Polares''

Even through a personal crisis, Blando found the strength to polish an

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

album, combining

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

, psy-trance, and ballads with the influence of

. The album was recorded during her stint in the United States and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Ready at the end of 2007, it contains 16 tracks and is made in partnership with her friend Alexander Green. The album mixes are on account of total DJs Claudio Ferreira Audiocactos and Sandrinho "Sanschwartz", who brought to the work house and psy-trance elements. ''Polares'' moves in two worlds, a dance-based electronic music and other melancholy, with elements such as acoustic piano, strings and guitar. The singer interprets the songs in English and Portuguese, with the songs "Agreement Signed" and "Every Minute" being included on the soundtrack of national and international TV Globo soap opera ''Seven Sins''.

Discography

Albums

Greatest hits albums

Singles

Soundtrack

Tours

* ''A Different Story'' (1992) * ''M200 Summer Concerts'' (1994) * ''Unicamente Tour'' (1997) * ''Self-titled Album "Deborah Blando" Tour'' (1998) * ''A Luz Que Acende O Olhar'' (2002) * '' Acústico Deborah Blando'' (2011) * '' Remember Tour'' (2012)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blando, Deborah 1969 births Living people People from the Province of Messina Brazilian people of Ukrainian descent Brazilian people of Sicilian descent Brazilian women pop singers English-language singers from Brazil 20th-century Brazilian women singers 20th-century Brazilian singers Italian emigrants to Brazil 21st-century Brazilian women singers 21st-century Brazilian singers