Laura Simone Gissara (born 1984) is an Australian pop singer-songwriter. She was a final 10 contestant on the 2005 season of TV talent show, ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

'', and was eliminated on 26 September. In June 2006 she issued her debut single, "

Ti amo "Ti amo" (; Italian for "I love you") is a 1977 song recorded by Italian singer Umberto Tozzi from the album ''È nell'aria...ti amo''. It achieved success at the time, becoming a hit in many European countries, including Sweden and Switzerland ...

", which peaked in the top 50 on the

ARIA 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 ...

. It is a cover version of

Laura Branigan Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single " Gloria", stayed on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for ...

's 1984 rendition of the

Umberto Tozzi Umberto Antonio Tozzi (; born 4 March 1952) is an Italian pop and rock singer and composer. Over the course of his career, he has sold over 70 million records in different languages internationally, and his biggest international hits are: "Stel ...

1977 original.

Biography

Laura Simone Gissara was born in 1984 to Joe Gissara, a

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

Corporation team leader, and Ivana, a

Centrelink The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carer ...

employee. Gissara grew up in the Melbourne in an Italian speaking household. From the age of 16 years she has written songs by working on a piano. She admires

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and "a lot of the Boy bands who were doin amazing things with harmonies".

''Australian Idol''

In 2005 Laura Gissara was 21 years old when she auditioned for TV talent show, ''

'', in its third season. In July, after her successful audition her first performance was "

All the Man That I Need "All the Man That I Need" is a song written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore. The song was first recorded as "All the Man I Need" by Linda Clifford for her album ''I'll Keep on Loving You'' (1982). In 1990, American singer Whitney Houston had a ...

" (originally by

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

) as a line of ten for the top 100. For the semi-final she sang " Don't Let Go" by

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

. The judges were disappointed, saying that her vocal was pitchy. However, despite the poorly judged performance, Gissara made the finals on the public's votes alongside

Kate DeAraugo Katherine Jenna DeAraugo (born 5 November 1985) is an Australian singer-songwriter who in 2005 was the third winner of '' Australian Idol''. After ''Idol'', DeAraugo signed to Sony BMG and released her debut single, "Maybe Tonight", in November ...

and

Milly Edwards The third season of '' Australian Idol'' debuted on 26 July 2005. The first of three semi-finals was held on 16 August 2005 with three of the Top 12 contenders announced the following night on 17 August 2005. 2Day FM radio host Kyle Sandilands ...

. On the Australian Made theme night, Top 13, Gissara had to prove that the voting public made the correct decision in voting her through. She sang

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

's "

You're My World "You're My World" is a ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il mio mondo" ("My World") by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian version with Gino Paoli. Subsequently, an English version was commissioned, and the lyrics were written by Carl S ...

" as covered by local artist,

Daryl Braithwaite Daryl Braithwaite (born 11 January 1949) is an Australian singer. He was the lead vocalist of Sherbet (1970–1984 and many subsequent reunions). Braithwaite also has a solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including t ...

. All three judges said it was the best they had ever heard her sing. On the Live Verdict the next day she was told she was safe for another week. A week later, on '60s night, Gissara sang " Don't Play That Song" by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

. The judges said it was pretty good but she did not put enough feeling into the song. The next night she was told she was part of the bottom three along with

James Kannis James John Kannis (born 5 November 1985) is a Greeks, Greek-Australian singer who participated in the reality television talent show, ''Australian Idol''. Kannis was placed in seventh position. Career Kannis auditioned for the Australian Idol ...

and

Natalie Zahra ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol ...

; Zahra was eliminated and Gissara was safe for another week. On the Supergroups theme, a week later, Gissara performed "

The Greatest View "The Greatest View" is a song by Australian rock band Silverchair, released on 28 January 2002 as the first single from their fourth studio album, ''Diorama''. This is one of three songs which made it onto the album (the other two being "World ...

" by Silverchair. All judges were disappointed with her performance, she was part of the bottom three along with Kannis and Daniel Spillane. Gissara was told she had the fewest votes and was eliminated. She then sang "The Greatest View" again. During her time in the Top 13, allegations were made that her father, a Telstra employee, had tampered with the telephone voting results. An investigation ensued which discounted the claims.

''Australian Idol'' performances

*Audition *Theatre Week (Round 1), Top 100, Line of 10: "

" by

*Top 75, Group of 3: "Finally" *Theatre Week (Round 3), Top 50, solo: " Don't Play That Song" by

*Top 30: "

Don't Let Go (Love) "Don't Let Go (Love)" is a song by American R&B group En Vogue. It was written by Ivan Matias, Andrea Martin, and Marqueze Etheridge, and produced by Organized Noize for the ''Set It Off'' soundtrack (1996), also appearing on the group's third a ...

" by

*Top 13, Australian Made: "

" by

*Top 11, '60s: "Don't Play That Song" by Aretha Franklin – Bottom 2 *Top 10, Supergroups: "

" by

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

– Eliminated

Later career

In April 2006 Laura Gissara announced on her official website that she had signed with In Records/

Shock Records Shock Records (now part of Shock Entertainment) is an Australian independent record label. History The three founding members had all previously worked in music retail or distribution: Williams for a Melbourne distribution company called "Musi ...

. Her debut single, "

" was released on 31 July, while its video had premiered on '' rage'' on 1 July. "Ti amo" is a cover version of

's 1984 rendition of the

1977 original. It peaked at No. 49 on the

. It also reached No. 14 on the Australasian Artists Singles Chart, Note: A free, open-source original online document for this reference does not exist. In this case, the original is from Pandora Archive and was preserved there on 20 September 2006. and No. 3 on the Independent AIR Chart. "Shake It Down" was issued as a single in 2008, which was co-written by Gissara with Katie Michaelson and Stephen Lovchyld. Note: User may need to click on 'Titles' tab and enter track name. Gissara later released material under her first two names, Laura Simone, including an extended play, ''This Is Me'', in 2010. The release includes "Frozen" which was co-written by Gissara and Michaelson.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

*
Laura Gissara
contestant biography at ''Australian Idol'' Official Website. Archived fro
the original
on 8 February 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gissara, Laura 1984 births Australian people of Italian descent Australian Idol participants Living people 21st-century Australian singers