No Rock And Roll Fun

POPOBIT: Singer Laura Branigan died last Thursday from a brain aneurysm. Probably best remembered in the UK for her hit Gloria, Laura never really achieved quite the same dizzy heights again here, but was incredibly popular across Europe and at home in the US. There, Gloria spent 36 weeks hanging around the top end of the Billboard chance.

Branigan had cut her teeth as a backing artist with Leonard Cohen before landing a solo deal with Atlantic at the start of the 80s. Her sales started to decline as the decade ran on - even working with David hasselhoff on the soundtrack for Baywatch didn't help - and she withdrew from music enitrely following the death of her husband, Lawrence Kruteck, in 1996. A comeback had started in 2002 when she took the title role in the Joplin musical Love Janis. She had a wide-ranging CV: amongst her other work, she appeared in a bit part in 80s buddy cop show CHiPs.