Deborah Blando

Debora Blando (Deborah Salvatrice Blando) is a popular Brazilian singer who became known in Europe, in 1992, with the pop ballad "Innocence". Blando was born in the little town of Sant'Agata di Militello, Sicily, Italy in 03 March 1969. Since her early childhood She demonstrated her talent for music, winning one of the first prizes of the Zecchino d'Oro Festival, a version for children of the famous Sanremo Festival, when she was only 2 years old. In her childhood, she moved to Southern Brazil with her parents and kept in touch with music, singing in local choruses and covering famous Italian singers from the 1970s. At just eleven, she recorded her first album, Giovanna – Alegria da Gente, with Italian songs. In her teens, Deborah joined the Brazilian theater company Os Menestréis, which has revealed many promising singers in Brazil, and started touring the country acting and singing in their musicals. In 1989 she met producer David Wolff who, impressed by her musical talent, invited her to record an album in English. In 1991, A Different Story was released. Its first single, "Boy (Why do you wanna make me blue?)" hit American dance charts and was featured in a worldwide TV ad for Diet Coke. The English version of the ballad "Innocence", written by Deborah herself when she was 18, conquered hearts throughout the world, especially in Brazil, where it stayed for 13 weeks on top of the charts and received a Special Edition in 1993, and in Europe. In 1995, Deborah Blando was featured in B-Tribe's album Suave Suave, singing the B-Tribe hits "Nanita" and "Que mala vida", among others. Her second solo album, Unicamente, was released by Virgin Records in 1996 and went gold. In addition to David Wolff and Deborah herself, it was produced by Patrick Leonard and David Foster. The track title "Unicamente" was a major hit in Brazil, as well as "Gata". According to various critics, it's Deborah's best album to date. Her next album, Deborah Blando, was released in 1998, prompted by the success of "Somente o Sol", a Portuguese version of "I'm not in Love" which was sung by Blando for the opening credits and the soundtrack of Brazilian soap opera Corpo Dourado. Throughout her career, most of her hits were featured in Brazilian soap operas. In early 2001, she released Salvatrice, covering contemporary Italian hits, as though revisiting the beginning of her career. In that same year she recorded the Brazilian version of “Where the dreams take you” ("Junto com teu Sonho") for Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire soundtrack. In 2002, Blando released A Luz que Acende o Olhar, her greatest hits album. The title track received important critical and popular awards and the album sold around 100,000 copies. She also sang a “Portuglish” version of When you say nothing at all (O Amor fala por nós) in duet with Ronan Keating.