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Biography
Refimprove|date=September 2009Infobox musical artist|name = Matt Bianco|image =|caption =|image_size =|background = group_or_band|alias =|origin = United Kingdom |instrument =|genre = Sophisti-pop , Jazz music|jazz , Pop music|pop , Soul music|soul , Dance music|dance , latin pop , bossa nova |occupation =|years_active = 1983–present|label = current: Edel AG|Edel Victor Entertainment past: Warner Music Group Emarcy East West Records ZYX Music Intercord Universal Music |associated_acts = Basia Trzetrzelewska|Basia |website = http://www.mattbianco.com MattBianco.com|current_members = Mark Reilly Mark Fisher|past_members = Basia Trzetrzelewska Danny White Jenny Evans Kito Poncioni Matt Bianco is a United Kingdom|UK musical ensemble|band that was formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid 1980s and their jazz , Latin music|Latin -flavoured music.
Popular during the mid 1980s in continental Europe , Matt Bianco was part of the new jazz pop music|pop genre, that they shared with acts such as Working Week (band)|Working Week , Sade (band)|Sade , Everything but the Girl , and The Style Council . The name suggests that Matt Bianco is a personal name, often referred to the main constant member and frontman , Mark Reilly, but Matt is in fact "a made up spy, a secret agent; we loved spy TV themes and film scores". http://www.emarcy.com/bianco/biog.asp Matt Bianco biography at emarcy.com
The early years as a trio
Formed by Mark Reilly ( vocals ), Danny White (musician)|Danny White ( keyboard (instrument)|keyboards ), and the late Kito Poncioni ( bass guitar|bass ) in 1982 from the shards of the abandoned art pop group, Blue Rondo à la Turk (band)|Blue Rondo A La Turk , for their first album , Whose Side Are You On? , they hired then unknown Poland|Polish vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska . Her vocal arrangement s gave the album a jazzy dimension. Turntablism|Mixmaster Phil Harding (producer)|Phil Harding applied what would become his signature style to the sound recording and reproduction|recordings . Hit single|Hits like "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" and "Half a Minute," which Basia would feature live throughout her solo (music)|solo career, turned Matt Bianco into one of the biggest acts of Europe in 1984.citation needed|date=January 2011 Basia and Danny White, who subsequently formed a romantic relationship, left the group soon after the first album to pursue a very successful international solo (music)|solo career with Sony , under the name Basia Trzetrzelewska|Basia , on the Epic Records|Epic record label|label . They maintained their working relationship with Phil Harding until 1990, he continued to work with Matt Bianco as well.
Reilly found two new musical partners: Jenny Evans became the new female singer for Matt Bianco, contributing mainly backing vocals, and lead vocals on two album tracks, and ex- Wham and Second Image keyboarder and session musician Mark Fisher became White's collaborator as songwriter and producer, and the band's keyboard player. This line-up recorded the (self-titled) Matt Bianco (album)|Matt Bianco album.
The Reilly-Fisher duo years
With the addition of Mark Fisher, the sound changed considerably. Fisher, a keyboardist , composer and recording studio|studio wizard, contributed a more contemporary sound, compared to that of the early Matt Bianco. The use of synthesizer s increased notably: Yamaha 's DX-7 can be heard providing the slap bass in most songs, but the choice of noted studio musicians remained consistent with Ronnie Ross being the most prominent example. After the first album with the new line-up, they took a 13-piece band on to a Europe an tour, that saw them perform in front of an audience of more than 250,000 attendees in total.
In 1984 they appeared on the BBC TV morning show Saturday Superstore and were infamously subjected to a brief torrent of four-lettered abuse during a fan 'phone-in', which could not be cut as the show was live.
Jenny Evans left the group shortly after the recording of the group's self titled album and was not replaced.
Matt Bianco was now a household name in Europe, and Warner Brothers sought to market them in the United States . They hired Gloria Estefan 's husband and producer Emilio Estefan to produce a few songs, and recorded their third album, Indigo (Matt Bianco album)|Indigo , with the Estefan productions being chosen as singles. 1988's "Don't Blame it on That Girl" and " Good Times (Matt Bianco song)|Good Times " only made a moderate impact. "Wap-Bam-Boogie", an album track originally on the B-side of the first single, which did well on the dance charts, and pushed the joint single release up to Number 11 on the UK Singles Chart , making it Matt Bianco's most successful single.
Their first Greatest Hits album , entitled The Best of Matt Bianco , collecting their greatest hits from 1983 to 1990, was released in 1990. Another studio album was released in 1991 by Warner Brothers, the fractured Samba in Your Casa , the fourth long-playing by the group.
Reilly and Fisher then split from their record company and went freelance. From then on, they recorded their albums in their own studios, and then offered them to independent distributors worldwide.
They scored contracts with ZYX Music and Intercord in Europe, and Victor Entertainment in Asia , but failed to sign on with another major label. The next albums did not sell well in Europe, but they created a loyal fan base in Japan and the rest of Asia . The albums Another Time Another Place , Gran Via (Matt Bianco album)|Gran Via , World Go Round , A/Collection (not a greatest hits album, but more of a compilation album , compiling a number of remake s of Matt Bianco's stand-out album tracks plus remix es of a few of their hits), Rico (album)|Rico , and Echoes (Matt Bianco album)|Echoes sold well enough for a comfortable lifestyle in the South-East of England .
After twenty years recording and touring, the two split amicably.
The reunion of the original trio line-up
Initiated by a mutual friend, Basia and Danny White joined with Mark Reilly to reform the "original" Matt Bianco, in 2003, signing to the Emarcy label. In 2004, Matt Bianco released the album '' Matt's Mood (the name is from one of their most popular early instrumental tracks), which featured well-crafted adult-contemporary/jazz numbers, in the spirit of their first album. This was accompanied by an extensive PR exercise, giving the album plenty of airtime . The following year, they embarked on a world tour, which included stops in the UK, Japan, and the United States.
The present: back again to the duo
After the success of '' Matt's Mood , Basia and White left Matt Bianco again to reinvigorate the Basia brand. Reilly reunited with Fisher, and Matt Bianco were back as a duet (music)|duo . Three compilation album s were marketed between 2005 and 2008, including The Best of Matt Bianco - Volume 2 , containing many of the Asian tracks, which were so far only available in Germany for European fans, and the re-release of the original 1990 The Best of Matt Bianco , featuring their European hits from 1983 to 1990. In May 2009 Fisher and Reilly released their first album as a duo for eight years in Europe, the UK and Japan. With HiFi Bossanova the band secured a recording contract with Edel Music in Europe and continued their cooperation with JVC-Victor in Japan. According to Mark Fisher a new album will be released in 2012.
Discography
Albums
1984 - Whose Side Are You On? ( UK Albums Chart #35)
1990 - The Best of Matt Bianco (UK #49) (collection of best tracks from the Europe an period 1983 to 1990
1993 - Yeah Yeah (Matt Bianco album)|Yeah Yeah
1998 - A/Collection (collection of post-1990 tracks, and remakes of pre-1990 hits) (Japanese edition includes 17 tracks; European edition, released in 2000, includes 16 tracks)
2005 - The Best of Matt Bianco: Platinum Collection (re-release of The Best of Matt Bianco )
2008 - The Best of Matt Bianco - Volume 2 (collection of best tracks from the Germany|German / Asia n period 1991 to 2008 - Internet release)
2010 - Sunshine Days - The Official Greatest Hits (collection of re-recorded classic tracks and newer songs that were popular on Asian releases)
Singles
Singles Europe 1983-1990
February 1984 - " Get Out of Your Lazy Bed " (#15 UK Singles Chart - 8 weeks in the charts), #8 Irish Singles Chart|Ireland
April/May 1984 - " Sneaking Out the Back Door "/" Matt's Mood (song)|Matt's Mood " (#44 UK - 7 weeks), #22 Ireland
November 1984 - " Half a Minute " (#23 UK - 10 weeks)
February 1985 - " More Than I Can Bear " ( remix ) - (#50 UK - 7 weeks)
September 1985 - " Yeh Yeh " (#13 UK - 10 weeks), #15 Ireland
February 1986 - " Just Can't Stand It " (#66 UK - 2 weeks)
June 1986 - " Dancing in the Street (Matt Bianco song)|Dancing in the Street " (#64 UK - 3 weeks)
May 1988 - " Don't Blame It on That Girl" / "Wap-Bam-Boogie " ( double A-side ) (#11 UK - 13 weeks), #8 Ireland
August 1988 - " Good Times (Matt Bianco song)|Good Times " (#55 UK - 3 weeks)
January 1989 - " Nervous / Wap-Bam-Boogie (re-mix) " (#59 UK - 2 weeks), #22 Ireland
April 1989 - " Say It's Not Too Late " (UK -)
September 1990 - " Fire in the Blood " (UK -)
December 1990 - " Wap-Bam-Boogie 1990 " (UK -)
February 1992 - " What a Fool Believes " #23 Ireland
cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 355
Singles Germany/Asia 1991-1998
October 1991 - " Macumba (song)|Macumba "
1992 - " What a Fool Believes "
September 1993 - " Our Love (Matt Bianco song)|Our Love " ( Japan )
1994 - " Our Love (Matt Bianco song)|Our Love " ( Germany )
