Yet MORE Songs You May Not Have Known Were Covers: Gloria (#7)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86940)
United States
September 30, 2018 8:10am CST
What am I doing up so early? I'm going to pull a Sunday work session, so before I scarf down breakfast and get to work I'll give you another one of those songs that were big hits, but you may not know it was actually a cover. Here's today's "no, not the Them song" song.....
#7: Gloria
As I said, it's not the song by Van Morrison's group, Them. That's been covered a blue billion times. No, this is the song that catapulted Laura Branigan to fame. It seems like you could not escape that Gloria in the early 80s.
Now, if you want to produce a stealthy cover, the way to go is the way Branigan went: cover an Italian song. The song was quite a hit in Europe in its original language in 1979, as performed by its writer, Umberto Tozzi. In fact, Tozzi re-did the song in Spanish for additional exposure! Later in 1979 British singer/songwriter Jonathan King (best-known for "Everyone's Gone to the Moon") wrote an English translation to the Italian lyrics and recorded his own version.
Although the other versions were hits (Tozzi's especially -- it was even used in the film The Wolf of Wall Street), they all fell into obscurity when Laura Branigan did the song. Her version stayed on the charts for nine months and sold over two million copies of the single.
Branigan died of a brain aneurysm in 2004. Tozzi is still performing.
Gloria
Written by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi (original), and Jonathan King (English translation)
Originally recorded by Umberto Tozzi, 1979
Covered (in English) by Jonathan King, 1979
Famously covered by Laura Branigan, 1982
Here's the original Italian version by Umberto Tozzi:
#7: Gloria
As I said, it's not the song by Van Morrison's group, Them. That's been covered a blue billion times. No, this is the song that catapulted Laura Branigan to fame. It seems like you could not escape that Gloria in the early 80s.
Now, if you want to produce a stealthy cover, the way to go is the way Branigan went: cover an Italian song. The song was quite a hit in Europe in its original language in 1979, as performed by its writer, Umberto Tozzi. In fact, Tozzi re-did the song in Spanish for additional exposure! Later in 1979 British singer/songwriter Jonathan King (best-known for "Everyone's Gone to the Moon") wrote an English translation to the Italian lyrics and recorded his own version.
Although the other versions were hits (Tozzi's especially -- it was even used in the film The Wolf of Wall Street), they all fell into obscurity when Laura Branigan did the song. Her version stayed on the charts for nine months and sold over two million copies of the single.
Branigan died of a brain aneurysm in 2004. Tozzi is still performing.
Gloria
Written by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi (original), and Jonathan King (English translation)
Originally recorded by Umberto Tozzi, 1979
Covered (in English) by Jonathan King, 1979
Famously covered by Laura Branigan, 1982
Here's the original Italian version by Umberto Tozzi:
Escapa sin hacer ruido Del trabajo de tu lecho De las gradas de un altar Te espero Gloria Gloria - Umberto Tozzi Italian Version Letra y Traduccion Ubicame e...
5 people like this
4 responses
@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
4 Oct 18
I did not know that 
. Branigan's version earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
Not a fan, although it's a catchy pop tune. I'll stick with Them's (Van the Man's) G-L-O-R-I-A 
. Branigan's version earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
Not a fan, although it's a catchy pop tune. I'll stick with Them's (Van the Man's) G-L-O-R-I-A 1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
30 Sep 18
I certainly did not know this.
1 person likes this
@Courage7 (19626)
• United States
30 Sep 18
I like this Gloria better
Dirty Patti :)
Thanks for the info did not know that Four Walls.
Patricia Lee Smith was born in Chicago. Her mother, Beverly, was a waitress, and her father, Grant, worked at the Honeywell plant. The family was of Irish he...
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