Deborah Blando

Deborah Salvatrice Blando (born March 3, 1969) is an Italian-Brazilian singer, songwriter, and producer.

Having sold more than 6 million records worldwide, she is considered one of the most successful Brazilian pop music artists.

Referred to as the "Queen of the soundtracks", she holds the record of having most songs on soundtracks of Globo soap operas.

Blando was born on March 3, 1969, in Sant'Agata di Militello, Sicily, to an Italian father, Pietro Carmelo Blando, and Leoni (née Harmatiuk), a Brazilian mother of Ukrainian descent.

From an early age, she liked to sing, and joined the Zecchino D'Oro children's song competition at age 2, in which she won the best children's singer category.

Throughout the 1970s, she was invited to sing in various TV shows on the Italian TV broadcaster RAI.

In 1975, after relocating with her family to the city of Florianópolis, Brazil, she started singing in children's choirs.

At age 12, she was invited to record her first Italian album under the pseudonym Giovanna, entitled Alegria da Gente, which performed on major television shows in Italy and Brazil.

Her parents, however, did not want her to pursue a music career, as it would disrupt her studies, and forced her to stop.

After graduating high school, in 1986, she was discovered by singer and composer Oswaldo Montenegro during a talent scout trip to Florianópolis.

Montenegro invited her to record vocals for the soundtrack of the theatre play Os Menestréis.

In 1988, Deborah Blando signed a record deal with CBS Records in Brazil to release her debut album.

In 1989, she attended a Cyndi Lauper concert during her Brazilian tour and met Lauper's manager at the time, David Wolff.

She performed for him one of the songs she wrote, "Innocence" on a piano, and Wolff saw potential to launch her career internationally.

He invited her to travel to New York City to try to land an international record deal.

"Innocence" would later be re-recorded and released as a single.

After arriving New York City, she performed "Innocence" to Walter Yetnikoff, then-president of CBS Records, who signed her to the Epic Records label.

Blando's debut single, "Boy (Why Do You Want to Make Me Blue" was released in September 1991 and was featured on an international campaign for Diet Coke. Her debut album, A Different Story, was released two months later. "Innocence" was released as the second single of the album, and enjoyed success in Brazil, Europe and Australia, reaching number 1 on the Brazilian charts (where it remained on that position for 13 weeks), number 13 on Norwegian airplay charts, number on 20 on Swedish airplay charts, and number 31 on the Australian singles chart.

"Shame" was released as a single in Europe, and "Other People's Houses" was released as a promotional single in Australia.

"Decadence avec Elegance" was released as a single in Brazil and Europe (where it was retitled as "Decadance").

Aside from Portuguese, Blando also sung in English and Italian, and became known in Europe in 1992 with the pop ballad "Innocence", which was followed by a string of successful records in Brazil and Portugal.

Throughout her career, she has collaborated with multiple world-renowned songwriters and producers, including David Foster, Patrick Leonard, Andres Levin, Camus Celli, Carl Sturken, and Evan Rogers.

Following the astounding success of "Innocence" and "Decadence Avec Elegance" in Brazil, the album was re-released in 1993 in that market, as A Different Story: Special Edition, where it spawned two additional promotional singles, "Merry-Go-Round", and a cover of the song "A Maçã" by Raul Seixas.

After heavily promoting her debut album in Brazil, Blando parted ways with Epic Records and signed to Atlantic Records for the release of her sophomore international album.

She collaborated with David Foster, Patrick Leonard, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers on the album, which was originally planned for release sometime in 1995 or 1996.

In 1995, Blando collaborated with Spanish trip hop band B-Tribe and recorded vocals for their album Suave Suave.

She was also invited by Coca-Cola to record a cover of the song "Descobridor dos Sete Mares" by Tim Maia for a promotional campaign.

The accompanying single sold one million copies in Brazil.

Due to health problems in her family, she returned to Brazil and renegotiated her deal with Atlantic Records to release the album through another label.

In 1997, Blando released Unicamente through Virgin Records, and found immediate success with the first single, "Unicamente".

A follow-up single, "Gata", was released, followed by a third promotional single, "Ultima Estória".

The album received a Gold certification by Pro-Musica Brasil.

In 1998, Blando released her third album, Deborah Blando, which became her most successful album in Europe, receiving a Gold certification in Portugal.

The album spawned two singles, "Somente o Sol (I'm Not In Love)" and "Águias".

Almost two years after its release, the song "Próprias Mentiras" also found commercial success due to its inclusion in the soundtrack of the Brazilian soap opera Laços de Família.

After the release of Deborah Blando, Blando moved to the United States to record new songs, but faced a major crisis with her record label.

She returned to Brazil to released her fourth album Salvatrice, an album featuring covers of Italian songs.

She also recorded the Brazilian theme from the Walt Disney movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire, "Junto Com Teu Sonho (Where the Dream Takes You)".

In 2002, Universal Music released a greatest hits collection called A Luz Que Acende o Olhar, containing five previously unreleased tracks.

The title track became a success on Brazilian radio stations.