Weird world — Laura Branigan wasn’t the first vocalist to perform her signature song, “Gloria” (1982).  It was originally an Italian pop song performed in 1979 by Umberto Tozzi.   (That’s the second video below.)

Anyway, for a lot of people in my age bracket, this remains a quintessential 80’s tune.  Branigan even performed it in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade the year it was released.  I still remember people commenting about how beautiful she looked.

If you’re wondering whatever happened to Branigan, there’s a bit of a sad postscript here — she died in her sleep at a relatively young age, 52, from an undiagnosed brain aneurysm.  By that time she’d become a fellow Long Islander; she’d been living in East Quogue.