Gran Via (Matt Bianco album)

Matt Bianco
Mark Reilly, lead singer of Matt Bianco, taken June 2014. Photography by Andrew D. Hurley
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Sophisti-pop,jazz-funk,blue-eyed soul
Years active	1983–present
Labels	current: Edel Victor Entertainment past: Warner Music Group Emarcy East West Records ZYX Music Intercord Universal Music
Website	MattBianco.com
Members	Mark Reilly
Past members	Mark Fisher Basia Trzetrzelewska Danny White Kito Poncioni Jenni Evans

Matt Bianco is a UK band that was formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid-1980s and their jazz, Latin-flavoured music.

Very popular during the mid-1980s in continental Europe, the name suggests that Matt Bianco is a person, often assumed to be an alias for 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".

Matt Bianco was initially formed in 1982 by Mark Reilly (vocals), Danny White (keyboards), and Kito Poncioni (bass), all of whom had just left art pop group, Blue Rondo A La Turk. Also on board from the beginning was then-unknown Polish vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska. Initially, the band was known as "Bronze", before settling on the name Matt Bianco in 1983.

The group was pictured as a quartet for their first single ("Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed"/"Big Rosie"), although Poncioni only played on the non-album B-side "Big Rosie". Poncioni then dropped out of the group before the recording of Matt Bianco's first album, 1984's Whose Side Are You On?. For the album, the group was officially a trio of Reilly, White and Trzetrzelewska. Although he does not appear on the album in any capacity, Poncioni did receive a co-writing credit on the track "Half A Minute".

Whose Side Are You On? spawned several UK and European hits, including "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed", "More Than I Can Bear", "Half a Minute" and "Sneaking Out The Back Door". As well, the title track, while not a hit in the UK, was a minor hit in Canada and Australia.

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 career for Basia with Sony on the Epic label.