Lio
| Lio | |
|---|---|
Lio at 2010 Cannes Film Festival
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Wanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos |
| Born |
17 June 1962 Mangualde, Portugal |
| Genres | Pop, rock, new wave, bubblegum pop, punk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress |
| Years active | 1979-present |
| Labels | ZE Records |
Lio (born 17 June 1962) is a Belgian singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s.
Wanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos was born in Mangualde, Portugal. When her father was called up to fight in the Portuguese Army, the family moved to Mozambique. Her parents divorced and, in 1968, Wanda moved with her mother and new stepfather to Brussels, Belgium, where her sister, actress Helena Noguerra, was born. In her teens she was determined to become a singer, and she was encouraged by singer-songwriter Jacques Duvall (né Eric Verwilghem), a family friend. She took her stage name, Lio, from a character in the Barbarella comic books by Jean-Claude Forest.
In 1979, together with songwriter Jay Alanski, she and Duvall began working with Marc Moulin and Dan Lacksman from the electro-trio Telex. "Le banana split", which sold over 1 million copies, and "Amoureux solitaires", a song originally by punk rock band Stinky Toys. Both songs rose to the top of many pop charts in France, and Moulin and Lacksman also produced her self-titled first album. In 1982 the American music duo Ron and Russell Mael, of Sparks, worked with her on the album Suite Sixtine, on which some of her previous songs were translated into English. Suite Sixtine was compiled and art directed by Ralph Alfonso for Attic Records Canada, where it was originally released. Her second album, Amour toujours, was produced by Alain Chamfort and released in 1983. The same year, she first appeared on the screen in Chantal Akerman's film Golden Eighties, a lighthearted, humorous French pop musical about the people who work together in a Parisian shopping center. Lio plays a carefree hairdresser in the movie.
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