Matt Bianco

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Matt Bianco
Victor
  • ZYX Music
  • Intercord
  • EmArcy
  • earMUSIC
    • MembersMark Reilly
    Past members
    • Mark Fisher
    • Basia Trzetrzelewska
    • Danny White
    • Kito Poncioni
    • Jenni Evans
    Websitemattbianco.com

    Matt Bianco are a British band that were formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid-1980s and their jazz, Latin-flavoured music. The group's name suggests that Matt Bianco is a person, often assumed to be an alias for the main member and front man Mark Reilly. According to the group, however, Matt is in fact "a made up spy, a secret agent; we loved spy TV themes and film scores".

    Early years

    Matt Bianco was formed in 1983 by Mark Reilly (vocals), Danny White (keyboard), Kito Poncioni (bass) – all of whom had just left art pop group

    Basia Trzetrzelewska.[5]
    The band called itself "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". He dropped out of the group entirely before the recording of their first album Whose Side Are You On? (1984), although he received a co-writing credit on the track "Half A Minute". The album 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".[5] The album made the top 3 in Germany and number 1 in Austria. The title track was not a hit in the UK, although it was a minor hit in Canada and Australia.[6]

    Trzetrzelewska and White formed a romantic relationship, and left the group soon after the first album so that Trzetrzelewska could pursue an international solo career.

    UK Singles Chart,[5]
    and number 7 in Germany.

    Reilly-Fisher duo years

    With the addition of

    DX-7 can be heard providing the slap bass in most songs, but the choice of noted studio musicians remained consistent with Ronnie Ross
    being the most prominent example. After the first album with the new line-up, they took a 13-piece band on to a European tour that saw them perform in front of an audience of more than 250,000 attendees in total. Jenni Evans left the group shortly after the recording of the group's self-titled album and was not replaced.

    Bianco was now a household name in Europe, and

    UK Singles Chart,[5]
    making it Matt Bianco's most successful single.

    Their first

    long-playing
    by the group. Reilly and Fisher then split from their record company and went freelance. From then on, they recorded their albums in their own studios, and then offered them to independent distributors worldwide.

    They scored contracts with

    Gran Via, World Go Round, A/Collection (not a greatest hits album, but more of a compilation album, compiling a number of remakes of Matt Bianco's stand-out album tracks plus remixes
    of a few of their hits), Rico, and Echoes sold well enough for a comfortable lifestyle in the South-East of England.

    After twenty years recording and touring, the two split amicably.

    2003–2015: Reunion of the original trio and beyond

    Initiated by a mutual friend, Basia and Danny White joined with Mark Reilly to reform the "original" Matt Bianco, in 2003, signing to the Emarcy label. Original bassist Kito Poncioni, who only played on one Matt Bianco track before leaving the band in 1984, had died in the late 1990s.

    In 2004, Matt Bianco released the album Matt's Mood, the name from one of their most popular early instrumental tracks. The album featured adult-contemporary/jazz numbers, in the spirit of their first album. The following year, they embarked on a world tour, which included stops in the UK, Japan, and the United States.

    Following

    Edel Music
    in Europe and continued their co-operation with JVC-Victor in Japan which in November 2012 bore fruit again with the release of their latest album Hideaway.

    2016 onwards

    Mark Reilly (without Mark Fisher) recorded a collaborative album with New Cool Collective in 2016. The Things You Love featured nine new tracks and a re-recording of "Don't Blame it on That Girl"; the collaboration was billed to "New Cool Collective/Matt Bianco (Mark Reilly)".

    Mark Fisher died on 12 December 2016.[7] The official Matt Bianco site made it clear that Reilly intended to carry on under the "Matt Bianco" banner, indicating that a new album was in the process of being recorded. This (Gravity) was released in 2017.[8]

    In October 2017, Cherry Red Records re-issued their album Matt Bianco in 2CD Deluxe Edition format, having re-issued a similarly packaged version of Whose Side Are You On? in June 2016.

    November 2020 saw the release of a second collaboration with New Cool Collective, High Anxiety.[9]

    In June 2022 Matt Bianco released 2CD The Essential Matt Bianco. Re-imagined, Re-loved. It featured new latin flavoured 2022 versions of 15 Matt Bianco classics - preceded by the singles "More Than I Can Bear 2022", "Matt's Mood 2022" and "Wap Bam Boogie 2022" - plus 15 re-mixes and special versions.

    Discography

    Main article: Matt Bianco discography

    See also

    References

    1. ^ Bartleet, Larry (13 July 2015). "15 Hilarious And Calamitous Appearances By Musicians on Kids TV Shows". NME. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
    2. ^ "Matt Bianco". Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Virgin Media.
    3. ^ "Matt Bianco set to perform". People's Post. 14 November 2013. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
    4. ^ Widran, Jonathan. "Matt Bianco – Another Time Another Place". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
    5. ^
      ISBN 1-85227-969-9
      .
    6. ISBN 0-646-11917-6
      .
    7. ^ "Matt Bianco Member Mark Fisher Dies". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
    8. ^ "Album Review: Matt Bianco - Gravity". Yorkshiretimes.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
    9. ^ "MATT BIANCO & NEW COOL COLLECTIVE - HIGH ANXIETY". Horizons Music. Retrieved 20 January 2021.

    External links

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