Matt Bianco

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, Matt Bianco was part of the new jazz pop genre, that they shared with acts such as Working Week, Sade, Everything but the Girl, and The Style Council. 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".

Early years

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".

Bianco

Bianco is a town and comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy. It is a seaside town and a popular tourist resort. The main attractions are the remainings of an old abbey and the ruins of a Roman house.

See also

References

Matt

Matt may refer to:

See also

Yeh, Yeh

"Yeh Yeh" is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick, and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man. Lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. This version of the song was taken to the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1965 by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames (b/w "Preach and Teach", Columbia DB 7428), breaking The Beatles' long-term hold on the number one spot (of five weeks with "I Feel Fine"), and a month later appeared on the US Billboard pop singles chart to peak at #21. (The US single edited out the saxophone solo break.)

Interviewed after the 2003 Jools Holland Spring Hootennany, where he had played a "dynamite version" of the song, Fame explained that the arrangement had been written by Tubby Hayes.

Other notable covers include those by pop/rock duo They Might Be Giants on their Mink Car album, and Matt Bianco, who covered the song in 1985, reaching number 13 in the UK Singles Chart (the single version was then included in their second eponymous album in 1986, while the respective CD edition of the album only contained its 12" Dance Mix — both versions featured on the MC edition of the long playing work, depending upon the various countries). British actor and musician Hugh Laurie also included a live cover version of Yeh, Yeh on his album Didn't It Rain.