This group was formed in 1982 from the disbanded Blue Rondo A La Turk. The name Matt Bianco is a name made up by the band members who said that it is “a made up spy, a secret agent; we love spy TV themes and film scores”.
After hiring Basia their first album Whose Side Are You On? was released in 1984 and several successful hits came from it. Basia and Danny White left the group after the first album to pursue a successful solo career and Mark Fisher was brought in to replace Danny White.
They hired Emilio Estefan who produced their album Indigo at his studios and chose the singles to be taken from it.
In 1991/2 they split from their record company, Warner Brothers, and became freelance and recorded in their own studios. They split amicably after twenty years and in 2003 the original line-up with Basia reformed.
In 2004 they released the album Matt’s Mood and in 2005 they went on a worldwide tour and in 2007 toured Europe. In 2009 Reilly and Fisher released HiFi Bossanova which was their first as a duo in 8 years and they landed a contract with Edel Music as well as continuing to work with JVC-Victor in Japan.
In 2012 they released Hideaway and 2016 saw their EP The Things You Love.
Mark Fisher passed away at the end of 2016 but Reilly said that he would continue as Matt Bianco and intended to keep recording according to the official site.
Members and Session Musicians
Mark Reilly (1982-2016) (vocals)
Kito Poncioni (1982-?) (bass)
Danny White (1982-1984) (2004-2006?) (keyboards)
Basia Trzetrzelewska (1982-1984) (2004-2006?)(vocals)
Mark Fisher (1984-2016) (keyboards)
Ronny Ross (saxophone)
Robin Jones (percussion)
Matt Bianco Recordings
Half a Minute (Mark Reilly/Danny White/Kito Poncioni)
Matt’s Mood II (Mark Reilly/Danny White)
Smooth (Mark Reilly)
Good Times (New Version) (Mark Reilly/Mark Fisher)
Tumbao (Edited Version) (Mark Reilly/Mark Fisher)
Yeh Yeh (Rodgers Grant/Pat Patrick/Jon Hendricks)
Sources:
- http://www.mattbianco.com/bio/
- http://dirkpilat.dyndns.org:8888/mattbianco/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Bianco
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/matt-bianco-mn0000328956/biography
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/49085-Matt-Bianco