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Posts Tagged ‘gloria’

Travel in the part of New England where Brewster, New York intersects with so many other lovely little towns can be baffling to anyone who’s used to clean demarcations between cities and states. It’s often compared to traveling in Europe, where the state lines cross back and forth so quickly, that if you’re not used to the area, it’s hard to know where you are. That is, until you stop and settle down for a little while, and for hotels, Brewster and the surrounding areas have some rather gorgeous lodgings.

There’s a lot of history here, of course, with settlements that go back for hundreds of years. It’s not at all unusual to meet people who have been there their whole lives, and can trace back their forbearers to a crossing in the 17th century. It’s also got its own famous residents. While for some, living in a small town can be a bit stifling to radical creativity, for others, it’s the perfect launching pad. For Laura Branigan , the latter was certainly the case, Although it’s hard to know if it was really more difficult or easier, because the path was paved for her by the gift of a golden voice. Her four-octave range was legendary, and made her the star of dance floors all over the U.S., and eventually skyrocketed her to fame all over Europe and Australia.

It’s perhaps even a little ironic that someone with such a basic U.S. upbringing, born to Italian and Irish ancestry, would ultimately find more fame across the ocean, but her life was filled with irony. Her creative output was also legendary, racking up album after album after her first hit, ” Gloria .” Her untimely death, before she was 50 years old, was also ironic, and seems to have some family roots. It was a brain aneurism that took her in her sleep, which was also the unfortunate end for her father, and his father before him. But the music lives on in the hearts of millions.