Lio

Born on June 17, 1962 in Mangualde, in the Viseu district of Portugal, Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos, known by her pseudonym Lio, is a Luso-Belgian artist who has left her mark on the French-language music and film scene since the late 1970s. Her stage name, inspired by a character from the comic strip Barbarella, symbolizes her unique and daring style, which combines pop and French chanson. Lio is the daughter of Fernando Antonio Tavares de Vasconcelos, a military man, and Helena Ribeiro Furtado, nicknamed Lena. From an early age, she was deeply influenced by her maternal grandfather, Dino, a communist doctor who instilled in her values of justice and tolerance. At the age of eighteen months, Lio moved to Belgium with her mother and stepfather, musicologist Alberto Nogueira, due to the tense political climate in Portugal. The family settled in Charleroi, where the child developed a passion for reading and music. At just 16, Lio burst onto the music scene with the hit "Le Banana Split" in 1979, a song that went on to sell over two million copies. This success was followed by other popular songs such as "Amoureux solitaires" and "Les Brunes comptent pas pour des prunes". Lio became a French pop icon. In the 1980s, she released several successful albums, including Pop Model in 1986, which contained hits such as "Fallait pas commencer" and "Je casse tout ce que je touche". Despite a more difficult period commercially in the 1990s, Lio continued to evolve artistically, exploring diverse musical genres and collaborating with renowned artists such as Étienne Daho. Alongside her musical career, Lio turned to film in the early 1980s. She worked with such renowned directors as Chantal Akerman and Catherine Breillat. She also appeared in lighter, more popular films, notably Mariages! and Stars 80, in which she played herself. In 2004, Lio was named Knight of the Order of the Crown in Belgium. Two years later, she released the album Dites au Prince Charmant , which included a song written by Serge Gainsbourg for France Gall, "Attends ou Va-t-en". In 2009, she teamed up with Jacques Duvall for the album Phantom Featuring Lio. The singer returns in 2018 with a new studio album, Lio Canta Caymmi, on which she covers songs by Brazilian Dorival Caymmi.