Biography
Emerging as a singer and actress in France and Belgium amid the new wave period, Lio first attracted widespread attention during that time. Key partnerships with Jacques Duvall, John Cale, and Sparks helped shape a catalog best remembered for 1980s successes including “Le Banana Split” and “Fallait Pas Commencer.” Refining her approach toward greater sophistication while remaining within synth pop, she issued albums at regular intervals and reclaimed a singles-chart presence in 2007 through the dance track “Les Matins de Paris,” recorded with Teki Latex. Parallel to music she has pursued acting since her screen debut in the 1985 feature Elsa, Elsa, accumulating more than 40 film credits that encompass projects with Claude Lelouch, Catherine Breillat, and Yolande Moreau. She is the older sister of singer and actress Helena Noguerra, also known as Helena.
Born Wanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos in Mangualde, Portugal, in 1962, she relocated to Brussels, Belgium, in 1968 after her parents’ divorce. The following year her mother and stepfather welcomed her sister Helena. During her teenage years de Vasconcelos adopted the stage name Lio, drawn from a character in Jean-Claude Forest’s Barbarella comic books, and resolved to pursue a singing career.
Encouraged by family friend Jacques Duvall, an aspiring lyricist who later co-wrote several of her hits, she began collaborating with songwriter Jay Alanski. While still a teenager she released her debut single, the effervescent synth-pop number “Le Banana Split,” written by Duvall and Alanski, which ascended to number one in France. A cover of punk band Stinky Toys’ “Amoureux Solitaires” reached the top spot the next year. Her self-titled first album, containing those tracks plus the Top 20 single “Amicalement Votre,” peaked at number nine on the French album chart in 1980. Two years afterward Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks assembled the collection Suite Sixtine, which presented English-language versions of earlier material together with previously unreleased songs and B-sides. Produced by Alain Chamfort, her second album, Amour Toujours, appeared in 1983.
Lio made her feature-film debut at age 23, playing the title role in the 1985 romantic comedy Elsa, Elsa. She returned to the screen a year later in the musical comedy Golden Eighties. John Cale produced several tracks on her third album, Pop Model, also released in 1986; it generated three Top 20 singles, among them the number-five hit “Fallait Pas Commencer.” She was cast in Claude Lelouch’s 1988 film Itinéraire d’un Enfant Gâté and continued appearing in cinema throughout the 1990s, including providing a voice for the French dub of the 1991 animated feature Rock-A-Doodle. During the same span she released the albums Can Can (1988), Des Fleurs Pour un Caméléon (1991), and Wandatta (1996), each gradually refreshing her sound while staying within playful Europop.
In 2000 she issued Je Suis Comme Ça: Lio Chante Prévert, a set of piano- and accordion-backed French chansons setting lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. The live album Cœur de Rubis followed in 2003, and the studio LP Dîtes au Prince Charmant arrived in 2005. That same year saw the release of Pop Box: 25 Years in Pop, a seven-CD box set including bonus material and a DVD. She returned to dance-oriented electropop in 2007 as featured vocalist on Teki Latex’s single “Les Matins de Paris,” which climbed to number 14 on the French singles chart—her first Top 20 entry in two decades. While maintaining a steady screen presence in both film and television, she also portrayed a singer in Catherine Breillat’s 2007 movie The Last Mistress. In 2009 she released a collaborative album with the band Phantom.
Continuing to secure regular acting roles through the 2010s, Lio experienced her longest interval between albums, waiting nine years after Phantom Featuring Lio for the 2018 release Lio Canta Caymmi. Conceived by Duvall, the covers project presented Lio interpreting twelve songs by Brazilian samba musician Dorival Caymmi.
Born Wanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos in Mangualde, Portugal, in 1962, she relocated to Brussels, Belgium, in 1968 after her parents’ divorce. The following year her mother and stepfather welcomed her sister Helena. During her teenage years de Vasconcelos adopted the stage name Lio, drawn from a character in Jean-Claude Forest’s Barbarella comic books, and resolved to pursue a singing career.
Encouraged by family friend Jacques Duvall, an aspiring lyricist who later co-wrote several of her hits, she began collaborating with songwriter Jay Alanski. While still a teenager she released her debut single, the effervescent synth-pop number “Le Banana Split,” written by Duvall and Alanski, which ascended to number one in France. A cover of punk band Stinky Toys’ “Amoureux Solitaires” reached the top spot the next year. Her self-titled first album, containing those tracks plus the Top 20 single “Amicalement Votre,” peaked at number nine on the French album chart in 1980. Two years afterward Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks assembled the collection Suite Sixtine, which presented English-language versions of earlier material together with previously unreleased songs and B-sides. Produced by Alain Chamfort, her second album, Amour Toujours, appeared in 1983.
Lio made her feature-film debut at age 23, playing the title role in the 1985 romantic comedy Elsa, Elsa. She returned to the screen a year later in the musical comedy Golden Eighties. John Cale produced several tracks on her third album, Pop Model, also released in 1986; it generated three Top 20 singles, among them the number-five hit “Fallait Pas Commencer.” She was cast in Claude Lelouch’s 1988 film Itinéraire d’un Enfant Gâté and continued appearing in cinema throughout the 1990s, including providing a voice for the French dub of the 1991 animated feature Rock-A-Doodle. During the same span she released the albums Can Can (1988), Des Fleurs Pour un Caméléon (1991), and Wandatta (1996), each gradually refreshing her sound while staying within playful Europop.
In 2000 she issued Je Suis Comme Ça: Lio Chante Prévert, a set of piano- and accordion-backed French chansons setting lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. The live album Cœur de Rubis followed in 2003, and the studio LP Dîtes au Prince Charmant arrived in 2005. That same year saw the release of Pop Box: 25 Years in Pop, a seven-CD box set including bonus material and a DVD. She returned to dance-oriented electropop in 2007 as featured vocalist on Teki Latex’s single “Les Matins de Paris,” which climbed to number 14 on the French singles chart—her first Top 20 entry in two decades. While maintaining a steady screen presence in both film and television, she also portrayed a singer in Catherine Breillat’s 2007 movie The Last Mistress. In 2009 she released a collaborative album with the band Phantom.
Continuing to secure regular acting roles through the 2010s, Lio experienced her longest interval between albums, waiting nine years after Phantom Featuring Lio for the 2018 release Lio Canta Caymmi. Conceived by Duvall, the covers project presented Lio interpreting twelve songs by Brazilian samba musician Dorival Caymmi.
Singles
