Matt Bianco

England's Matt Bianco emerged in 1982 not as a solo alias for vocalist Mark Reilly but as a full ensemble steeped in jazz, Latin grooves, and lounge pop. The name itself was chosen to evoke an imaginary secret agent in the mold of James Bond, and the lineup drew from alumni of the similarly fusion-oriented new wave group Blue Rondo a la Turk. Early membership included Reilly, Polish vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska—who would soon launch a successful solo career—keyboardist Danny White, and bassist Kito Poncioni. Their first long-player, Whose Side Are You On?, appeared in 1984 and climbed just outside the British Top 30 while delivering singles such as "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed."

After the debut, White and Trzetrzelewska exited to concentrate on the former's growing solo path; Mark Fisher took over keyboards, and longtime backing singer Jenni Evans began trading lead lines with Reilly. This configuration scored a breakthrough cover of Georgie Fame's 1965 hit "Yeh Yeh" on the self-titled 1986 album Matt Bianco. The track reached number 13 on the U.K. pop chart, lingered ten weeks, and earned the group a European music award for Best Single. Their follow-up, Indigo, arrived in 1988 under the production of Miami Sound Machine's Emilio Estefan, peaked at number 23 in Britain, and yielded further successes including "Don't Blame It on That Girl" plus "Wam Bam Boogie," named the top European club single of that year.

Throughout the ensuing decade Reilly and Fisher operated chiefly as a duo, steering toward Latin, electronic, and adult-contemporary textures. A 1990 compilation gathered earlier material, and 1991 brought the studio set Samba in Your Casa before they left Warner Bros. Subsequent releases comprised the 1994 fifth album Another Time, Another Place, 1995's Gran Via, and 1997's World Go Round. Rico, issued in 2000, fused acid jazz with classic Cuban rhythms; parts were tracked in Havana at the same facility where Ry Cooder worked with Buena Vista Social Club, and the track "Cha Cha Cuba" topped Japanese charts. Echoes appeared two years afterward.

In 2004 Reilly rejoined original members Trzetrzelewska and White for Matt's Mood. By the time of 2009's HiFi Bossanova the project had reverted to the Reilly-Fisher duo, which continued with Hideaway three years later. Reilly revisited several Matt Bianco songs on his own 2016 EP New Cool Collective; that same year Fisher passed away at age 57. Reilly reconvened the band for its fifteenth studio album, Gravity, in 2017, enlisting Swedish saxophonist and flutist Magnus Lindgren along with musicians from Jamie Cullum's touring group.