Biography
Gioia Bruno (Gioia is pronounced Joy-ah!) made her mark on the music scene as a member of the chart-busting Arista Records pop group Exposé. Gioia was born in Bari, Italy and raised in New Jersey. At the age of 16, she started singing in nightclubs with bands. While performing at the Gee Wiz nightclub in Miami, Florida, she was approached by Frank Diaz, of Pantera Group Enterprises, who offered her a role in Exposé. Gioia accepted the offer and joined the group, along with Jeanette Jurado and Ann Curless.
One by one, Exposé started releasing platinum selling albums (Exposure and What You Don't Know) and numerous Billboard "top-ten" hit singles including "Come Go With Me," "Point Of No Return," "Let Me Be The One," "What You Don't Know," "Tell Me Why" and Billboards #1 hit single "Seasons Change." Gioia also made many appearances on such national television shows as "David Letterman," "Solid Gold," "Arsenio Hall," "The Grammy Awards" (presenter), "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve," as well as MTV and VH1 Specials. Gioia was a guest VJ for a stint on the MTV network as well.
With the success of Exposé, Gioia, who sang lead vocals in the group, clearly had a major solo career still ahead of her. That is, until Exposé came to an abrupt end for Gioia. A benign throat tumor was discovered on her vocal chords and ended up putting her singing career on hiatus. A diva's worst nightmare - she was unable to sing. An operation was considered but rejected since it could possibly permanently damage her vocal cords. Unfortunately, Gioia had no choice but to leave the group. She left Exposé in 1991, though fans weren't told until mid-1992, shortly before the release of the last album. The music industry and fans everywhere were stunned.
It was Gioia's undying faith that saw her through that difficult time in her life. Gioia is a survivor and desperately wanted to sing again, as music is her passion. It was five years that she went without her God given instrument. With years of healthy living and a lot of prayer the tumor dissolved and Gioia started embarking on her musical career one again.
Gioia joined the band WET and shortly after embarked on her solo career and released "Free To Be" which became a hit and soon an anthem for the LGBTQ community. Now she is one of the hottest performers on the dance club scene, headlines gay pride events, circuit parties and dance clubs around the world. Gioia had amazing success with her Billboard top-ten dance club single From The Inside. The track, produced by Junior Vazquez, was featured on the Queer As Folk Season 3 series and soundtrack. In 2004, Gioia released her debut full-length solo album "Expose This" on KOCH Records to rave reviews. The CD features the Billboard dance chart hit Be Mine and club favorite I Was Made For Loving You. Gioia's song Wreckin' My Nerves, produced by Chris Cox, was featured on the White Party USA Vol. 2. CD and was charted by some of the most influential DJ's as one of the top ten dance club hits of 2004.
In 2006, Gioia released Why Did You Call Me Again, co-written with Luis Martinez on Mix2Inside Records, which quickly became an international club hit. In September 2006, she temporarily stopped touring as a solo artist and reunited with Exposé with members Curless and Jurado after a 15 year hiatus.
In the fall of 2007, she began devoting time to her solo career again while still touring with Exposé. A remake of Jackie Wilson's 1967 hit Higher and Higher on Harlequin Records was released and was marketed to dance clubs and charted on several charts.
Gioia completed a Christmas album and is working on a new studio album along with touring full time with Exposé.
May of 2016 Exposé announced they are re-releasing "Let Me Be The One" with all new re-recorded vocals that featured Gioia on lead vocals that crossed the multi-platinum recording group onto the R&B charts.
