{"artistName":"Valerie Dore","artistId":3878,"artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/ffb/ffba5f0e456b1200fae8539aecd8542c_xl.jpg","srcset":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/ffb/ffba5f0e456b1200fae8539aecd8542c_sm.jpg 50w,https://artist99.cdn107.com/ffb/ffba5f0e456b1200fae8539aecd8542c_md.jpg 80w,https://artist99.cdn107.com/ffb/ffba5f0e456b1200fae8539aecd8542c_lg.jpg 200w,https://artist99.cdn107.com/ffb/ffba5f0e456b1200fae8539aecd8542c_xl.jpg 340w","artistBio":"\u003cp\u003eMonica Stucchi (born May 28, 1963), best known by her recording name, Valerie Dore is an Italian musician from Milan, Italy, born in Monaco. She came to fame during the mid-1980s as part of the Italo disco movement. \n History\nPrior to her career in music, Stucchi worked as graphic designer and was a singer in a bluegrass band that played at Milano pubs called the \"Watermelon String Band\" (led by Bruno Guaitamacchi) when she was discovered at age 20 by the Italo producer Roberto Gasparini. \nAfter being discovered, Monica Stucchi choose the stage name \"Valerie Dore\" and began work on her first song, \"The Night,\" an Italo disco track that would be released in 1984 in conjunction with the album of the same name. That year, Italian music news publication Sorrisi e Canzoni (\"Smiles and Songs\") awarded her the prize of best new artist of year. Dore's next two songs, \"Get Closer\" and \"It's So Easy\" were released in 1985 and had similar arrangements to \"The Night.\" She won second place at the Festibar singing contest in Italy and performed on the TV show \"Azzurro.\" \nLater in 1985, she fired her staff due to personal and artistic differences, feeling that her songs' arrangements were lacking variety. In an old castle near Milan, in Carimate, she began work with a new staff on The Legend, her next LP. The first single released from the album, \"Lancelot,\" was a hit single in Italy, and the second single, \"King Arthur\" was a moderate hit outside of Italy and was performed on the Italian music program Discoring. The songs \"The Magic Rain\" and \"Bow and Arrow\" were radio hits as well. \nIn 1986, Dore was voted the 6th best female artist in Italy by readers of Sorrisi e Canzoni. The following year, she left her producer Roberto Gasparini and then moved to London. In 1988, in London, Valerie Dore recorded the single \"Wrong Direction\" produced it with her future husband, Mauro Zavagli, for their new disco label \"MZM PRODUCTION\" (MauroZavagliMonica Production). She worked in a studio with German tecnic producer Ralph Ruppert and collaborated with musicians Nick Beegs from Kajagoogoo and Marck Price. The record only hit #23 in the Italian charts because it was not heavily promoted as had been the case with her past work. \nBetween 1990 and 1991, Dore and husband were in Madagascar where they began a casual collaboration with a local group, an aspiration that Dore long had. She wanted to record a new LP in a Caribbean style, but after some contact with international labels companies, she came to believe that such a record would be too different from her previous work and the rest of Italian dance music. In 1992, the ZXY label released Dore's The Best of Valerie Dore with bonus tracks: the extended versions of her dance hits \"The Night\", \"Get Closer\" and \"It's So Easy,\" plus two remixes of \"The Night\" done by DJ Oliver Momm. In 1995, Mauro and Dore were living in Arezzo, Toscana, where they sold golden antique iron beds which Dore restored by hand. At the same time, they had a gallery store in Milan. \n Return\nNovember 2006 : Valerie Dore returned in an Italian compilation with a new song \"How do I get to Mars?\". She also created a personal web site www.valeriedore.it (Italian). \nIn 2007 she promoted non-smoking, on \"Radio 24\". She had been smoking for 15 years, and it was affecting her voice and shortening her career. She wanted to inspire others to stop smoking as well, and, through radio and in an internet forum, she encouraged abstinence. \nIn 2007 she recorded two singles in order to stay with her father during his illness. She has composed new songs in her home studio. \nShe is preparing new publications.\u003c/p\u003e","musicPath":"/music/Valerie+Dore","playStationPath":"/stations/114864369/play","stationId":114864369,"bioPath":"/music/Valerie+Dore/_full_bio","similars":[{"musicPath":"/music/Joy","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/aca/acae5f9d38ab369d0df031fd6380fb96_md.jpg","artistName":"Joy","artistId":113452,"station_id":282569330},{"musicPath":"/music/Samantha+Fox","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/ca0/ca09da8aeb617f74e26d561511cb039f_md.jpg","artistName":"Samantha Fox","artistId":8584,"station_id":113419490},{"musicPath":"/music/Giorgio+Moroder","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/b62/b62765ed0b1038f6fda582294f50d2d8_md.jpg","artistName":"Giorgio Moroder","artistId":9300,"station_id":113361909},{"musicPath":"/music/Scotch","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/d69/d694a4af54c59651b06d4e360e956835_md.jpg","artistName":"Scotch","artistId":3875,"station_id":115290439},{"musicPath":"/music/Fun+Fun","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/5f8/5f8d9f2cc4df07f31b39a57116d6ade7_md.jpg","artistName":"Fun Fun","artistId":3868,"station_id":115290386},{"musicPath":"/music/Fancy","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/b69/b69f5bd3b6fac6e174ee9474bedeb793_md.jpg","artistName":"Fancy","artistId":252639,"station_id":361246707},{"musicPath":"/music/Gino+Soccio","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/89f/89fdbd206ae7a75e986fe19605caacf4_md.jpg","artistName":"Gino Soccio","artistId":72809,"station_id":265435958},{"musicPath":"/music/Modern+Talking","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/fe9/fe9e951ef564e018dc711c74843f0903_md.jpg","artistName":"Modern Talking","artistId":551,"station_id":113377580},{"musicPath":"/music/Nik+Kershaw","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/b43/b43d2bd79f37f4a60c2051873583e8a1_md.jpg","artistName":"Nik Kershaw","artistId":575,"station_id":113423349},{"musicPath":"/music/Men+Without+Hats","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/1dd/1dd940f2da32787631907d0f0d33522d_md.jpg","artistName":"Men Without Hats","artistId":1943,"station_id":113272454},{"musicPath":"/music/Jennifer+Rush","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/b86/b86a547d7724d0e2c1a9fbf55b851753_md.jpg","artistName":"Jennifer Rush","artistId":8893,"station_id":113421257},{"musicPath":"/music/Animotion","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/7ef/7ef56114fc8ac601735250ff49f2071a_md.jpg","artistName":"Animotion","artistId":7381,"station_id":113262376},{"musicPath":"/music/Hazell+Dean","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/418/418fa545b8bffb7cfb7e466b15661da6_md.jpg","artistName":"Hazell Dean","artistId":72812,"station_id":265435954},{"musicPath":"/music/The+Flirts","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/1d6/1d605f70d269d5e7b7f3589f4d4a4add_md.jpg","artistName":"The Flirts","artistId":8478,"station_id":113613189},{"musicPath":"/music/Silver+Pozzoli","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/d09/d09dd62c592f425e370fa4defef4efaf_md.jpg","artistName":"Silver Pozzoli","artistId":3876,"station_id":115290772},{"musicPath":"/music/Raf","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/72b/72b75dfd2bfe55d50026358be21933df_md.jpg","artistName":"Raf","artistId":101479,"station_id":280763757},{"musicPath":"/music/Joe+Yellow","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/336/336fa0efc3a704bb59fdd2f00a27f0e7_md.jpg","artistName":"Joe Yellow","artistId":94222,"station_id":287827902},{"musicPath":"/music/Imagination","artistDefaultImage":"https://artist99.cdn107.com/5ab/5abcaeb18cbd53c61a7b1324d9e60a26_md.jpg","artistName":"Imagination","artistId":5570,"station_id":113626974}]}