Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos (born 17 June 1962), known professionally as Lio, is a Portuguese-Belgian singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s. In 2024 she began serving as a judge on Drag Race Belgium.
Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos (born 17 June 1962), known professionally as Lio, is a Portuguese-Belgian singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s. In 2024 she began serving as a judge on Drag Race Belgium.
Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos was born on 17 June 1962 in Mangualde, Portugal. When her father was called up to fight in the Portuguese Army, the family moved to Mozambique. Her parents divorced and, in 1968, Vanda moved with her mother and new stepfather to Brussels, Belgium, where her sister, actress Helena Noguerra, was born. In her teens she was determined to become a singer, and she was encouraged by singer-songwriter Jacques Duvall (né Eric Verwilghem), a family friend. She took her stage name, Lio, from a character in the Barbarella comic books by Jean-Claude Forest.
In 1979, together with songwriter Jay Alanski, she and Duvall began working with Marc Moulin and Dan Lacksman from the electro-trio Telex. Her first two singles were "Le Banana Split", which sold over 1 million copies, and "Amoureux solitaires", a song originally by punk rock band Stinky Toys. Both songs rose to the top of many pop charts in France, and Moulin and Lacksman also produced her self-titled first album. In 1982 the American music duo Ron and Russell Mael, of Sparks, worked with her on the album Suite sixtine, on which some of her previous songs were translated into English. Suite sixtine was compiled and art directed by Ralph Alfonso for Attic Records Canada, where it was originally released. Her second album, Amour toujours, was produced by Alain Chamfort and released in 1983. The same year, she first appeared on the screen in Chantal Akerman's film Golden Eighties, a lighthearted, humorous French pop musical about the people who work together in a Parisian shopping center. Lio plays a carefree hairdresser in the movie.. In 1984, she was featured in a TV special with France Gall called “Formule 1”, where she sang "Be My Baby" with Gall.
In 1985, she met record company executive and producer Michel Esteban, of ZE Records. She continued to have hit singles in Europe, including "Les brunes comptent pas pour des prunes", and travelled to Los Angeles with Esteban to record her next album Pop model. Several of the tracks were co-produced by John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground, and the album produced the hits "Fallait pas commencer", "Je casse tout ce que je touche", and "Chauffeur". In 1988, after she had given birth to a daughter with Esteban, she resumed her acting career, starring in Claude Lelouch's film Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté. The Lio-Esteban partnership produced another album, Can can, recorded in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. She also designed a fashion collection for the European department store chain Prisunic. ...
Source: Article "Lio (singer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0513299
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q462403
Facebook: https://facebook.com/liolavraieofficiel
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lio_la_vraie
X: No data
Filmography (Movies)
Nos Voix Pour Toutes 2025
Character:Self
Release Date:19/11/2025
Lio
Character:Self
Release Date:10/10/2025
Les Scandaleuses
Character:Self
Release Date:20/12/2024
Nos Voix Pour Toutes 2024
Character:Self
Release Date:27/11/2024
Années 80, les brunes comptent plus pour des prunes !
Character:Self (voice / archive footage)
Release Date:26/04/2024
La Génération des Enfants du rock
Character:Self (voice)
Release Date:16/02/2024
L'Âge d'or de la pub
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:02/06/2023
Et Dieu créa Barbie
Character:Self
Release Date:28/04/2023
Elle m'a sauvée
Character:Maître Nathalie Tomasin
Release Date:22/03/2022
The Demons of Dorothy
Character:Motherator
Release Date:14/01/2022
Les années 80, le grand concert
Character:Self
Release Date:27/12/2018
Stars 80, la suite
Character:Lio
Release Date:06/12/2017
Stars 80 - Triomphe
Character:Self
Release Date:02/12/2017
Belgian Disaster
Character:Marie-Claire
Release Date:30/09/2015
Stars 80, le concert au Stade de France
Character:Self
Release Date:09/05/2015
Henri
Character:Rita
Release Date:04/12/2013
Stars 80
Character:Lio
Release Date:24/10/2012
The Music According to Tom Jobim
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:20/05/2012
Kids of Töday
Character:Self
Release Date:13/04/2012
RFM Party 80 La tournée Best of à Bercy
Character:Self
Release Date:12/03/2012
À dix minutes de nulle part
Character:Marie
Release Date:13/06/2011
Le Temps du silence
Character:La chanteuse
Release Date:10/02/2011
Images of Women of the Social Corset
Character:Self
Release Date:05/01/2011
Love Like Poison
Character:Jeanne Falguères
Release Date:08/04/2010
The Evening Dress
Character:Hélène Solenska
Release Date:12/12/2009
Bulles de Vian
Character:Self
Release Date:18/06/2009
Rien dans les poches
Character:Nicole Manikowski
Release Date:14/12/2008
Le Prince de ce monde
Character:Florence
Release Date:18/06/2008
The Last Mistress
Character:La chanteuse
Release Date:30/05/2007
A Parting Shot
Character:Eugenia
Release Date:30/05/2007
Invisible
Character:Carole Stevens
Release Date:15/06/2005
Les Vacances de Noël
Character:Lio
Release Date:01/06/2005
C'est la vie, camarade!
Character:Charlène
Release Date:04/01/2005
Bonjour la France
Character:Self
Release Date:21/06/2004
Mariages!
Character:Micky
Release Date:21/04/2004
Carnage
Character:Betty
Release Date:17/05/2002
Christmas at Bunny's
Character:La fiancée de Bugs Bunny
Release Date:24/12/1997
Drôle de Noël pour Jérémy
Character:Self
Release Date:24/12/1995
God, My Mother's Lover and the Butcher's Son
Character:Gabrielle
Release Date:01/07/1995
La niña de tus sueños
Character:Françoise
Release Date:27/05/1995
Nobody Loves Me
Character:Marie
Release Date:09/03/1994
The Dead Mother
Character:Maite
Release Date:05/11/1993
Love After Love
Character:Marianne
Release Date:15/04/1992
Sans un cri
Character:Anne
Release Date:18/03/1992
Jealousy
Character:Camille
Release Date:26/06/1991
Dirty Like an Angel
Character:Barbara
Release Date:19/06/1991
Les nuls, l'émission avec Lio
Character:self
Release Date:12/01/1991
Separate Bedrooms
Character:Marie
Release Date:22/11/1989
Itinerary of a Spoiled Child
Character:Yvette, Sam's first wife
Release Date:30/11/1988
Dorothée Show
Character:Lio
Release Date:26/12/1987
Golden Eighties
Character:Mado
Release Date:25/06/1986
Elsa, Elsa
Character:Elsa, number one
Release Date:22/10/1985
Television Appearances
From Rock Star to Killer
Character:Self
Drag Race Belgium
Character:Self - Guest Judge
Drag Race Belgium
Character:Self - Judge
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
Character:Self
Mask Singer
Character:Hippocampe
La Boîte à secrets
Character:Self
The Traveller
Character:Anna Farou
Quotidien
Character:Self - Guest
Amanda
Character:Self
Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie
Character:Muriel Lange
The Voice Belgique
Character:Self - Coach
C à vous
Character:Self - Guest
Lost Signs
Character:Michèle Costa
Colette, une femme libre
Character:Marguerite Moreno
Star Academy
Character:Self
Vivement dimanche
Character:Self
Les Nuls, l'émission
Character:Self - Guest
Collaricocoshow
Character:Self
Le monde est à vous
Character:Self
Sacrée Soirée
Character:Self
Nulle part ailleurs
Character:Self
La Chance aux chansons
Character:Self
Champs-Elysées
Character:Self
Champs-Elysées
Character:Self - Los Portos
Fan School
Character:Self
Numéro un
Character:Self
Midi Première
Character:Self
Le Grand Échiquier
Character:Self
Images
