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.

Filmography

• 2026The Law of Karma — Baletti
• 2022Elle m'a sauvée — Maître Nathalie Tomasin
• 2022The Demons of Dorothy — Motherator, Music
• The Traveller — Anna Farou
• 2017Stars 80, la suite — Lio
• 2015Belgian Disaster — Marie-Claire
• 2013Henri — Rita
• Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie — Muriel Lange
• 2012Stars 80 — Lio
• 2011Le Temps du silence — La chanteuse
• 2011À dix minutes de nulle part — Marie
• 2010Love Like Poison — Jeanne Falguères
• 2009The Evening Dress — Hélène Solenska
• 2008Le Prince de ce monde — Florence
• 2008Rien dans les poches — Nicole Manikowski
• 2007A Parting Shot — Eugenia
• Lost Signs — Michèle Costa
• 2007The Last Mistress — La chanteuse
• 2005C'est la vie, camarade! — Charlène
• 2005Invisible — Carole Stevens
• 2005Les Vacances de Noël — Lio
• Colette, une femme libre — Marguerite Moreno
• 2004Mariages! — Micky
• 2002Carnage — Betty
• 1997Christmas at Bunny's — La fiancée de Bugs Bunny
• 1995God, My Mother's Lover and the Butcher's Son — Gabrielle
• 1995La niña de tus sueños — Françoise
• 1994Nobody Loves Me — Marie
• 1993The Dead Mother — Maite
• 1992Love After Love — Marianne
• 1992Sans un cri — Anne
• 1991Dirty Like an Angel — Barbara
• 1991Jealousy — Camille
• 1989Separate Bedrooms — Marie
• 1989Wedding morning — Vocals
• 1988Itinerary of a Spoiled Child — Yvette, Sam's first wife
• 1987Dorothée Show — Lio
• 1986Golden Eighties — Mado
• 1985Elsa, Elsa — Elsa, number one

Appearances as themselves (47)

• 2026Taratata fête le Zénith 1984 — Self : Guest
• "Couch" by Lena Situations — Self - Guest
• From Rock Star to Killer — Self
• 2025Lio — Self
• 2025Nos Voix Pour Toutes 2025 — Self
• 2024Années 80, les brunes comptent plus pour des prunes ! — Self (voice / archive footage)
• 2024Belgomania, toute la Belgique qu'on aime ! — Self
• 2024La Génération des Enfants du rock — Self (voice)
• 2024Les Scandaleuses — Self
• 2024Nos Voix Pour Toutes 2024 — Self
• Drag Race Belgium — Self - Guest Judge, Self - Judge
• 2023Et Dieu créa Barbie — Self
• 2023L'Âge d'or de la pub — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Une journée avec Jacques Brel — Self
• Il était une fois Champs-Élysées — Self
• La Boîte à secrets — Self
• Mask Singer — Self
• 2018Les années 80, le grand concert — Self
• 2017Stars 80 - Triomphe — Self
• Amanda — Self
• Quotidien — Self - Guest
• 2015Stars 80, le concert au Stade de France — Self
• 2012Kids of Töday — Self
• 2012RFM Party 80 La tournée Best of à Bercy — Self
• 2012The Music According to Tom Jobim — Self (archive footage)
• Danse avec les stars — Self - Candidate
• 2011Images of Women of the Social Corset — Self
• The Voice Belgique — Self - Coach
• 2009Bulles de Vian — Self
• C à vous — Self - Guest
• 2004Bonjour la France — Self
• La Méthode Cauet — Self - Guest
• Star Academy — Self
• Vivement dimanche — Self
• 1995Drôle de Noël pour Jérémy — Self
• 1991Les nuls, l'émission avec Lio — self
• Les Nuls, l'émission — Self - Guest
• Collaricocoshow — Self
• Le monde est à vous — Self
• Nulle part ailleurs — Self
• Sacrée soirée — Self
• La Chance aux chansons — Self
• Champs-Elysées — Self, Self - Los Portos
• Fan School — Self
• Midi Première — Self
• Numéro un — Self
• Le Grand Échiquier — Self