Michelle Branch Catches Stalker Mid-Concert

Friday, March 30, 2007

Twenty–three-year-old pop singer Michelle Branch startled an audience earlier this week in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, when she halted mid-show to ask someone to check out a man she described with a striped shirt and glasses.  Attendees wondered if it was part of the concert, confused by the unusual turn of events, says witness Cali Haas, aged 20, of Sheboygan.

Employees of the Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts halted the man’s attempted flight.  He was cited for disorderly conduct.  According to authorities, 32-year-old Dominick Giordano has been stalking Branch since 2003.  Even the restraining order after a 2004 Arkansas arrest had expired in that time.  Giordano had somehow gotten into private events through the years, following Branch around the country and attempting to engage in inappropriate behaviour towards her.

Besides attempts to touch her inappropriately, he’d once lunged at her during an autograph signing.  How Giordano entered private events and meet-and-greets is still unknown.  He regularly sent her videos and letters.  Branch hadn’t expected to see him in Sheboygan despite his presence at her last several shows, and his unexpected appearance frightened her because Owen, her 19-month-old daughter had been there.

Once the incident was over, she apologized to the audience.  Her final song of the night followed.

Despite her previous pop successes and Grammy award “The Game of Love,” (sung with Carlos Santana), Branch has branched out into country music.  She is currently on tour with The Wreckers and Jessica Harp.