HER success story began in Japan. When Donna De Lory was a back-up singer during Madonna's 1987 ''Who's That Girl'' World Tour in Japan, she had little inkling that five years later her first single, ''Praying for Love'', would beat the superstar and Whitney Houston on that country's airplay chart.
Her debut album, Donna De Lory, was launched in Japan last year because Japan MCA Records pushed strongly for it.
It has sold at least 20,000 copies so far and is now looking for a spring release elsewhere.
Already the energetic brunette has set her eyes on Southeast Asia.
Last month she visited Japan and Hongkong.
While here, she held phone interviews with disc jockeys and the press in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.