After winning a songwriting contest with a song about a young victim of drug addiction as a teenager, Valente collaborated with Gianni Bella on his album G.B.

In 1985 she met singer Mango, starting a partnership in both music and life: he not only had Valente provide vocals for his albums Australia (1985), Odissea (1986), Inseguendo l'aquila (1988) and Sirtaki (1990), but also produced her first studio album Tempo di Blues (1986), which despite not selling well, was met with good reviews by the critics.

In 1990 she replaced Antonella Ruggiero as the lead singer of the famed group Matia Bazar; her first album with the band is Anime Pigre (1991), marking a switch to a more modern, rocking style.

After the death of Matia Bazar's bassist and main songwriter Aldo Stellita in 1998, however, Valente decided to leave the group to focus on her family.

During the 2000s, Laura mainly collaborated with her by-then husband Mango, notably duetting with him on his song Chissà se nevica during the third night of Sanremo Music Festival 2007 on 1 March.