The Human League

The Human League came into being in 1977. The group was united in their quest to create avant-garde, fresh, electronic music that relied on the technology of their day. The group began to gain traction and popularity after they hired a Director of Visuals and began including video clips and extreme lighting within their sets. The sheer entertainment value coupled with the fresh sounds of singles such as “Being Boiled” won the group the beginnings of their following, but this fan base grew exponentially with the release of “Don’t You Want Me”.

The Human League are considered to have started the second wave British Invasion of the United States after their breakthrough single “Don’t You Want Me” went to number one in the US and multiple countries around the world. The song and the band inspired multiple new wave artists and exploded the electronic, avant-garde music scene.

The band has released nine studio albums since 1979. Five were top 20 hits in the UK and two were top 40 hits in the US. The band’s most successful album was 1981’s “Dare” which hit the number one spot in the UK, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada and peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart. It was this album that contained the platinum selling single “Don’t You Want Me” as well as “Open Your Heart” and “Love Action (I Believe In Love)”.

Having sold more than 20 million records world wide, the band has certainly been influential on individuals and bands worldwide. Bands such as Moby and the Pet Shop Boys as well as Little Boots all attribute their sound and style to The Human League. The Human League has toured extensively across the globe and in 2007 they toured with a performance of the set list from their hit album “Dare”. Fans were so excited for this special performance that the band managed to sell out nearly every date. One thing’s for certain, when it comes to any live performance from The Human League: they’ve still got it!

Born in Southport, Lancashire in 1957, Marc Almond moved around the north of England regularly before settling in Horsforth, a suburb of Leeds. Discovering British radio icon John Peel as a child, Almond developed an appreciation for the stage music “Hair” soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Marc Bolan. During his time studying Performance Art at Leeds Polytechnic, the singer and performer met fellow student David Ball, with whom he subsequently formed Soft Cell in 1979.

In 1980 the pair signed to Some Bizarre Label and achieved great success with the singles “Tainted Love”, “Bedsitter”, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, “Torch”, “What!”, and “Memorabilia”. Securing nine Top 40 singles and four Top 20 albums, Soft Cell ultimately disbanded in 1984, however reunited in 2001 to release the album “Cruelty Without Beauty”.

As a solo artist Almond has released a prodigious amount of music, which largely retain the art-aesthetic of Soft Cell releases however align more closely to pop. Almond’s debut solo album arrived in 1984 entitled “Vermin in Ermine”, and earned a string of esteemed reviews. Two albums on Virgin Records followed, “Stories of Johnny” in 1985 and, “Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters” in 1987.

Following a string of albums on Parlophone and Some Bizarre Label, Almond achieved his greatest solo success to date with his 1991 album “Tenement Symphony”. Two more albums on Some Bizarre Label followed before the singer-songwriter signed with Blue Star Music and released the records “Open All Night”, “Stranger Things”, and “Heart on Snow”. Maintaining his momentum well into the second decade of the new millennium, Almond went on to release the albums “Varieté”, “Feasting with Panthers”, “The Tyburn Tree (Dark London)”, “The Dancing Marquis”, “Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle”, and “The Velvet Trail”.