Human league - Biography
Synth pop's first international superstars, the Human
League were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop
mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, their marriage of
infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proving enormously
influential on countless acts following in their wake. The group was formed in
Sheffield, England, in 1977 by synth players Martyn
Ware and Ian Marsh, who'd previously teamed as the duo
Dead Daughters; following a brief tenure as the Future, they rechristened
themselves the Human League after enlisting vocalist Philip Oakey. The trio
soon recorded a demo, and played their first live dates; they soon tapped Adrian
Wright as their "Director of Visuals," and his slide shows quickly
became a key component of their performances.
Signing with the indie label Fast, in 1978 the Human
League issued their first single, "Being Boiled"; a minor underground
hit, it was followed by a tour in support of Siouxsie & the Banshees. After
a 1979 EP, The Dignity of Labour, the group released its first full-length
effort, Reproduction, a dark, dense work influenced largely by Kraftwerk.
Travelogue followed the next year and reached the U.K. Top 20; still, internal
tensions forced Ware and Marsh to quit the group in late 1980, at which time
they formed the British Electronic Foundation. Their departure forced Wright to
begin learning to play the synthesizer; at the same time, Oakey recruited
bassist Ian Burden as well as a pair of schoolgirls, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, to handle additional vocal duties.
The first single from the revamped Human League,
1981's "Boys and Girls," reached the British Top 50; recorded with
producer Martin Rushent, the follow-up "Sound of
the Crowd" fell just shy of the Top Ten. Their next single, "Love
Action," reached number three, and after adding ex-Rezillo
With the help of Jo Callis the League issued "Open Your Heart,"
another hit. Still, their true breakthrough was the classic single "Don't
You Want Me," from the album Dare!; both topped
their respective charts in
The much-anticipated full-length Hysteria finally
surfaced in mid-1984, heralding a more forceful sound than earlier Human League
releases; the record failed to match the massive success of Dare!, however,
with the single "The Lebanon" earning insignificant airplay. The
group soon went on indefinite hiatus, and Oakey recorded a 1985 solo LP with
famed producer Giorgio Moroder titled simply Philip
Oakey & Giorgio Moroder. To the surprise of many,
the Human League resurfaced in 1986 with Crash, produced by the duo of Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis; the plaintive lead single "Human" soon topped
the U.S. charts, but the group failed to capitalize on its comeback success,
disappearing from the charts for the remainder of the decade.
When the Human League finally returned in 1990 with
Romantic?, their chart momentum had again dissipated,
and the single "Heart Like a Wheel" barely managed to rise into the
Top 40. The record was the band's last with longtime label Virgin; now a trio consisting of Oakey,
Sulley, and Catherall, they ultimately signed with
the EastWest label, teaming with producer Ian Stanley
for 1995's Octopus. The album went largely unnoticed both at home and overseas,
with the single "Stay With Me Tonight" issued solely in the