Erasure
Keyboard player and arranger Vince Clarke (born in 1960 in South
Woodford, London) had already enjoyed success as a member of
Depeche Mode and Yazoo when he decided to undertake a new project
in 1985. His plan was to record an album with 10 different
singers, but after auditioning vocalist Andy Bell the duo Erasure
was formed.
Erasure broke into the UK chart in 1986 with Sometimes,
which reached number two and was followed by It Doesn''t Have
To Be Me in 1987. The following month their second album, The
Circus, reached the UK Top 10 and their popularity rapidly
grew.
Memorable and infectious hits such as Victim Of Love, Ship
Of Fools, A Little Respect, Blue Savannah, Love
To Hate You and Breath Of Life established the band
as serious rivals to the Pet Shop Boys as the world's leading
vocal/synthesizer duo. Their appeal lay in the unlikely pairing of
the flamboyant Bell and the low-profile keyboards wizard and
songwriter Clarke.
Their stage-shows were spectacular events, whilst the overtly
gay Bell's taste in clothes was outrageously camp. During the
90''s, their singles and album sales continued to increase, with The
Innocents, Wild!, Chorus and I Say, I
Say, I Say all reaching number one on the UK album chart.
Their excellent pastiche of ABBA, 1992''s Abba-Esque
EP, topped the UK singles chart, although subsequent releases saw
a dip in the duo's popularity, and they took a sabbatical
following 1997''s Cowboy before recording the follow-up, Loveboat.
The duo returned to the UK Top 10 in January 2003 with a cover
version of Peter Gabriel's Salisbury Hill, the first
single to be released from an album entirely dedicated to
interpretations of other artists work.
|
