Personalities | The Human League | Eighties | Rock

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1977–present)

The original line-up of this Sheffield band produced the Top 20 UK album Travelogue (1980). Martyn Ware and Ian Craig-Marsh then left, later forming Heaven 17. Singer Phil Oakley enlisted Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley (vocals) and Jo Callis, ex-Rezillos (guitar). Adrian Wright (synthesizers, visuals) and Ian Burden (bass, synthesizers) completed the personnel who made Dare in 1981. This superb album combined the arty, Krautrock beginnings of the band with an irresistible pop feel. The group had already charted big with ‘The Sound Of The Crowd’ and ‘Love Action’, but Dare unleashed the transatlantic No. 1 ‘Don’t You Want Me’. Hysteria (1984) was a disappointment but the group delivered another US chart-topper with ‘Human’ from Crash (1986), made with hip American producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Further albums and a good mid-1990s revival did not quite live up to a heyday that had produced synth-pop perfection.

Styles & Forms | Eighties | Rock
Personalities | Hüsker Dü | Eighties | Rock

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

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