A synth/pop duo from England, Erasure began in the 1980's and consisted of the introverted songwriter and keyboard player Vince Clarke and the flamboyant singer Andy Bell. After a few false starts, they started to appear regularly in the music charts and sold millions of albums worldwide as well as appearing in sell out tours. Currently on a break, a new album is pencilled in for release in late 2010.
Vincent John Martin (later changed to Clarke) was born in South Woodford, London on 3/7/60. He was always a musical child and studied the Violin and Piano, becoming accomplished at both. On leaving school, there was one career option for young Vince, that of being a musician. His first foray into the world of pop was the short lived band No romance in China, we he had formed with a schoolmate Andy Fletcher. This then evolved into French look, and then Composition of sound. His first taste of success was when Dave Gahan joined as vocalist and Depeche Mode was born, who had great success in the early 80's.
Vince didn't stick around to see much of this success as he as the main songwriter and didn't like the musical direction of the band. He left the band and formed Yazoo with Alison Moyet; they also enjoyed a string of hit singles before splitting in 1983. For the next couple of years Vince toyed with various ensembles and sounds until in 1985, he had a catalogue of songs and needed someone to sing them, so posted an ad in the music paper Melody Maker.
One of the many responses to the ad came from Andrew Ivan Bell, born 25/4/64 in Peterborough. He was a great fan of Clarke's earlier work and the two hit it off immediately and Erasure was born. Their first 3 singles were commercial flops in the UK, although the 3rd one, 'Oh L'amour' sold well in Australia and France. It was there fourth single, 'Sometimes', released in 1986, that established them with the music buying public.
After that the duo went from strength to strength. Their debut album, 'The circus', earned platinum status in the UK and 3 singles from the album all hit the charts; 'Circus', 'Victim of Love' and' It doesn't have to be'. In 1988, Erasure released their 3rd album,' The Innocents'. This entered the charts at #1, stayed in the chart, and returned to the top spot a year later, gaining triple platinum status. It was also their breakthrough in the US, also turning platinum and resulting in 2 hit singles on the billboard chart; 'A little respect' and 'chains of love'.
In the early 1990's Erasure were riding high and could do no wrong in their fans eyes. Sell out tours gave the outrageous and openly gay Andy free reign, with his stage outfits becoming more and more daring and flamboyant. In 1994, they released 'Say Say Say', which was their fifth consecutive album to hit #1 in the album charts. The first single released from the album, 'Always', became their 3rd hit single in the US. It's hard to believe that with all their success, they only ever had one #1 single in the UK, the 1992 release 'Abba-esque', which was four Abba songs fused together.
The 1995 album, simply named 'Erasure' was a marked departure from their distinctive sound, and didn't fare well commercially. They returned to their roots in 1997 with 'Cowboy', but the damage was done and Erasure's star was on the wane. At the end of 2004, Andy announced that he was HIV positive and had been since 1998.
They had a brief return to form in 2005 when the single 'Breathe' reached #4, their first top 5 hit for over a decade. They continued to produce more dance orientated music which, by their own admission, was more for personal satisfaction than anything else. They are still on the break they took on 2005 but word is that they are working on a new album. In a time when so many bands are making a comeback, die hard Erasure fans are hoping their heroes will follow suit.
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