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Vince Clarke

Born in Basildon, Essex, England

Vince Clarke's Genre:

Synth Pop, Punk/New Wave, Electronic, Ambient Techno, Electronica, Techno

Biography

Through his groundbreaking work with Depeche Mode, Yaz, and finally Erasure, the mercurial Vince Clarke was among the driving forces behind the rise and continued vitality of the synth pop movement, his work proving an enormous influence on the subsequent emergence of electronica. Born July 3, 1960, in South Woodford, England, Clarke was raised in nearby Basildon, initially studying the violin before moving on to piano. In 1976, he teamed with schoolmate Andrew Fletcher to form No Romance in China; the duo proved short-lived and by 1979, Clarke had formed French Look, another two-piece featuring guitarist/keyboardist Martin L. Gore. Fletcher soon signed on and the group rechristened itself Composition of Sound; although Clarke initially handled vocal chores, in 1980 singer David Gahan was brought in to complete the lineup and after one final name change to Depeche Mode, the quartet jettisoned all instruments, excluding their synthesizers, honing a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies. Although Depeche Mode's 1981 debut LP Speak and Spell became a major hit, buoyed by the single "Just Can't Get Enough," Clarke left the lineup soon after the record's release; in his absence, Gore assumed songwriting duties and the group slowly achieved international stardom in the years to follow.

Clarke, meanwhile, formed Yazoo (shortened to simply Yaz for U.S. consumption) with singer Alison Moyet; the duo's 1982 debut Upstairs at Eric's reached the number two spot on the U.K. charts while the follow-up, You and Me Both, hit number one. However, after just a year and half together, Clarke and Moyet parted ways, with the latter pursuing a solo career; Clarke then teamed with ex-Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey just long enough to issue the single "Never Never" as the Assembly, followed by a collaboration with Paul Quinn for the 1985 single "One Day." That same year, Clarke placed a blind ad for a singer in a British music weekly; Andy Bell was selected from a pool of over 40 applicants and Erasure was born. The duo proved the most enduring of Clarke's projects, although their 1986 debut Wonderland was a commercial and critical disappointment. With 1988's The Innocents, Erasure scored a pair of American pop hits, "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect." While both 1989's Wild! and 1991's Chorus topped the British charts, the advent of grunge minimized dance-pop's immediate appeal and subsequent outings appeared to little notice. In 1999, Clarke teamed with fellow synth pop pioneer Martyn Ware as the Clarke & Ware Experiment, issuing the album Pretentious. Erasure's Vince Clarke followed two years later. A collaborative effort with Heaven 17's Martyn Ware, Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, appeared in spring 2001. ~ Jason Ankeny

AOL Radio Stations Vince Clarke is Featured on (1)

Vince Clarke

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Red Flag, The Assembly, Anything Box, Yaz, Erasure, Cause & Effect, De/Vision, Camouflage, Iris, Heaven 17 and more.

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Vince Clarke's Selected Discography (2)

Family Fantastic

2007 Cleopatra Records200713 Songs

Erasure's Vince Clarke

200124 Songs

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Artists Related to Vince Clarke (50)

	Red Flag	Synth-pop duo Red Flag released only one proper album for Enigma Records, but later resurfaced on their own label, Plan B Records.
	The Assembly	The tale of the Assembly is one of unfulfilled potential. After Yaz split up in 1983, keyboardist Vince Clarke, also formerly of Depeche Mode, began searching for another vocalist he could collaborate with.
	Anything Box	Formed in 1986 by Claude S. with two friends, Dania Morales and Paul Rijnders, the New Jersey trio Anything Box took their name from the title of a book of short stories.
	Yaz	Yazoo (known in the U.S. as Yaz) were a short-lived but quite successful synth-dance duo from the early '80s.
	Erasure	Following the disbandment of the short-lived synth pop group Yazoo, former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke formed Erasure in 1985 with singer Andy Bell.
	Cause & Effect	Robert Rowe and Sean Rowley formed the dance-pop group Cause & Effect in California in 1990. Combining Rowe's vocals and guitars with the keyboards and synthesizers of Rowley, the duo released a self-titled full-length in 1991 on the independent Exile label.
	De/Vision	De/vision is a synth-pop band from Darmstadt, Germany, consisting of vocalist Steffen and keyboardists Thomas and Markus.
	Camouflage	The German synth-pop trio Camouflage was officially formed in 1984 by vocalist Marcus Meyn and keyboardists/programmers Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig.
	Iris	Often described by critics as disposable, '80s synth pop acts such as Erasure and Depeche Mode continued to inspire young musicians to write hummable songs with a plethora of keyboards even into the '90s.
	Heaven 17	Taking their name from the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange, the U.K. techno-pop trio Heaven 17 grew out of the experimental dance project the British Electric Foundation, itself an offshoot of the electro-pop outfit Human League.
	Wolfsheim	Wolfsheim is one of Germany's inveterate synth pop groups, a band that has outlived numerous rock & roll trends by remaining committed to their original sound.
	Alphaville	German synth pop group Alphaville enjoyed major success in the United States with their early hits "Forever Young" and "Big in Japan," and went on to a lasting career in Europe, South America, and Asia.
	Cetu Javu	Cetu Javu was a new wave band from Germany that sang in Spanish. As far as Depeche Mode clones go, that was a fairly original twist on the synth pop formula.
	Cosmicity	Cosmicity is not a band; it's merely one person. Mark Nicholas, the only member of Cosmicity, attended the University of Michigan School of Music in the early '90s.
	New Order	Rising from the ashes of the legendary British post-punk unit Joy Division, the enigmatic New Order triumphed over tragedy to emerge as one of the most influential and acclaimed bands of the 1980s; embracing the electronic textures and disco rhythms of the underground club culture many years in advance of its contemporaries, the group's pioneering fusion of new wave aesthetics and dance music successfully bridged the gap between the two worlds, creating a distinctively thoughtful and oblique brand of synth pop appealing equally to the mind, body, and soul.
	Propaganda	Synth-pop band Propaganda was formed in Germany by vocalist Claudia Brücken and drummer Michael Mertens plus keyboard players Susanne Freytag and Ralf Dorper.
	Depeche Mode	Originally a product of Britain's new romantic movement, Depeche Mode went on to become the quintessential electro-pop band of the 1980s.
	Belouis Some	Belouis Some was probably the least-known act on 1986's Pretty in Pink soundtrack, an assemblage of previously unfamiliar new wave darlings such as the Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Smiths.
	Freur	Minor UK indie pop band which is most notable for featuring Carl (later Karl) Hyde (b. 10 May 1957, Worcester, Worcestershire, England) and Rick Smith (b.
	Visage	Pioneers of the New Romantic movement, the synth pop group Visage emerged in 1978 from the London club Blitz, a neo-glam nightspot which stood in stark contrast to the prevailing punk mentality of the moment.
	Real Life	The Australian new romantic band Real Life formed in the early '80s with a new wave-influenced sound similar to Duran Duran.
	David Gahan	Synth pop wasn't intended to have a soul. Pioneered by German techno wizards Kraftwerk in the '70s, electronic pop music became a haven for chilly detachment.
	Martin Gore	The driving creative force behind the groundbreaking synth pop group Depeche Mode, composer and keyboardist Martin Gore was born in Basildon, England, on July 23, 1961.
	Talk Talk	With the exception of a handful of common threads -- chief among them the plaintive vocals and haunting lyrics of frontman Mark Hollis -- there is little to suggest that the five studio LPs that make up the Talk Talk oeuvre are indeed the work of the same band throughout.
	The Human League	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.
	Ultravox	Rejecting the abrasive guitars of their punk-era contemporaries in favor of lushly romantic synthesizers, Ultravox emerged as one of the primary influences on the British electro-pop movement of the early '80s.
	Bronski Beat	London's Bronski Beat will be remembered for a number of things. Anyone who has seen the video for "Smalltown Boy" -- which remains gripping and sobering decades later -- can likely recall at least one of its scenes in vivid detail.
	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Featuring the core members Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey, the Liverpudlian synth pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark formed in the late '70s.
	China Crisis	A bit fiery for most in the new romantic camp during the early '80s, China Crisis was inspired by similar sources but injected their pop songs with occasional political commentary and bluesy, reggae rhythms.
	Blancmange	Taking their name from a type of cooked pudding, the electronic duo Blancmange interlaced the arty, exotic dance rhythms of Talking Heads with the quirky melodrama of early-'80s British synth pop.
	Icehouse	Though it has had varying personnel, Icehouse was essentially a vehicle for the work of Australian Iva Davies.
	Naked Eyes	A key presence in the synth pop movement of the early '80s, Naked Eyes formed in Britain in 1981. Comprised of former schoolmates Pete Byrne (vocals) and Rob Fisher (keyboards), the duo debuted in March 1983 with the LP Burning Bridges, reissued in the U.
	Peter Godwin	Peter Godwin (vocals) seemingly appeared out of nowhere when he released the single "Images of Heaven" in 1982.
	Marc Almond	After disbanding Soft Cell, vocalist Marc Almond pursued a solo career that followed the same vaguely sleazy, electronic dance-pop his former group had made popular.
	ABC	One of the most popular new wave bands of the early '80s, the British group ABC built upon the detached, synthesized R&B pop of David Bowie and Roxy Music, adding a self-conscious, campy sense of theatrics and style.
	a-ha	Pal Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmen, formerly of Bridges formed a-ha in the early '80s. Morten Harket joined the duo, and they left for the now "legendary London flat" (so called because of its state of disrepair) to make it.
	Electronic	One of the first supergroups from post-punk Great Britain, Electronic is the on-off project formed by New Order's Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, former guitarist of the Smiths.
	Pet Shop Boys	Postmodern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, Pet Shop Boys established themselves among the most commercially and critically successful groups of their era with cheeky, smart, and utterly danceable music.
	Book of Love	The synth pop group Book of Love were dance club staples in the '80s. Book of Love formed in Philadelphia, PA, by former art school students Susan Ottaviano (vocals), Ted Ottaviano (keyboards, vocals), Jade Lee (keyboards, vocals), and Lauren Roselli (keyboards, vocals) in 1984.
	Underworld	Underworld became one of the most crucial electronic acts of the 1990s via an intriguing synthesis of old and new.
	Information Society	An agreeable dance outfit with ties to industrial music, techno, and funk plus an equally appreciable pop sense, Information Society hit the dance clubs and later the charts with their infectious breakout single, 1988's "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy).
	Covenant	Covenant is a Swedish electronic band signed to San Francisco's 21st Circuitry Records. Their music is built around deep, droning tones and thundering rhythms that support dark songs focusing on science fictional and cyberpunk themes, such as "Replicant" and "Painamplifier" from Dreams of a Cryotank.
	The Bolshoi	The British band the Bolshoi flirted with gothic rock without succumbing to the genre's limitations.
	Peter Schilling	While numerous new wave artists in the early '80s tried to imitate David Bowie, Peter Schilling went a step further.
	Seabound	When a mutual friend introduced Germans Frank Spinath and Martin Vorbroot to each other, they both felt their personalities were too different to form a successful band.
	Soft Cell	Art students Marc Almond and Dave Ball formed Soft Cell, a synth pop duo famed for its uniquely sleazy electronic sound, in Leeds, England in 1980.
	Gary Numan	One of the founding fathers of synth pop, Gary Numan's influence extends far beyond his lone American hit, "Cars," which still stands as one of the defining new wave singles.
	A Flock of Seagulls	As well-known for their bizarrely teased haircuts as their hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)," A Flock of Seagulls were one of the infamous one-hit wonders of the new wave era.
	Morrissey	As the lead singer of the Smiths, arguably the most important indie band in Britain during the '80s, Morrissey's theatrical crooning and literate, poetic lyrics -- filled with romantic angst, social alienation, and cutting wit -- connected powerfully with a legion of similarly sensitive, disaffected youth.
	Thomas Dolby	Though he never had many hits, Thomas Dolby became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth pop movement of early-'80s new wave.

from: Family Fantastic

2007 Cleopatra Records