Tell Me When

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The only constant band member since 1977 has been lead singer and songwriter Philip Oakey. Keyboard players Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh both left the band in 1980 to form Heaven 17, leaving Oakey and Adrian Wright to assemble a new line-up. The Human League then evolved into a commercially successful new pop band, [2] with the line-up comprising Oakey, Wright, vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, bassist and keyboard player Ian Burden and guitarist and keyboard player Jo Callis. Wright, Burden and Callis all left the band by the end of the 1980s, since which time the band has essentially been a trio of Oakey, Catherall and Sulley with various sidemen. The Human League are an English synth-pop [1] band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981 after restructuring their lineup. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit " Don't You Want Me". The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including " Mirror Man", " (Keep Feeling) Fascination", " The Lebanon", " Human" (a second US No.1) and " Tell Me When". The Human League were one of the headline acts in the line-up at Spillers Wharf on 30 May 2009, in the Newcastle/Gateshead Evolution festival, and were one of the headline bands for Dubai's first music festival, the 'Dubai Sound City' festival, between 5 and 7 November 2009. Since 1978, the Human League have released 9 studio albums, a remix album, a live album, 6 EPs, 29 singles and 13 compilation albums. They have had 6 top 20 albums and 13 top 20 singles in the UK and had sold more than 20 million records worldwide by 2010. [3] [4] As an early techno-pop [5] act that received extensive MTV airplay, they are regarded as one of the leading artists of the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. [6] History [ edit ] 1970s: Early years [ edit ]

Pareles, Jon (1 August 1998). "POP REVIEW; Early 80's Return, With English Artifice". The New York Times . Retrieved 10 September 2011.Throughout the following years, the band has continued to tour frequently, enjoying enduring success and popularity as a live act. In 2004, they released ‘The Human League Live At The Dome’, a DVD of a live show in filmed at the Brighton Dome complete with a compilation CD called ‘Live At The Dome’. Prior to this, in 2003, Virgin records had released ‘The Very Best of the Human League’, a DVD of most of their previously recorded music videos and, at the end of 2005, they released a compilation album of remixes called ‘The Human League Original Remixes and Rarities’ aimed mostly at the DJ/Dance market. In August 1978 the band recorded a session for John Peel, including a re-worked version of "Being Boiled." [10] Human League record first album for nine years". Sheffield Telegraph. 14 January 2010 . Retrieved 30 January 2014. Oakey has stated that upon discovering the girls were only teenagers and also best friends, he invited them both so they could look after each other on the tour for safety. He has also said that he thought having two women as vocalists and dancers would also add glamour to the band. Because of the girls' ages, Oakey and Wright later had to visit Sulley and Catherall's respective parents to obtain permission for the girls to go on the tour. Their parents let them join the band under the provision that Oakey would keep them safe. Sulley also reported that both her father and Catherall's went to the girls' school and convinced them that the experience of touring could be highly educational because of the travelling involved. [16]

Together In Electric Dreams’(Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder cover) (found on 1985 ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ album) The old posters were torn down. The League posters went up. If you were older and/or more clued in to the musical avant-garde, you already knew all about The Human League. For my generation, they were the fresh sound of a new decade. Eagerly, you re-investigated their enigmatic past… Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. Faber and Faber, 2005. ISBN 978-0571215706 On 11 December 2009, the Human League signed a new recording contract with UK based Wall of Sound. [37] They also have their own studio in Sheffield [38] and are managed by Sidewinder Management Ltd. The band continue to record and play live, with regular appearances at music festivals worldwide, at many of which they are among the headliners.Bob Last believed that the band could be improved further by the addition of one more professional musician, so in April 1981, his associate Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos whom Last had previously managed) was invited to become the final permanent member of the band. The next single, " Love Action (I Believe in Love)", reached No.3 in the UK in August 1981. The band set about arranging their existing material and demos into a viable album, produced by Rushent. Sulley and Catherall, who had just left school, immediately postponed their plans to attend university to work on the album. In 2003, a second single from Secrets, " Love Me Madly?", was released independently as a private venture by Nukove, a small independent label especially set up to release Human League material, but it did not have funds for promotion and the single did not chart. [33] Also in 2003, Virgin records released The Very Best of The Human League, a DVD of most of their previously recorded music videos. The DVD sold well in the UK and US and was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name. Finally in May 1984, the band released the politically charged single " The Lebanon" about the Lebanese Civil War. The single peaked at No.11 in the UK. This was followed shortly thereafter by the album Hysteria, so called because of the difficult and tense recording process. It entered the UK album chart at No.3; however, it climbed no further and critics and fans were divided by the new direction the band had taken. The second single was " Life on Your Own" in mid-1984. The single peaked at No.16. In addition to Sulley and Catherall, Oakey employed professional musician Ian Burden from Sheffield synth band Graph as a session keyboard player for the tour to cover for the keyboards of the now departed Ware and Marsh. [ citation needed] At the end of 2005, together with EMI, the band released a compilation album of remixes. Called The Human League Original Remixes and Rarities, it was aimed at the DJ/Dance market in the US and UK.

Hamilton, James (24 December 1994). "Dj directory" (PDF). Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). p.7 . Retrieved 23 April 2021. A 12" single remix of " Things That Dreams Are Made Of" (originally from the Dare! album) was released in the UK in January 2008, by Hooj Choons. It peaked at No.2 on the UK Dance chart.

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The Human League's work was now recognised on both sides of the Atlantic. In February 1983, the band was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards (though the award eventually went to Men at Work). [25] BBC – Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – 08/08/1978 The Human League". www.bbc.co.uk . Retrieved 12 May 2022. A change in management at EastWest in 1998 saw the cancellation of the band's contract once again. Afterward, the band co-headlined with Culture Club and Howard Jones on VH1's 1980s "Big Rewind" nostalgia tour [29] and made other concert and public appearances throughout 1997–2000. In May 1980, the band toured the UK. Philip Adrian Wright was now playing incidental keyboards in addition to his visuals role. It was the last time all four members performed together live. Also in May, the band released their second studio album Travelogue. More commercial-sounding than Reproduction, it peaked at No.16 in the UK, giving the band their first real success. As a result, "Empire State Human" was re-released and the band made their second appearance on Top of the Pops, even though it only reached No.62 in the singles chart.