After Dinner Speakers: Marc Almond, The Rt Hon Lord Denis Healey, Stuart Hall

Marc Almond began his musical career in 1980 as half of the Leeds, England-based duo Soft Cell. Best known for its 1981 international hit "Tainted Love," Soft Cell broke up in 1984. Almond had already formed a new group, Marc and the Mambas, which also featured Matt Johnson of The The and keyboardist Annie Hogan. After releasing two albums with the Mambas -- Untitled and Torment and Toreros, both from 1983 -- Almond recruited a new backup group, the Willing Sinners, with whom he recorded 1984's Vermin in Ermine and 1985's Stories of Johnny. In 1987 Marc Almond officially began a solo career with Mother Fist...and Her Five Daughters, which featured a bleaker version of the soulful Euro-disco he had been performing since his days with Soft Cell. 1988's Stars We Are, a more upbeat project, returned Almond to the U.S. market; several more albums followed, the most recent being 1996's Absinthe: the French Album. Almond frequently covers other artists, most notably the Belgian cabaret singer Jacques Brel.