After Dinner Speakers: Erasure, Ben Shephard, Sheena Sheena Easton

Keyboard player and arranger Vince Clarke (b. 3 July 1960, South Woodford, London, England) had already enjoyed success as a member of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and the Assembly when he decided to undertake a new project in 1985. The plan was to record an album with 10 different singers, but after auditioning vocalist Andy Bell (b. 25 April 1964, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England), the duo Erasure was formed. Erasure broke into the UK chart in 1986 with "Sometimes", which reached number 2 and was followed by "It Doesn't Have To Be Me" in 1987. The following month their second album, The Circus, reached the UK Top 10 and their popularity rapidly grew. Memorable and infectious hits such as "Victim Of Love", "The Circus", "Ship Of Fools", "A Little Respect", Crackers International EP, "Drama!", "Blue Savannah", "Chorus", "Love To Hate You" and "Breath Of Life' established the band as serious rivals to the Pet Shop Boys as the world's leading vocal/synthesizer duo. Their appeal lay in the unlikely pairing of the flamboyant Bell and the low-profile keyboards wizard and songwriter Clarke. Their stage-shows were spectacular events, whilst the overtly gay Bell's taste in clothes was camply outrageous. During the 90s, their singles and album sales continued to increase, with The Innocents, Wild!, Chorus and I Say, I Say, I Say all reaching number 1 on the UK album chart. Their excellent pastiche of Abba, 1992"s Abba-Esque EP, topped the UK singles chart. Subsequent releases saw a dip in the duo's popularity, and they took a sabbatical following 1997's Cowboy before recording the follow-up, Loveboat. The duo returned to the UK Top 10 in January 2003 with a cover version of Peter Gabriel's "Solisbury Hill', the first single to be released from an album entirely dedicated to interpretations of other artists" work. It is worth stressing that Clarke and Bell have achieved their extraordinary success working through an independent label, Mute Records.