Gary Numan, Marc Almond, and Ladytron

Born on 8 March 1958, Numan worked a plethora of odd jobs as a teenager while playing guitar in various bands. He started to rise to prominence as front man of the band, Tubeway Army. Together they were signed by Beggars Banquet Records in 1978, and released a self-titled album the following year. The following year Numan recorded and released a solo album entitled “The Pleasure Principle” which reached Number one in the UK followed by a sold out tour. In 1980 Numan topped the UK charts with his “Telekom” album followed by another major tour; however he announced to retire from touring.

The retirement didn’t last long. After experimenting with jazz, funk and rhythmic pop, he released “Dance” topping at Number 3 on the charts in the UK. Unfortunately the following album “I, Assasin” in 1982 didn’t fare as well as “Dance” which only peaked at number eight. Numan then issued a series of albums through his own label, Numa, starting with “Berserker” in 1984. He then ventured into film scoring in 1991 by working with Michael R. Smith for the film “The Unborn.”

In 2002 Numan found charting success with the release of the single “Rip.” He continued to tour and write new music, and in 2008 he announced the upcoming release of his album “Splinter;” however the album wasn’t released in 2013.

Born in Southport, Lancashire in 1957, Marc Almond moved around the north of England regularly before settling in Horsforth, a suburb of Leeds. Discovering British radio icon John Peel as a child, Almond developed an appreciation for the stage music “Hair” soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Marc Bolan. During his time studying Performance Art at Leeds Polytechnic, the singer and performer met fellow student David Ball, with whom he subsequently formed Soft Cell in 1979.

In 1980 the pair signed to Some Bizarre Label and achieved great success with the singles “Tainted Love”, “Bedsitter”, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, “Torch”, “What!”, and “Memorabilia”. Securing nine Top 40 singles and four Top 20 albums, Soft Cell ultimately disbanded in 1984, however reunited in 2001 to release the album “Cruelty Without Beauty”.

As a solo artist Almond has released a prodigious amount of music, which largely retain the art-aesthetic of Soft Cell releases however align more closely to pop. Almond’s debut solo album arrived in 1984 entitled “Vermin in Ermine”, and earned a string of esteemed reviews. Two albums on Virgin Records followed, “Stories of Johnny” in 1985 and, “Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters” in 1987.

Following a string of albums on Parlophone and Some Bizarre Label, Almond achieved his greatest solo success to date with his 1991 album “Tenement Symphony”. Two more albums on Some Bizarre Label followed before the singer-songwriter signed with Blue Star Music and released the records “Open All Night”, “Stranger Things”, and “Heart on Snow”. Maintaining his momentum well into the second decade of the new millennium, Almond went on to release the albums “Varieté”, “Feasting with Panthers”, “The Tyburn Tree (Dark London)”, “The Dancing Marquis”, “Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle”, and “The Velvet Trail”.