Tell Me When

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In November 1982, the Motown influenced electropop single " Mirror Man" reached No.2 in the UK chart, just missing another Christmas No.1, which was taken by a novelty record by Renée and Renato. [18]

With a new line-up, sound, and vocalist, Ware decided that the band needed a new name. It would also allow them to approach record companies again from a different angle. Ware suggested "The Human League", after a group in the science-fiction board game StarForce: Alpha Centauri. In the game, the Human League arose in 2415 A.D. and were a frontier-oriented society that desired more independence from Earth. Oakey and Marsh agreed on the new name, and in early 1978 The Future became The Human League. [7] [ unreliable source?] The original Human League in July 1980. From left to right: Oakey, Wright, Marsh, Ware.Lineup changes and rise in popularity [ edit ] The Human League in 1984. Members: Catherall, Callis, Wright, Oakey, Sulley, Burden Together In Electric Dreams’(Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder cover) (found on 1985 ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’ album) 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] In 1989, the band built their own studio in Sheffield, jointly funded by Oakey and a business development loan from Sheffield City Council. In November and December 2008, the Human League got together with Martin Fry's ABC and Heaven 17 for 'The Steel City Tour' of the UK. This was Philip Oakey's concept of a joint tour of all three bands celebrating the original electronic music of early 1980s Sheffield (the titular Steel City). Much had been made in the UK media [ citation needed] of the history between Heaven 17 and the Human League, the original events of 1980 and the fact they were now working together. Both Oakey and Martyn Ware said that any acrimony from that period had long since been forgotten. [36] At Falkirk festival in May 2007. From left: Sutton, Burke, Beevers, Catherall, Barton, Sulley, Oakey.

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.Now, the history books will invariably tell you that The Human League’s career is the tale of two pop groups but, if you listen to their two pre-fame albums, ‘Reproduction’ (1979) and ‘Travelogue’ (1980), for all the esoteric songs about the karmic damage caused by the farming of silkworms, ‘Being Boiled’ written during Phil Oakey’s six months as a vegetarian, arch satires on indie snobbery, or bizarre tales about a love affair between a crow and a baby, the same threads were there. This music was always, in essence, unashamedly POP, albeit made from a post-punk perspective as founders Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware were, along with Oakey, Roxy Music / Bowie fans who had turned punk, it was in Oakey’s own words, a “consumer version of Kraftwerk”. Reynolds, Philip (26 November 2012). "The Human League, The Dome, Brighton, review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 . Retrieved 29 December 2012. Although they released their last album in 2011, the No.44-charting Credo, the now three-piece Human League continue to tour. 10 Human, 1986 Their renewed success prompted the band to tour again for the first time since 1987, and they conducted a tour of the US and UK in 1995. Subsequent singles " Filling Up with Heaven" and the non-album single " Stay with Me Tonight" also reached the UK Top 40, and a new remix of "Don't You Want Me" was released to capitalise on the band's revitalised profile. This was in the run up to a new "greatest hits" compilation in 1996, but which proved less successful than their first "Greatest Hits" album from 1988. Retaining the Human League name came at a heavy price for Oakey. As the band's sole remaining member, he was responsible for all Human League debts and commitments. Furthermore, the terms of the Virgin contract required him to pay Ware and Marsh one per cent of royalties of the next Human League album. The split also jeopardized the band's upcoming tour. With the first performance only ten days away and the music media reporting that the Human League was finished now that "the talented people had left", promoters started threatening to sue Oakey if the concerts were not completed as contracted.