Surely there is only one person who can take this crown, as the Prince of Synth Pop?
Who else wrote, or co-wrote (and played on) multiple UK Top10 hits with four different bands in the space of under five years?
I give you..... Vince Clarke!
As electronic artist and synth expert Danz CM told the New York Times, "He's an important pioneer in making synthesisers prominent in pop music. He has a knack for writing synth-pop songs with catchy, complex melodies."
Vince Martin was born in South Woodford, in the east London borough of Redbridge, in 1960, before his family moved out to Basildon in Essex. He studied both violin and piano as a child, and although Paul Simon was one of his earliest musical influences, as the 1970's drew to a close he was drawn to new wave and the emerging world of synth-pop, with early pioneers like OMD, Sparks and Human League. He once said that Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star was "the greatest pop song ever written."
A La Mode:
He formed his first band, the exotically named No Romance In China, with schoolmate Andy Fletcher - he on vocals and guitar, and Fletcher on bass. Then, in 1979, he was in The Plan, an Ultravox inspired outfit, before moving on to Composition Of Sound, reunited with Fletcher and the addition of Martin Gore.
He again took on vocal duties until they recruited Dave Gahan, who they had heard singing Heroes during a Scout Hut jam session. He also switched his name to Vince Clarke around this time. Composition of Sound played their first live gig at the Nicholas School in Basildon, on 14 June 1980.
They soon, quite rightly, decided that they didn't like the band name, and after discussion Gahan came up with Depeche Mode, which they started using from September 1980. The latter part of that year also saw them record their first song - Photographic - which appeared on the Some Bizzare Album, a sampler put out by Some Bizzare Records.
They hand-delivered demo tapes to a number of record labels, and although there was interest from some majors, they were approached by Daniel Miller of the independent Mute Records, to record a single for him. Dreaming Of Me was released in February 1981, just about grazing the lower end of the charts, reaching number 57.
The bigger time was beckoning though. Next single, the Clarke penned New Life climbed all the way to eleven and got them their debut on the coveted Top Of The Pops show. Just Can't Get Enough (also by Clarke) got them into the Top10, with the accompanying video being the only Depeche Mode one to include Clarke. Debut LP Speak & Spell also reached number ten in October 1981, coming out to mixed reviews.
Depeche Mode: New Life (Mimed TV performance on BBC)
Unfortunately, Clarke was not a huge fan of all the touring they were doing and also didn't like the direction the rest of the band members wanted to go in. In November 1981 Clarke announced he was leaving the band, being replaced by Alan Wilder.
Depeche Mode: Just Can't Get Enough (Official music video)
Situation not ideal:
Looking for his next turn, Clarke responded to an advert in Melody Maker placed by Alison 'Alf' Moyet. It turned out they were from the same part of Basildon, but didn't know each other from before. Moyet had been singing in punk and blues bands in the area, and so they had somewhat different tastes.
Clarke brought his latest song with him - Only You - an emotional synth ballad he had written while still in Depeche Mode. They took it to Daniel Miller, who initially wasn't all that interested, but when the publishing company liked it, his mood changed and he put the single out.
They also had the song Don't Go ready, but felt it was too good to be a B-Side, so Clarke and Moyet went away and wrote Situation to fill that role.
There was also the threat of a lawsuit for the fledgling band - coming from the small Yazoo Records. Plus, there was a band in the States with the same name, necessitating them using the name Yaz for releases over there.
Yazoo: Only You (Official music video)
Only You hit number two in the UK in March 1982, with the album being recorded at London' Blackwing Studios. Clarke wrote seven of its eleven tracks, with the LP produced by studio owner Eric Radcliffe - the album was named Upstairs At Eric's, as a nod to him.
The record just missed out on the top spot that August, and second single Don't Go also made the top three. Former B-Side Situation was given a remix (against their wishes) and was released in the US, making it to 73.
Tension:
The Other Side Of Love came out as a bit of an inter-rim single at the end of 1982, again making the Top20. Then they were back into Blackwing to start on the second album. the problem was, Clarke had always viewed Yazoo as a one-off project, and had to be persuaded by the publisher's.
Moyet didn't like being left to handle the majority of the promotional work and tension was extreme. In fact, the two were barely in the studio at the same time, with Clarke laying down the instrumental tracks in the mornings and Moyet coming in to do the vocals in the evenings.
Yazoo: Nobody's Diary (Official music video)
A single, Nobody's Diary, followed in May 1983, again making the UK Top3, with the album You And Me Both coming out in July, the songwriting for which being split pretty evenly between the pair. Sadly, any joy at these further chart busting positions was short-lived, as they also announced they were splitting up.
Tension eased a little over time, with Moyet later admitting that Clarke "was creatively very encouraging, very open to hearing my ideas for songs. The thing I found difficult was the lack of warmth." Clarke was also able to reflect on what had occurred, telling Pete Paphides; "I lacked the life skills of communication in a relationship. I felt confident in the studio, but starting a chat with somebody...." He added, "It all happened very fast and because we hadn't been in a band for years, playing in clubs, it was very much just a working relationship... we never had the chance to bond."
Assembly time:
Clarke's next musical foray was to partner up with Eric Radcliffe, to form The Assembly. The idea was to make a number of singles, collaborating with someone different for each one. First up was Feargal Sharkey. former lead singer of The Undertones, on the song Never Never. This gave Clarke yet another Top5 hit - this time reaching four.
The Assembly: Never Never (Official music video)
And while Clarke and Radcliffe also established Reset Records, putting out a number of Clarke produced singles for Robert Marlow, The Assembly never got as far as putting out single number two.
All Aboard the Ship of Fools:
We are now into early 1985, and Vince Clarke is onto band number four. He placed an advert in Melody Maker, looking for a singer, which Andy Bell auditioned for and got the job - Erasure was born. Their first three singles though, didn't do well. Debut album, Wonderland, recorded in 1985 and released in June 1986, didn't fare much better, merely grazing the lower end of the Top75.
But when Sometimes came out in late 1986, things started to change for them. It gave them a number two hit, and second album The Circus (March 1987) also entered the Top10. Three more singles - It Doesn't Have To Be, Victim Of Love and The Circus - all did well, and the album hung around the chart for over a year.
Erasure: Sometimes (Official music video)
The Innocents (April 1988) became the first album in a run of five to all hit the top spot in the UK (and this one, in fact, made number one twice). There were three hit singles - Ship Of Fools, Chains Of Love and A Little Respect - with the last two also giving them some success overseas, both making the US Top20.
Erasure: A Little Respect (Live)
Albums Wild! (1989), Chorus (1991), I Say I Say I Say (1994), plus a Best Of record, completed the other number one LP list. Always, from that last album, produced by Heaven 17's Martyn Ware, also got them back in the US Top20.
Erasure: Always (Official music video)
1995's self-titled album saw them take a more experimental route, but with Cowboy, they were back to a more synth-pop sound. By the time of Breathe, which peaked at number four, from 2005's Nightbird, was their first return to the top end of the charts in a decade. The Violet Frame, in 2016, was their sixteenth album and their first Top20 record since Other People's Songs (unsurprisingly, a covers album) in 2003. Most recently, Day-Glo
(2022) marked their nineteenth and most recent record.
Erasure: Breathe (Official music video)
More Yazoo and other stuff:
One interesting thing about Yazoo the first time around, is that they never played live! This was something Moyet had always wanted to do, and when there were plans to re-issue their albums in 2008, she called Clarke. Initially he was reluctant, but when it turned out that Andy Bell wanted to put Erasure on pause for a while, Clarke reconsidered and took up the offer and they did a full tour of the UK, Europe and the US.
Yazoo: Don't Go (Live on Jonathan Ross, 2008)
2011 saw Clarke reunite with his old Depeche Mode friend Martin Gore for an album of minimalist instrumentals, under the name VCMG.
Clarke also released his first solo record in 2023, Songs Of Silence, an album of ambient and drone. It was heavily influenced by a number of events that had occurred in recent times - Depeche Mode's Andy Fletcher had died in 2022, as had his friend Robert Marlow, while his wife Tracy Hurley Martin was also seriously ill (she would sadly die of stomach cancer in 2024).
On the Erasure website, Clarke explained how the songwriting was done in Erasure; "Andy and I get together with a guitar and tape recorder, I'll strum some chords, he'll sing a melody, and we work in little sections, four or eight bars long. Then we'll try stringing the sections together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. I find it very hard to relate songwriting to synthesisers, actually we write songs in a very traditional way. The electronic side of things is just to crate the atmosphere."
Martyn Ware, one of the originals in the Human League, before forming Heaven 17, says of Clarke; "I would put him in the Mozartian category. He's prolific, and he understands melody lines and counterpoint, as well as how to create an emotional connection to the audience. Vince is like an orchestral arranger, but for synthesisers."
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