Erasure are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, the latter previously a co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and synth-pop duo Yazoo. From their fourth single, "Sometimes" (1986), Erasure established themselves on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of the most successful acts of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. From 1986 to 2007, the pair achieved 24 consecutive top 40 entries in the UK singles chart. By 2009, 34 of their 37 chart-eligible singles and EPs had made the UK top 40, including 17 climbing into the top 10. At the 1989 Brit Awards, Erasure won the Brit Award for Best British Group.
Erasure released their debut album Wonderland in 1986. It did not perform well chart-wise, although one song from the album, "Oh l'amour", later became one of their biggest hits when reissued in 2003 to promote the Hits! The Very Best of Erasure compilation album. With their second album, 1987's The Circus, came major success, the album reaching UK number 6 and spawning four top 20 singles with "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Have to Be", "Victim of Love", and "The Circus". Their third album, 1988's The Innocents, was a number 1, and produced further hit singles with "Ship of Fools", "Chains of Love", and "A Little Respect". It was followed the same year by the Christmas EP Crackers International, which peaked at number 2 and included another of their most popular songs, "Stop!" . The Innocents was the first of five consecutive UK number 1 albums, followed by Wild! (1989), the Mercury Prize nominated Chorus (1991), the compilation Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992), and I Say I Say I Say (1994). Their ABBA tribute EP, Abba-esque (1992), also reached number 1 in the UK. Hit singles from these albums included "Drama!", "Blue Savannah", and "Star" from Wild!, "Chorus", "Love to Hate You", and "Breath of Life" from Chorus, and "Always" and "Run to the Sun" from I Say I Say I Say.
From 1995, the commercial success of Erasure began to fade with the atmospheric album Erasure (1995), then with the mixed success of Cowboy (1997), until the album Loveboat (2000) which almost passed unnoticed. A little later in the 2000s, the duo achieved a commercial rebound in a few European countries thanks to their cover of a Peter Gabriel song, "Solsbury Hill", taken from the covers album Other People's Songs (2003), as well as the UK Top 5 single "Breathe" on the album Nightbird (2005). Subsequently, Erasure began a new commercial decline accentuated by the record crisis: the group's new albums still ranked briefly in the charts.
Overall in their career, Erasure have written more than 200 songs and have sold more than 28 million albums worldwide.
History
Origins As a teenager, Vince Clarke was inspired to make electronic music after hearing Wirral synth band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). He was a founding member of Depeche Mode and the sole writer of their first three singles, including the breakthrough top 10 single "Just Can't Get Enough". Following their first album Speak & Spell, on which Clarke wrote nine of the eleven songs, he left Depeche Mode at the end of 1981, going on to form another successful act, the synth-pop duo Yazoo (known as Yaz in the United States).
After two successful studio albums in as many years (1982–1983), he split with Yazoo partner Alison Moyet and formed the short-lived project the Assembly with producer Eric Radcliffe. The project spawned a UK number-four single, "Never Never", featuring Feargal Sharkey on lead vocals. After more than a year out of the spotlight, Clarke placed an advertisement in Melody Maker looking for a vocalist for a new musical project. Peterborough-born Andy Bell phoned and got a call back a few days later. Bell practised for the audition listening to Alison Moyet and Siouxsie and the Banshees. It went well, and he was chosen. Around the same time Clarke released a single with vocalist Paul Quinn, "One Day". It flopped, leading Clarke to form Erasure. According to Bell, Clarke had been his "hero".
Erasure's influences include OMD, Kraftwerk, Gloria Gaynor and ABBA.
1985–1994: First recordings and international success
Erasure's first three singles were commercial failures in the UK, although the third, "Oh l'amour", charted well in Australia, South Africa and a few European countries (especially in France, where it still remains Erasure's only hit to date, and Germany where it was a Top 16 success). Their debut studio album, Wonderland, was mostly recorded in 1985 and released in June 1986. Although it only made the UK top 75, it made a sizeable mark in Germany, reaching the top 20.
It was the release of their fourth single, "Sometimes", which finally received recognition in the UK in late 1986. The song peaked at number 2 in the UK and Germany and spent many weeks in the UK top 40, marking the beginning of a long string of major hits for the duo. The single's parent album, The Circus, was released in March 1987 and reached number 6 and turned platinum in the UK with three additional hit singles: "It Doesn't Have To Be", "Victim of Love", and "The Circus". The album remained on the charts for over a year.
Erasure's third studio album, The Innocents, was released in April 1988. Preceded by the top 10 single "Ship of Fools", the album hit number one in the UK on its initial release and returned to the summit a year later, eventually going double platinum. It also turned platinum in the U.S., generating two top 20 hits in "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect".
The Innocents was the first of five consecutive number one albums for Erasure in the UK, including the greatest hits compilation Pop! The First 20 Hits. In November 1988, the Crackers International EP, hit number 2 in the UK. The albums Wild! (1989) and Chorus (1991) both contained four top 20 singles and were major sellers.
Crackers International was bettered in 1992 by another EP, Abba-esque, (covering 4 ABBA hits), which became Erasure's first (and to-date only) number one on the UK Singles Chart. It featured a video of the duo dressed in ABBA outfits, and was one of the principal drivers of the ABBA revival scene in the 1990s.
Also in 1990, Erasure contributed the song "Too Darn Hot" to the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1992, a singles compilation, Pop! The First 20 Hits, also hit number one and went triple platinum, featuring all the band's singles released from 1985 to 1992.
In 1994, Erasure released I Say I Say I Say, their fifth consecutive number one on the UK Albums Chart. Its first single, "Always", became the band's third top 20 hit in the United States. A second single, "Run to the Sun", was released in July and became their final UK top 10 hit until 2003. "I Love Saturday" was released in November and was the third and final single from the album.
1995–2008: Continued success with more albums The October 1995 release of the studio album Erasure marked a determined shift away from Erasure's signature three-minute synth-pop to a more introspective and experimental sound. Nevertheless, it made the UK top 15 and spawned two UK top 20 singles, "Stay with Me" and "Fingers & Thumbs". A remixed version of "Rock Me Gently" was released only in Germany and the Czech Republic as the third single.
In spite of a return to three-minute pop songs, the 1997 studio album Cowboy did not restore the success of their 1986–1994 era. Cowboy enjoyed a short-lived success, peaking at number 10 in the UK but lasting only two weeks in the UK top 40. In the U.S. Billboard charts though, it was one of their most successful records. The first single "In My Arms" reached number 13 in the UK and entered the top 2 on the U.S. Dance chart. The second single "Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me" made number 23 in the UK. The third single "Rain" was also only released in Germany and the Czech Republic.
In October 2000, Erasure released their ninth studio album Loveboat, co-produced with Flood, though only peaking at a lowly number 45. The first single was "Freedom", which made a brief entry into the UK top 30. In 2001, they released a limited EP, Moon & the Sky containing new versions of the title song, a cover of the Supremes song "Baby Love" and some acoustic versions of Loveboat songs.
The 2003 release Other People's Songs was a collection of cover versions. Its first single, a cover of Peter Gabriel's song "Solsbury Hill", reached the UK top 10, and Erasure were invited to perform on Top of the Pops for the first time since March 1997. The second single from the album was a cover of Steve Harley's "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", which made number 14 in the UK. In 2003, a new 'best of' compilation was released, called Hits! The Very Best of Erasure. Included was a new version of the 1986 song "Oh l'amour" — originally a commercial flop in the UK, this new version charted in the top 15.
Erasure's 2005 studio album Nightbird'''s first single, "Breathe", reached number 4 in the UK charts (their first top 5 hit in more than a decade) and achieved the number one position on the U.S. Dance chart, 18 years after their first chart-topper.
The next single, "Don't Say You Love Me", which made the UK top 15, enabled purchasers to configure their own remixes of the single through the band's website, with each variant of the song limited to a single download. The third single was a double A-side, featuring new versions of "Here I Go Impossible Again"/"All This Time Still Falling Out of Love".Union Street was a 2006 side-project which featured a collection of previously released album tracks that the band re-interpreted in an acoustic and country & western style. The album was named after the recording studio in Brooklyn where it was recorded.
The duo then released a more 'dance-oriented' album than some of their more recent work. Titled Light at the End of the World, the album was produced by Gareth Jones and was released on 21 May 2007 in the UK, and in North America the following day. The album was preceded by its first single "I Could Fall in Love with You", which peaked at number 21 in the UK. A second single, "Sunday Girl", was released in June and made number 33 in the UK. The album was supported by the Light at the End of the World Live tour. The Storm Chaser EP included an exclusive B-side, "Early Bird", a duet with Cyndi Lauper.
2009–2019: ReleasesTotal Pop! The First 40 Hits, a collection of Erasure's first 40 hits plus a new remix of "Always" by Jeremy Wheatley, was released on 23 February 2009. The compilation fractionally missed the UK top 20, reaching number 21.
On 10 August 2009, Erasure released a six-track EP of classic remixes entitled Erasure.Club.
To celebrate 21 years since its release, the album The Innocents (1988) was remastered and re-released on 26 October 2009.
Andy Bell released his second solo studio album, Non-Stop, on 7 June 2010.
In February and March 2010, the song "Always" enjoyed an unexpected peak of popularity among flash-game players for its prominent role as the soundtrack of the Adult Swim game Robot Unicorn Attack.
Vince Clarke stated in radio interviews that the band wanted to complete the concept album of nursery rhymes that they had been working on for some time. On 16 December 2010, Erasure's official website announced a new studio album planned for release in summer 2011 to be produced by Frankmusik. Also, a world tour was announced (including the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida in March 2011 and the Total Pop! Forest Tour of the UK in June and July 2011) with dates including stops in Europe and South America.