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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCLARKE, Vince(b 3 July '61, Basildon, Essex) Synthesizers, composer. Founder member of Depeche Mode, for whom he wrote hits 'Just Can't Get Enough' (UK no. 8 '81), 'See You' (UK no. 6 '82); left them at height of their success, returned to home town to experiment. Recruited Alison ('Alf') Moyet through trade paper advert, duo formed Yazoo (Yaz in USA): combination of electronic whizz-kid with melodic talent (who named Simon and Garfunkel as favourites) with fine girl singer steeped in jazz and blues: made hit LPs Upstairs At Eric's '82 (incl. 'Only You', UK no. 2 '82), You And Me Both '83. Other top five hits were 'Don't Go', 'Nobody's Diary' before they split '82. 'Only You' done a cappella by Flying Pickets, became UK no. 1 '83; covered by Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, even Richard Clayderman. Hated live work, kept low profile; then surfaced with occasional group the Assembly, with Yazoo prod. E. C. (Eric) Radcliffe: single 'Never, Never' (UK no. 4 '83) incl. former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey. Projected album with ten different singers incl. Blancmange's Neil Arthur, The The's Matt Johnson, never happened; single 'One Day' mid-'85 with former Orange Juice vocalist Paul Quinn; prod. LP for London group Absolute; music for Volkswagen TV advert etc. Then Clarke's duo Erasure with vocalist Andy Bell seemed to be an act he could stay with, superb value on stage combining his technology, Bell's energy, a gift for tunes and a high degree of professionalism from both. Debut LP Wonderland incl. UK no. 3 hit 'Sometimes' '86, followed by The Circus '87 (recycled as The Two Ring Circus '88 with remixes etc), The Innocents '88, EP Crackers International and album Wild! '89. EP Abba-esque '92 precipitated revival of interest in the Swedish group as well as a novelty act Bjorn Again, sending up both Abba and Erasure. I Say I Say I Say came out '94. They contributed to charity albums Red Hot + Blue (AIDS, '90) and Tame Yourself (animal rights, '91); Bell duetted with k. d. lang at the Brit Awards '93 on 'No More Tears'. Erasure '95 had tracks up to ten minutes long instead of the neat three-minute synth pop they were famous for; James Bennett in the Daily Telegraph complained that Vince and Bell had possessed pop genius in '87, but that Cowboy '97 was just more of the same. They had been around long enough to go out of fashion, but the fans still liked it. |