Erasure formed after Andy answered Vince’s advertisement for a singer. He was the 43rd (41st?) singer to be auditioned; Who Needs Love (Like That) was one of the songs he had to sing. Previously, Andy had first seen Vince playing Space Invaders before a Depeche Mode gig!
Erasure have said that their name came from the movie Eraserhead. The many stories involving a demo tape being mistakenly marked “Erasure” have never been confirmed (as far as I know). There’s also another story that they wrote a long list of potential names which was circulated amongst friends and acquaintances for them to cross off the ones they didn’t like. “Erasure” was the name that was left.
The first single (Who Needs Love (Like That)) was released in September 1985, but their first big hit was Sometimes, which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart in August 1986. That was the first of 24 consecutive UK top 20 singles (including the number 1 Abba-esque EP), up to In My Arms in January 1997. Since then they have still hit the top 20 regularly — most recently in March 2005, when Don’t Say You Love Me hit number 15.
Vince wrote the first Erasure songs himself, but gradually they settled on Andy writing lyrics with mainly Vince doing the music. Andy has sole writing credits on just one song: Cry So Easy, from the Wonderland album.
Vince’s full name is Vincent John Clarke. He was born on July 3, 1960. His music career started out (much later) in a three-piece synth band called Composition Of Sound, later to evolve into the rather more successful Depeche Mode. (The name came from a French fashion magazine and can loosely be translated as “fashion despatch”.) He left the group in 1981 after the release of their debut album Speak And Spell. Every DM song up till then had been written by him except Big Muff and Tora Tora Tora (both written by Martin Gore, who took over writing duties when Vince left). Vince and Martin went to the same school, and Vince attended Martin’s wedding in August 1994. Alison Moyet (from Yazoo) was there too.
Why did Vince leave Depeche Mode? Probably simply because he didn’t like the group’s musical direction. The rest of the band were understandably unhappy with his decision, but they seem to have gotten over it now; there are reports of Vince hanging out with DM occasionally.
After leaving DM, Vince got together with singer/songwriter Alison Moyet (nicknamed “Alf”). Alison named the group Yazoo after a small American blues record label. In the US, Yazoo called themselves Yaz to avoid confusion (and possibly for legal reasons). Yazoo released two albums. Alf went on to a successful solo career, and Vince formed the Assembly.
The Assembly was Eric Radcliffe and Vince; they intended to recruit different vocalists to suit each song. The Assembly only released one recording: the single Never Never with vocals by Feargal Sharkey was released in 1983. In 1985, Vince Clarke and Paul Quinn released a single, One Day. Later that year, Erasure was born.
Vince lived in Amsterdam for a few years around 1990, but moved back to England in 1994. He likes Sci-Fi movies. He is devoted to analogue electronic instruments and music. He is not gay.
Andy’s full name is Andrew Ivan Bell. He was born on 25 April 1964. Jumping ahead to the early eighties, Andy was in a group called The Void for about two weeks; he then split off with the bass player, Pierre Cope, to form their own band, Das Baume (German for The Trees). Later they changed the name to Dinger, that being Andy’s nickname for obvious reasons. They didn’t last long either, but played a few gigs in pubs and so on. They also released one single (Air of Mystery). It wasn’t long after that Andy auditioned for Vince Clarke’s new musical venture, and history was made.
In 1994 he played Judy Garland in a play called The Night We Buried Judy Garland, which was a musical about gay rights. The play ran for a month at the Shaw Theatre in London, but Andy was only in it for a week. He was one of many people who played the part of Judy during the course of the performance. He sang seven Judy Garland songs; no official recordings have been released, but Mute Records apparently has a recording of Reckless in their vaults.
Mute is a record label, founded in the UK by Daniel Miller, to which Erasure are signed in the UK. The catalog numbers for most Mute single releases have the word “Mute” in them (e.g. the Always CD single was CD Mute 152). Album releases usually have the word “Stumm” (the German word for “mute”). Non-UK catalog numbers are Muteless.
Vince has “lurked” on the Wonderland email list in the past. Unsurprisingly, he has not publicised any email address for himself. In February 1995 he indirectly posted a message to the list, forwarded through somebody else.
He spraypaints over a DM logo (the loudspeaker logo from Music For The Masses). Probably just a bit of friendly(?) rivalry. The Vince Clarke story has more background info.
Vince’s partner in the Assembly, and a sort of unofficial third member of Yazoo, was Eric Radcliffe. The Yazoo album title Upstairs at Eric’s probably refers to him. It is probably not named after the Liverpool nightclub of the same name.
This Australian Abba tribute band’s first release was the Erasure-ish EP, featuring two mixes each of their covers of Stop! and A Little Respect. The band has since released several singles, as well as a full-length album called Flashback. They have not recorded any other Erasure covers.
The phrase “limited edition” as used by record companies generally means that the packaging/contents combination is limited. The companies can (and do) re-release tracks that were previously available only on limited edition releases. Don’t be shocked when it happens to you.
Not as much as you think, probably. Generally, old (more than 5 years) limited edition releases may be worth more than you paid if they are in mint condition. Don’t be fooled by exorbitant prices in record shops; it’s easy to slap a $100 price tag on a record, but much harder to actually find somebody willing to pay that much.
Particularly rare Erasure recordings include the limited Heavenly Action 12″ and the Crackers International II limited CD and 12″.
Erasure FAQ Copyright 1994-2005 Bennett McElwee. All rights reserved. Please ask me before copying any part of it. Thanks!