Erasure FAQ

The Erasure story

Updated 27 June 2005

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.