Heaven 17

Taking their name from the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange, the U.K. techno-pop trio Heaven 17 grew out of the experimental dance project the British Electric Foundation, itself an offshoot of the electro-pop outfit <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">Human League</a>. The core of Heaven 17 was originally comprised of <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Martyn Ware</a> and Ian Craig Marsh, a pair of onetime computer operators who first teamed in 1977 as the Dead Daughters, a duo that integrated synthesizer patterns with a heavy reliance on tape loops. Soon, <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> and Marsh were joined by <a href="spotify:artist:6ne5YmZH7oCXcZUBsY66sn">Philip Oakey</a> and Adi Newton and changed their name to <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">the Human League</a>, where they remained before exiting together in 1980.

As a means of establishing the synthesizer as an expressive, human instrument, Marsh and <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> formed the British Electric Foundation, a production project that employed a variety of musicians and singers including <a href="spotify:artist:1zuJe6b1roixEKMOtyrEak">Tina Turner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5uxkcHbgyNbyzq1nyChvCa">Sandie Shaw</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:61zv3hX7l838ZyhaDyAx8S">Gary Glitter</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:5VgCtoaOGk1FDQZvZMdKFK">The B.E.F.</a>'s debut, 1980's Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1, also included vocalist Glenn Gregory, a former photographer whom <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> and Marsh met at a Sheffield drama center; in 1981, the duo enlisted Gregory for Heaven 17, the first and most successful <a href="spotify:artist:5VgCtoaOGk1FDQZvZMdKFK">B.E.F.</a> alter ego, and debuted with the single "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang," a minor hit banned by the BBC over its title. An album, Penthouse and Pavement, followed the same year.

By the release of 1983's The Luxury Gap, <a href="spotify:artist:5VgCtoaOGk1FDQZvZMdKFK">the B.E.F.</a> had fallen by the wayside and Heaven 17 had become <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> and Marsh's primary focus; the LP proved highly successful, spawning the hit singles "Temptation," "Come Live with Me," "Crushed by the Wheels of Industry," and "Let Me Go." The follow-up, How Men Are, was another British hit, but Heaven 17 receded from view after its release; when they returned in 1986 with the album Pleasure One, it was with a number of guest musicians and vocalists. After the commercial failure of 1988's Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho, Heaven 17 officially disbanded; <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> focused on production chores and worked on Terence Trent D'Arby's debut, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby. In 1990, he and Marsh resurrected the <a href="spotify:artist:5VgCtoaOGk1FDQZvZMdKFK">B.E.F.</a> aegis, releasing Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 2 the following year.

In 1996, a re-formed Heaven 17 returned with Bigger Than America and embarked on a tour, documented by the Live at Last CD released in 1999. The studio effort Before After was issued in 2005; the following year Marsh disappeared from the group’s live lineup, and by 2008 it was confirmed that he had left the band. The group soldiered on as a vehicle for <a href="spotify:artist:0g4bxJkNeoMi0rRJw5hGPV">Ware</a> and Gregory, however (and with an expanded role for former backup singer <a href="spotify:artist:1qMe1ErFMK94VU7VjE2vQw">Billie Godfrey</a>), releasing the Naked as Advertised CD -- including one new song and re-recordings of early tracks by both Heaven 17 and <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">the Human League</a> -- on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Just+Music%22">Just Music</a> label in 2009 following a tour held in December of the previous year. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi