Marc Almond

Originally inspired by the likes of Marc Bolan and David Bowie, Marc Almond first rocketed to fame as one half of Soft Cell, a techno pop duo he formed with David Ball. Their inventive cover of an obscure 1960s Gloria Jones soul track, 'Tainted Love', hit number one in 17 countries in 1981 and was followed by further major hits with 'Bedsitter', 'Say Hello Wave Goodbye' and 'Torch and What', alongside best-selling albums 'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret' (1981), 'Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing' (1982), 'The Art of Falling Apart' (1983) and 'This Last Night in Sodom' (1984). In 1983 Almond formed offshoot group Marc and The Mambas with Matt Johnson before launching his solo career with the 1984 album 'Vermin in Ermine', featuring the backing band the Willing Sinners. Several more successful albums followed and he went on to have a number one hit with Gene Pitney on a cover of Pitney's 1960s hit 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart'. With a penchant for dramatic material, Almond's flamboyant stage shows with orchestral arrangements sustained his popularity and he had another major hit with a cover of the Jacques Brel song 'Jackie' from his 'Tenement Symphony' (1991) album. In 2001 Almond reformed Soft Cell with Ball, but was seriously injured in a motorbike crash in London in 2004. He recovered to resume his career, in 2010 releasing 'Varieté', his first album of self-penned songs for a decade. 'Feasting With Panthers', a collaborative album created with Michael Cashmore, was released in 2011, featuring poems by Jean Genet, Jean Cocteau and Paul Verlaine set to music. 2014 saw him release three albums - 'The Tyburn Tree (Dark London)', 'The Dancing Marquis' and 'Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle'. He signed a two-album deal with BMG in 2016 and released 'Hits and Pieces/The Best of Soft Cell & Marc Almond' in 2017, a greatest hits album that debuted at number seven in the UK Albums Chart, followed by 'Chaos and a Dancing Star' in 2020.

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