ABC biography
ABC are an English New Wave band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic, in 2008.
History
Formation
ABC has its roots in the band Vice Versa. Vice Versa was formed in 1977 in Sheffield by Stephen Singleton, Mark White and David Sydenham. They founded their own label, Neutron Records, releasing the EP
Music 4. They had similarities to The Human League, whom they supported in 1978.
Martin Fry, who wrote the fanzine
Modern Drugs, interviewed the band; shortly afterwards, they asked him to join as synthesizer player. Fry accepted. Within a short time, the band evolved into ABC, with Fry taking over on lead vocals.
Chart success: 1981–1991
The group's first single, "Tears Are Not Enough", made the UK Top 20 in 1981. Soon afterwards, David Robinson left the band and was replaced by drummer David Palmer. In 1982, the band released their debut album
The Lexicon of Love, which reached number one in the UK Albums Chart. Produced by Trevor Horn, it often featured in UK critics' lists of favourite albums: it ranked 42nd in
The Observer Music Monthly's "Top 100 British Albums" (June 2004) and 40th in
Q magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums" (June 2000). The band had three Top 10 hits during 1982: the singles "Poison Arrow", "The Look of Love (Part One)" and "All of My Heart". Several high-concept music videos were made.
ABC found it difficult to follow up on the success of their debut. The second album, Beauty Stab, was released in November 1983. It performed poorly in comparison to its predecessor. Gary Langan, who had engineered The Lexicon of Love, was its producer. The first single from the album, "That Was Then But This Is Now", briefly appeared in the UK Top 20, followed by a Top 40 showing for "S.O.S.". The band eschewed remixes for the project and so the 12" single for "That Was Then But This Is Now" featured the disclaimer "This record is exactly the same as the 7" version. The choice is yours."
Stephen Singleton retired from the band in 1984. Fry and White then enlisted Fiona Russell-Powell (known as Eden) and David Yarritu. This lineup recorded the 1985 album How To Be A...Zillionaire!,which had a cartoon-type theme. ABC's chart fortunes in the UK dwindled further with this album, but the group did score its first US Top 10 hit with "Be Near Me", which also made the UK Top 30. The album also featured the singles "(How to Be a) Millionaire", "Vanity Kills" and "Ocean Blue". Keith LeBlanc from Tackhead programmed much of the beatbox work for the album. ABC was one of the first bands to do video scratching for several videos from the How to Be a... Zillionaire album, including the video for "Be Near Me".
After a hiatus, during which Fry was treated for Hodgkin's disease, he and White reconvened as a duo, recording the album Alphabet City in 1987. Best known for "When Smokey Sings", a tribute to Smokey Robinson, the album also spawned "The Night You Murdered Love" and "King Without a Crown" as singles. All three tracks would make the CD version of the group's first anthology.
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