Marc Almond

Born in Southport, Lancashire, Marc Almond emerged in the late 1970s from the British art-school scene after forming Soft Cell with David Ball in Leeds. Initially associated with synth-pop and new wave, Almond soon developed a broader artistic world in which electronics, cabaret, orchestral song and a dark, theatrically-tinged pop coexist without merging. Alongside Soft Cell he launched the collective project Marc and the Mambas in the early 1980s and began a solo career with Vermin in Ermine (1984), followed by Stories of Johnny (1985), Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters (1987) and The Stars We Are (1988). His discography later ranged from chamber pop, cover versions and French chanson to more introspective moods, as on Enchanted (1990), Absinthe (1993), Fantastic Star (1996), Stardom Road (2007), Varieté (2010), The Velvet Trail (2015) and Chaos and a Dancing Star (2020). Almond has also undertaken numerous one-off collaborations — from Gene Pitney to artists from the indie-pop and electronic scenes — while remaining attached to London and European stages and to the marginal or melodramatic repertoires that run throughout his career.