ABC

Formed in Sheffield in 1980 as a continuation of the electronic project Vice Versa, ABC emerged within the British new pop wave by blending synth-pop, new wave, sophisticated pop, disco touches and orchestral arrangements. Martin Fry is the group's central and only permanent member; the original lineup also included Mark White, Stephen Singleton and David Palmer. ABC broke through in the early 1980s with The Lexicon of Love (1982), produced by Trevor Horn with arrangements by Anne Dudley — an album that established their taste for pop choruses, synthetic textures and a highly stylized, sentimental songwriting. The band then changed direction with Beauty Stab (1983), a tighter, more guitar-driven record, before broadening their approach on How to Be a ... Zillionaire! (1985), Alphabet City (1987), Up (1989) and Abracadabra (1991), where ABC gave greater emphasis to dance-pop and house. After Mark White's departure, ABC became essentially Martin Fry's project, relaunched with Skyscraping (1997), Traffic (2008) and The Lexicon of Love II (2016). Since then ABC has continued to perform live, in pop formats or with orchestra, revisiting their entire catalogue.