Marc Almond

Though he initially became famous as the vocal half of the groundbreaking 1980s synth-pop duo Soft Cell, Marc Almond went on to a long and varied solo career. He was born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond in Lancashire, England and raised in Leeds, and grew up loving androgynous glam-rock heroes like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. As an art student in the '70s he became involved in performance art before starting Soft Cell in 1977 with schoolmate David Ball. With Ball on synthesizers and Almond on vocals, they self-released the Mutant Moments EP in 1980 before signing a deal with indie label Some Bizarre, which was at the center of the blossoming Futurist/New Romantic scene in the U.K. at the dawn of the '80s. Their 1981 single "Tainted Love," a cover of the '60s soul tune by Gloria Jones (who was also Bolan's girlfriend) became a worldwide smash, making celebrities of Almond and Ball. Almond's flamboyant, leather-favoring image and sometimes-lurid lyrics earned the band as much attention as their hook-filled tunes. They scored a string of hits over the next year, but by 1982's The Art of Falling Apart the duo began to do just that, and they split in 1984. Almond started the side project Marc and the Mambas in 1982, releasing two albums that blended dark synth pop with the influences of Jacques Brel and cabaret. After Soft Cell's breakup, Almond began a full-blown solo career with 1984's Vermin in Ermine. Like most of his subsequent solo releases, it met with modest success in the U.K. and endeared him further to a growing cult following. Almond recorded prolifically and in 1989 he had his first solo Top 10 hit in the U.K. with a cover of Gene Pitney's "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," which took him all the way to No. 1. He would enter the Top 10 only once more, with a cover of David McWilliams' "Days of Pearly Spencer" in 1992. But Almond never stopped making increasingly sophisticated records, solidifying his cult-hero status along the way.