Erasure

Erasure are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, the latter previously a co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and synth-pop duo Yazoo. From their fourth single, “Sometimes” (1986), Erasure established themselves on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of the most successful acts of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. From 1986 to 2007, the pair achieved 24 consecutive top 40 entries in the UK singles chart. By 2009, 34 of their 37 chart-eligible singles and EPs had made the UK top 40, including 17 climbing into the top 10. At the 1989 Brit Awards, Erasure won the Brit Award for Best British Group.

Erasure released their debut album Wonderland in 1986. It did not perform well chart-wise, although one song from the album, “Oh l'amour”, later became one of their biggest hits when reissued in 2003 to promote the Hits! The Very Best of Erasure compilation album. With their second album, 1987's The Circus, came major success, the album reaching UK number 6 and spawning four top 20 singles with “Sometimes”, “It Doesn't Have to Be”, “Victim of Love”, and “The Circus”. Their third album, 1988's The Innocents, was a number 1, and produced further hit singles with “Ship of Fools”, “Chains of Love”, and “A Little Respect”. It was followed the same year by the Christmas EP Crackers International, which peaked at number 2 and included another of their most popular songs, “Stop!”. The Innocents was the first of five consecutive UK number 1 albums, followed by Wild! (1989), the Mercury Prize nominated Chorus (1991), the compilation Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992), and I Say I Say I Say (1994). Their ABBA tribute EP, Abba-esque (1992), also reached number 1 in the UK. Hit singles from these albums included “Drama!”, “Blue Savannah”, and “Star” from Wild!, “Chorus”, “Love to Hate You”, and “Breath of Life” from Chorus, and “Always” and “Run to the Sun” from I Say I Say I Say.

From 1995, the commercial success of Erasure began to fade with the atmospheric album Erasure (1995), then with the mixed success of Cowboy (1997), until the album Loveboat (2000) which almost passed unnoticed. A little later in the 2000s, the duo achieved a commercial rebound in a few European countries thanks to their cover of a Peter Gabriel song, “Solsbury Hill”, taken from the covers album Other People's Songs (2003), as well as the UK Top 5 single “Breathe” on the album Nightbird (2005). Subsequently, Erasure began a new commercial decline accentuated by the record crisis: the group's new albums still ranked briefly in the charts.

Overall in their career, Erasure have written more than 200 songs and have sold more than 28 million albums worldwide.