''Demons to Diamonds'' is the fifth and final studio album by the British rock/pop band Visage. It was released on 6 November 2015, nine months after the death of lead vocalist

Steve Strange Stephen John Harrington (28 May 1959 – 12 February 2015), known professionally as Steve Strange, was a Welsh singer. From the late 1970s he was a nightclub host and promoter. He became famous as the leader of the new wave synth-pop group ...

Background

Work began on the album in 2014. During a break in the recording, vocalist Steve Strange died while on holiday in Egypt in February 2015, though several tracks had already been written and recorded by this time including a cover of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's 1985 hit "

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". The track "Become" was written by former Visage member

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

, with Ure's original version first appearing on his 2014 album ''Fragile''. The track "Star City" was co-written by

Didier Marouani Didier "Ecama" Marouani (born 14 July 1953, in Monaco) is a French composer and musician. Biography Didier started his career as a pop singer and made his first single, "Je suis ton chevalier" with Etienne Roda-Gil as a lyricist in 1975. He ...

of the French electro band

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

(most notable for their 1970s hit "

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"). In the months following Strange's death, the remaining members of Visage decided to complete the album. Strange's family and friends then formed The Steve Strange Collective, "a foundation to promote and celebrate the legacy of Steve Strange and the organisations and causes he was involved with." The organisation states that all royalties from the album will go to the Steve Strange Statue Fund, which is raising money to have a memorial bronze statue of Strange made and sited in his hometown in Wales. The album's cover photograph was by

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

(credited as "Rude George"), who had known Strange since the late 1970s. Rather than release any singles from the album, the band decided to release a companion album called ''Darkness To Diamond'' in early 2016. It features remixes and alternate versions of the ten songs from ''Demons To Diamonds'', and the first ever external remix made by Visage of a song called "Heartbleed" by James Grant, former frontman of the 80s band Love and Money. The song began life when Visage approached Grant to collaborate on songwriting with them, and he was sent a set of lyrics written by Steve Strange which Grant then expanded upon. However, by the time the song was written, Strange had died and never recorded his vocals for the track. The song was ultimately performed by Grant.James Grant Official Facebook page
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Release

''Demons to Diamonds'' was released on 6 November 2015. In addition to digital formats, it was available as a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

and a limited edition coloured vinyl album (in green, blue, opaque green, and grey).

Track listings

Demons to Diamonds

# "Before You Win" (John Bryan, John Graham, Sare Havlicek, Steve Strange) # "Become" (

) # "

" (

) # "Days Become Dark" (Francois Gamaury, John Bryan, Steve Strange) # "Seven Deadly Sins (Part Three)" (John Bryan, Robin Simon, Sare Havlicek, Steve Strange) # "Aurora" (Adam Fielding) # "Your Skin Is My Sin" (Francois Gamaury, John Bryan, Steve Strange) # "Clubscene" (David Boswell, John Bryan, Nick Eastwood, Sare Havlicek, Steve Strange) # "Star City" (Didier Marouani, John Bryan, Sare Havlicek, Steve Barnacle) # "Never" (Steve Barnacle, Steve Strange)

Exclusive bonus disc

Copies pre-ordered from Visage's webstore included a bonus CD-R containing three exclusive tracks. # "Before You Win" (Radio Edit) # "Never Enough (Richard Stone & John Bryan In Prague Version)" # "Star City (Orbital Ambient Version)"

Darkness to Diamond

# Aurora (Map Of Human Heart Extended Version) # Loving The Alien (Invasion Remix) # Your Skin Is My Sin (Antidote Version) # Sax Scene # Star City (Instrumental) # Become (Glass Houses & Stones Remix) # Days Become Dark (Elimination Version) # Never (Zambon Remix) # Before You Win (Diamond Remix) # Seven Deadly Sins Part Three (Darkness Version) # James Grant - Heartbleed (Visage Remix) ''(bonus track)''

Personnel

; Visage *

– vocals * Steve Barnacle – bass *

Robin Simon Robin Simon (born 12 July 1956) is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine and Visage. Biography Early career Robin Simon played guitar in a number of local Halifax based bands in the early to mid-1970s. The bands include ...

– guitar * Lauren Duvall – vocals ; Additional personnel *

Mick MacNeil Norman Michael MacNeil is a Scottish songwriter and keyboardist born 20 July 1958 on the Isle of Barra, Scotland. He is best known as a former member of the group Simple Minds. MacNeil joined the band in 1978 and left in 1990. He released the ...

– keyboards, programming * "Wildcat" Will Blanchard - drums * Logan Sky - keyboards * Sare Havlicek - keyboards, programming * John Bryan, John Graham, Robin Lee, Sare Havlicek - additional backing vocals * John Bryan, Sare Havlicek - producers * Sare Havlicek - mixed by * Richard Elson - artwork * "Rude George" - cover photography * Chevy One, OD Hunte, Patrick Ruane, Paul Richard Simon - additional engineering * Yuri Dent - mastering

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Visage (band) albums 2015 albums 2016 albums Albums published posthumously