Heaven 17
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Heaven 17
OR:
Heaven 17 on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of
Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as "Being Boiled" and " ...
(keyboards) and
Ian Craig Marsh Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form the ...
(keyboards) (both previously of
the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
), and
Glenn Gregory Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop b ...
(vocals, keyboards). Although most of the band's music was recorded in the 1980s, they have occasionally reformed to record and perform, playing their first ever live concerts in 1997. Marsh left the band in 2007 and Ware and Gregory continued to perform as Heaven 17.


History


1980s


Origin and Formation

Ian Craig Marsh Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form the ...
and
Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as "Being Boiled" and " ...
were the founding members of pioneering Sheffield electro-pop or synthpop group
the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
; Glenn Gregory (who had previously been in a punk band called Musical Vomit with Marsh) had been their original choice when seeking a lead singer for the band but as he had moved to London to work as a photographer at the time, they chose Ware's school friend
Philip Oakey Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an e ...
instead. When personal and creative tensions within the group reached a breaking point in late 1980, Marsh and Ware left the band, ceding the Human League name to Oakey. They formed the production company
British Electric Foundation B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) was a band/production company formed by former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh which became largely eclipsed by its best-known project, Heaven 17 (with lead singer Glenn Gregory). Histo ...
(B.E.F.).


1981: B.E.F. and Penthouse and Pavement

B.E.F.'s first recordings were a
cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...
-only album called ''Music For Stowaways'' and an LP called ''Music For Listening To'', which was re-released on CD in 1997 with two extra tracks. Shortly after, they completed their line-up when they recruited their friend, photographer Glenn Gregory, as vocalist. Taking their new name from a fictional pop band mentioned in
Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire ''A Clockwork ...
's dystopian novel, ''
A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'' (where The Heaven Seventeen are at number 4 in the charts with "Inside"), Heaven 17 was intended to be just one of the musical projects for British Electric Foundation. Like The Human League, Heaven 17 used synthesisers and drum machines heavily (the
Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American e ...
programmed by Ware). Session musicians were used for bass guitar and guitar (John Wilson) and
grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
(Nick Plytas). Whereas the band's former colleagues the Human League had gone on to major chart success in 1981, Heaven 17 struggled to make an impact. Their debut single "
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song by British synth-pop band Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn ...
" attracted some attention and, due to its overtly left-wing political lyrics, was banned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
due to concerns by
Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...
's legal department that it libelled Ronald Reagan, who had recently been elected President of the United States. Neither this nor any other of the four singles taken from the band's debut album ''
Penthouse and Pavement ''Penthouse and Pavement'' is the debut studio album by English new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in September 1981 by Virgin Records. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve char ...
'' managed to reach the
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...
in the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. The album itself proved to be a success, peaking at Number 14 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, and was later certified
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
by the BPI in 1982. Around this time, Ware and Marsh produced two further albums as B.E.F., the first being ''Music of Quality & Distinction Volume One'' featuring Glenn Gregory,
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...
,
Paula Yates Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1959 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer. Yates is best known for her work on two television programmes, '' The Tube'' and ''The Big Breakfast''. She was the girlfriend of musicia ...
, Billy Mackenzie,
Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...
, Paul Jones,
Bernie Nolan Bernadette Therese Nolan (17 October 1960 – 4 July 2013) was an Irish actress, singer and television personality, formerly lead vocalist of the girl group the Nolans. She was the second youngest of sisters Anne, Denise, Maureen, Linda and ...
, and Gary Glitter. The tracks were
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of songs that Ware, Marsh and Gregory had grown up listening to. The album peaked at number 25. The second album was ''Geisha Boys and Temple Girls'' for the dance troupe
Hot Gossip Hot Gossip (1974–86) were a British dance troupe who made television appearances and in 1978 backed Sarah Brightman on her single " I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper". Formation Arlene Phillips moved to London to learn and teach developi ...
, which used songs formerly recorded by the Human League and Heaven 17, and a track each from Sting and
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
. B.E.F. took over production duties when
Richard James Burgess Richard James Burgess (born 29 June 1949) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor. Burgess's music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s a ...
of the band Landscape was unable to complete the album.


1982-1983: The Luxury Gap and commercial success

In October 1982, Heaven 17 released their new single " Let Me Go", which charted just outside the UK Top 40 (but reached the Irish Top 30). However, in 1983 the band's fortunes changed. Their next single, "
Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
" (on which they were augmented by vocalist
Carol Kenyon Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...
and a studio orchestra), reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in spring 1983 and became their biggest hit. The song was taken from their second album, '' The Luxury Gap'', which featured further chart hits " Come Live with Me" (UK #5) and " Crushed by the Wheels of Industry" (UK #17). The album itself charted at number 4 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, their highest ever position, and was certified platinum by the BPI in 1984. In the United States, their self-titled ''Heaven 17'' album was a re-working of ''Penthouse and Pavement'' with three songs deleted and replaced by "Let Me Go", "Who'll Stop the Rain", and "I'm Your Money" (along with a different mix of " The Height of the Fighting"). American and Canadian new wave audiences were most familiar with "Let Me Go", which received high rotation
airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
on
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
and new wave format radio stations such as Los Angeles, California's KROQ-FM, and Long Island, New York's
WLIR WLIR was a radio station that played a new music/modern rock format on the frequencies 92.7 FM, 98.5 FM, and 107.1 FM from the 1980s into the 2000s. Bob Wilson, longtime WLIR employee and historian, created the website WDARE (Dare FM), which m ...
, an CKOI-FM (Montreal), a regular Top Ten station, and additionally, frequent MTV exposure.


1983-1985: Collaborations and How Men Are

Towards the end of 1983, the band (under their B.E.F. guise and assisted by Greg Walsh) helped relaunch
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...
's career, producing, and providing backing vocals on her hit " Let's Stay Together", a cover of the Al Green song. 1984 saw the release of Heaven 17's third studio album, '' How Men Are'', which reached number 12 in the UK Albums Chart and was certified silver by the BPI. The album featured the
Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...
brass section The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instruments. They contain ...
, and two singles from the album (" Sunset Now" and " This Is Mine") both reached the UK Top 40, but would be the band's last singles to do so until various remixes were released in the 1990s. The band also worked on the Band Aid single "
Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...
" at the end of 1984, with Gregory supplying vocals alongside Midge Ure and Sting, after a personal request from Ure that he attend. However, the band did not perform at Live Aid the following year. Heaven 17's first "live" performance was in 1982 on the UK television programme '' The Tube'' (though the band made use of backing tapes during this performance). In 1985 Heaven 17 joined the
Red Wedge Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
collective.


1986-1988: Critical and commercial decline

After the
remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...
''Endless'' peaked at number 70 in July 1986, the band's fourth studio album ''
Pleasure One ''Pleasure One'' is the fourth studio album by the English new wave music, new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 17 November 1986 by Virgin Records. It was the band's last studio album chart entry within the UK Top 100. Background ...
'' was released in November 1986 and featured the single "
Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...
" (UK No. 51, Germany #17). The album contained a number of songs that were originally intended for a French film project that never came to be. This was also the first Heaven 17 album to not mention production credits for B.E.F. and the abbreviation would not appear again until the '' Bigger Than America'' album in 1996. It was followed up in 1988 with the album '' Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho'' (featuring the singles "Train of Love in Motion" and " The Ballad of Go Go Brown"), although these two albums were poorly received and had little commercial success. In September 1988, the band appeared on the bill at the
Sport Aid Sport Aid (also known as Sports Aid) was a sport-themed campaign for African famine relief held in May 1986, involving several days of all-star exhibition events in various sports, and culminating in the Race Against Time, a 10 km fun run held sim ...
event in Sheffield. Heaven 17 were managed by Keith Bourton for Heavenly Management Ltd. during much of this period.


1990s

The early 1990s was a quiet period for the band, though Ware produced a second B.E.F. album in 1991, to follow 1982's original ''Music of Quality & Distinction.'' This album again featured
Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...
and Billy Mackenzie, but this time also featured artists such as Scritti Politti's Green Gartside,
Lalah Hathaway Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway (born December 16, 1968) is an American singer. In 1990 Hathaway released her first album titled ''Lalah Hathaway''. After releasing another album, titled '' A Moment'' (1994), it debuted at number 34 on the To ...
, Billy Preston, and Chaka Khan. Ware also became a producer for the likes of
Terence Trent D'Arby Sananda Francesco Maitreya (born Terence Trent Howard; March 15, 1962), who started his career with the stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer and songwriter who came to fame with his debut studio album, '' Introducing the Hardl ...
,
Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...
's
Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
, and
Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...
. Gregory, meanwhile, went on to form the band
Honeyroot Honeyroot is an ambient dance collaboration between Glenn Gregory and Keith Lowndes, signed to the independent record label Just Music. Career The project had its origins in the 1997 album, ''Skyscraping'', by ABC. As ABC was essentially Ma ...
with Keith Lowndes, then Ugly with John Uriel and Ian Wright . In late 1992, a Brothers in Rhythm remix of "Temptation" reached number 4 and was followed by the compilation album '' Higher and Higher – The Best of Heaven 17'' in 1993. Remixes of "
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song by British synth-pop band Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn ...
" and "Penthouse and Pavement" were also minor hits in 1993. However, the band would not release any new material as Heaven 17 until 1996's '' Bigger Than America''. The album failed to chart in the UK.


2000s

The year 2005 saw the release of a new studio album, '' Before After'', which had a much more contemporary dance sound compared to previous albums. A CD composed entirely of remixes of the song "Hands Up to Heaven" from the album reached number six on the US ''Billboard''
Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...
chart in May 2006. In October of the same year,
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...
issued a
greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
compilation album entitled ''Sight and Sound'', which included a previously-unheard version of "Temptation" with spoken vocals by an unknown student from Germany whom the band met in 1982. It had been discovered on 1-inch tape by Gregory's mother and was remastered by Simon Heyworth. In November 2005, Heaven 17 were filmed for a live DVD playing to a packed house at The Scala in London. The DVD contains an in-depth question-and-answer session with both Ware and Gregory, along with fans' reactions to the gig. In 2006, Marsh stopped making live appearances with the band. In an early 2009 interview, Ware stated that Marsh had left the band and was now studying at university. Beginning in the mid-1990s,
Billie Godfrey Billie Godfrey is an English singer. Background Based in London and Brighton, Godfrey has been a vocalist for many artists and in her own right. She started her career as a radio DJ, playing the kind of music she would later go on to record. ...
worked with the band as a backing vocalist and appeared with them at concerts. She performed as part of the band on 21 November 2008 for their highest profile TV appearance of recent years on ''Now That's What I Call 1983'' on
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
. In December 2008, Heaven 17 toured the UK as part of the Sheffield band-based Steel City Tour alongside the Human League and
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
. Coinciding with this was the release of their new album, '' Naked as Advertised – Versions 08'', issued through the Just Music record label. The album contained re-workings of tracks such as "Temptation" along with versions of Ware songs best known from his time with the Human League, including " Being Boiled" and " Empire State Human", as well as a
cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...
of the Associates' hit " Party Fears Two". The band were managed by Nick Ashton-Hart for much of the early 2000s. In December 2009, Heaven 17 made appearances at the "Nokia
Night of the Proms Night of the Proms is a series of concerts held annually in Belgium (since 1985), the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. Regularly there are also shows in France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, the United States and Sweden. The co ...
" in Germany.


2010s

On 16 February 2010, Heaven 17 joined
La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...
to record a joint live session for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
which was shown on the
BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to c ...
interactive channel in January 2010. Glenn Gregory joined La Roux on stage at Glastonbury Festival on 26 June 2010, performing "
Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
". (La Roux cite Heaven 17 as one of their main influences). The two acts also appeared live on stage at the War Child
Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
aftershow in February 2010. In the run up to their 30th anniversary, the band announced several dates in which they would perform their 1981 debut album ''
Penthouse and Pavement ''Penthouse and Pavement'' is the debut studio album by English new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in September 1981 by Virgin Records. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve char ...
'' live in its entirety for the first time. The dates were scheduled over November and December 2010 with the first date held on 10 November 2010 at the well known
Leadmill The Leadmill is the longest running live music venue and nightclub in Sheffield, England, based on Leadmill Road, lying on the southeast edge of the Sheffield city centre, city centre. It opened in 1980 in a former flour mill, originally a Com ...
live music venue in Sheffield. By chance the Leadmill also celebrated a 30-year anniversary in 2010. By their own admission this Leadmill gig was one of the band's most successful. The band performed a couple of dates of the Penthouse and Pavement tour in March 2010, one of which was in Sheffield and was filmed and shown on BBC Two on 16 May 2010. An hour-long documentary about the making of the album was shown on BBC Two the following night. This film was also screened at a special "Music in Sheffield" evening of films at the
Showroom A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921 A showroom, also referred to as a gallery, is a large space used to display products, entertainment or visual arts. Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, suc ...
in Sheffield, which Martyn Ware attended, on the eve of the announcement of the City of Culture 2013. The band appeared on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on 22 October 2010, performing "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Temptation" and appeared in BBC Children in Need in November 2010. They also made a tongue-in-cheek appearance in TV advertisements for Sheffield-based broadband provider
Plusnet Plusnet plc is a British triple play internet service provider (ISP); providing broadband, landline and mobile services. The company was founded in 1997 in Sheffield, England, and became a public limited company (plc) in July 2004 when it was f ...
. On 22 November, the band released a 2 disc DVD combining never-seen-before documentary and rehearsal footage with the band's full live concert filmed in Sheffield in March 2010. Also included was a unique collection of all the digital videos used in the live show, set to the accompanying live audio from the performance. Each video was commissioned from a different visual artist and included both established up-and-coming artists from the worlds of digital and graphic design, fine art, and film. Since 2011 the band's regular keyboard player has been Berenice Scott (the daughter of Robin Scott of the group M and "Pop Muzik" fame). In July 2014, they appeared as special guests of John Shuttleworth in his
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
programme ''John Shuttleworth's Music Lounge'' and performed some of Shuttleworth's material. In November 2015, a compilation album called ''80s Recovered'' featured many groups including Heaven 17. They performed a cover of Elton John's " Rocket Man", with a regular version, and a remix. During October 2016, Heaven 17 undertook a dual headline tour with their British Electronic Foundation (B.E.F.) The dates included venues in Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Gateshead, Manchester, Bury St Edmunds, Basingstoke and London. B.E.F. enlisted
Mari Wilson Mari Macmillan Ramsay Wilson (born 29 September 1954, Neasden, London) is a British pop and jazz singer. She is best known for her 1982 UK top-10 hit single "Just What I Always Wanted" and her 1960s image complete with beehive hairstyle. Car ...
,
Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only albu ...
( Sex Pistols), and
Peter Hooton Peter Hooton (born 28 September 1962) is the vocalist of Liverpool-based group the Farm. He was also its sole founder member in 1983, overseeing its rise to prominence with two top 10 singles in 1990, its breakup in 1996 and reformation in 2004 ...
(The Farm) to present new arrangements of songs from the B.E.F. back catalogue. The tour was significant in that it was the first time that Heaven 17 had played the
Sheffield City Hall Sheffield City Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Sheffield, England in Barker's Pool, one of the city's central squares. It was built and is owned by Sheffield City Council but is now managed by the Sheffield City Trust, under a 99-year l ...
, having not performed there during the 1980s. In January 2017, Ware and Gregory started work on a new album at Ware's London studio "The House of Illustrious". A work-in-progress version of this album was released by
Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, B&W was acquired b ...
under the title "Not For Public Broadcast" ( Society of Sound #105). In late 2018 Heaven 17 gigs in Liverpool, London, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester and Sheffield celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Luxury Gap album. The tour support was provided by X-Propaganda featuring
Claudia Brücken Claudia Brücken (born 7 December 1963) is a German singer and songwriter. She is best known as the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band Propaganda. In 1996, Brücken started working with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark co-founder Paul Humphre ...
and Susanne Freytag from '80s band Propaganda. In October/November 2019 the band took part as 'Special Guests' on a tour with Squeeze.


2020s

In September 2021 the group performed the first two Human League albums '' Reproduction'' (1979) and ''
Travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...
'' (1980) in Sheffield and London with long-standing collaborator
Malcolm Garrett Malcolm Leslie Garrett (born 1956) is a British graphic designer, and Creative Director of Images&Co, a communications design consultancy based in London, UK. He is Ambassador for Manchester School of Art and co-founder of the annual Design M ...
providing live visuals on stage.


Discography

*''
Penthouse and Pavement ''Penthouse and Pavement'' is the debut studio album by English new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in September 1981 by Virgin Records. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was released as a single, but did not achieve char ...
'' (1981) *'' The Luxury Gap'' (1983) *'' How Men Are'' (1984) *''
Pleasure One ''Pleasure One'' is the fourth studio album by the English new wave music, new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 17 November 1986 by Virgin Records. It was the band's last studio album chart entry within the UK Top 100. Background ...
'' (1986) *'' Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho'' (1988) *'' Bigger Than America'' (1996) *'' Before After'' (2005) *''
Naked as Advertised ''Naked as Advertised'' is the eighth studio album by the English synthpop band Heaven 17. It was originally released in 2008, on the label Just Music, three years after their previous album, '' Before After''. The album contained re-workings of t ...
'' (2008)


References


External links


Heaven 17 Official websiteHeaven 17
at YouTube
Heaven 17
at
Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaven 17 1980 establishments in England English new wave musical groups English synth-pop groups Musical groups from Sheffield Musical groups established in 1980 British musical trios British synth-pop new wave groups English electronic music duos Male musical duos New wave duos Virgin Records artists Sony BMG artists English pop music duos Second British Invasion artists