Illustrated Man (c. 1984) were a new wave band formed in London featuring two Britons,

Hugo Burnham Hugo Hamilton Mark Burnham (born 25 March 1956) is an English musician, and drummer for the rock group Gang of Four. The band formed in 1977 at Leeds University, where Burnham was studying English Literature. Before the band signed with EMI ...

(ex-

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

) on drums and percussion,

Rob Dean Rob Dean (born 23 April 1955) is a British musician turned professional illustrator, who rose to prominence playing lead guitar as a member of the British new wave band Japan from 1975 to 1981. Biography He is from the Clapton district of ...

(

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) on guitar and two Australians, singer and bass guitarist

Philip Foxman Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...

( Supernaut) and Roger Mason on keyboards and synthesisers (

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

touring band, James Freud & the Radio Stars). They had hits with songs such as "Head over Heels", "Just Enough" and "Fall from Grace" and their sound was likened to UK bands such as Japan,

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and

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Biography

The band was formed by Philip Foxman who had been the bass guitarist for

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

ers Supernaut (later The Nauts) which disbanded in 1980. Foxman relocated to London where he signed to EMI. He contacted Australian Roger Mason who had been keyboardist for new wave group James Freud & the Radio Stars in Melbourne. The group supported

on his Australian tour and, as James Freud & Berlin, they relocated to London. Mason toured with Numan in late 1980 and met Dean when both played on Numan's ''

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

'' album recorded in June–July 1981.

was a member of English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band

but left in early 1983 after their third studio album, ''

Songs of the Free ''Songs of the Free'' is the third studio album by Gang of Four, released in 1982. It is their first with Sara Lee as bassist, replacing Dave Allen. In 1996, Infinite Zero Archive/ American Recordings label issued it on CD, with two bonus tr ...

'' (1982).

was an early member of new wave group

on guitar and left after recording their fourth album, ''

Gentlemen Take Polaroids ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' is the fourth studio album by the English band Japan, released in November 1980 by Virgin Records. Background ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' was the band's first album for the Virgin Records label after leaving Han ...

'' (1980) and initially worked on a solo album, which was not released. Consisting of some excellent musicians with a successful track record, the band was initially hailed as a

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

and released a six-track mini-album, ''Illustrated Man'' in 1984. Joey Burnham (ex-Supernaut) also appeared as session drummer on the mini-album. The band had some success with songs such as "Head over Heels", "Just Enough" and "Fall from Grace". Regarded as an excellent live band, they were thought to be the next big thing but their success was relatively short-lived. The band travelled to New York after the release of the mini-album but disbanded shortly after.

Members

— drums, percussion *

— guitar * Philip Foxman — bass, vocals songwriter * Roger Mason — keyboards, computer

Discography

* ''Illustrated Man'' (1984)

References

English new wave musical groups British supergroups Rock music supergroups New wave supergroups Musical groups established in 1984 Capitol Records artists {{UK-band-stub