The disintegration of that line-up, engineered by their then-manager Bob Last, came about because there were “too many egos” for one group, Oakey freely admits that he and Ware were both “pompous and arrogant” at that time. The founding duo left to form Heaven 17, giving Virgin Records two great synthpop acts for the price of one but, more pressingly, giving Phil Oakey the headache of a European tour with no band members. The Human League at the Brighton Centre 16.12.21 (pics Andy Sturmey) The only constant band member since 1977 has been lead singer and songwriter Philip Oakey. Keyboard players Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh both left the band in 1980 to form Heaven 17, leaving Oakey and Adrian Wright to assemble a new line-up. The Human League then evolved into a commercially successful new pop band, [2] with the line-up comprising Oakey, Wright, vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, bassist and keyboard player Ian Burden and guitarist and keyboard player Jo Callis. Wright, Burden and Callis all left the band by the end of the 1980s, since which time the band has essentially been a trio of Oakey, Catherall and Sulley with various sidemen. Jones, Anderson (5 May 1995). "Music Review: 'Octopus' ". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 23 February 2020.

Throughout the following years, the band has continued to tour frequently, enjoying success and popularity as a live act. In 2004, they released The Human League Live at the Dome, a DVD of a live show filmed at the Brighton Dome, complete with a compilation CD called Live at the Dome. Although the subject of retirement is often brought up in interviews, Oakey, Sulley and Catherall have all stated that they still enjoy performing and intend to carry on for "as long as they are filling concerts and people want to see them". Sulley has joked that she "has to carry on because she doesn't know how to do anything else". [39] 2010s: Credo and further tours [ edit ] At Paradiso, Netherlands, in April 2011. From left to right: Joanne Catherall, Phil Oakey and Neil Sutton. Top 100 Pop Singles" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol.LVIII, no.30. 8 April 1995. p.10 . Retrieved 20 February 2018.In November 1982, the Motown influenced electropop single " Mirror Man" reached No.2 in the UK chart, just missing another Christmas No.1, which was taken by a novelty record by Renée and Renato. [18] The RM on a Pop Tip Club Chart" (PDF). Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). 28 January 1995. p.8 . Retrieved 2 September 2021.

There was a pleasing Dadaist blankness to The Human League: what you saw was what you got. They were prime numbers in a world of complex equations: you couldn’t break them down. Despite the sometimes arcane subject matters of their songs, there was always a certain straightforwardness to the League. Even Oakey’s handsome Yorkshire accent was never modified to a mid-Atlantic drawl for the sake of radio digestibility and it’s notable that, in 25 years, the band has never left their hometown of Sheffield for the lure of London. Because the imposed style had not worked, Virgin permitted the band to return to their original style and the band recorded and released their first full studio album Reproduction in August 1979. The album and the single " Empire State Human" failed to make an impact on the charts. After these flops, Virgin cancelled the band's December 1979 tour. By this time, the Human League's role as UK electronic pioneers was usurped by Gary Numan, when his single " Are 'Friends' Electric?" became a huge hit in the UK in mid-1979. [7] [ unreliable source?] Since 1978, the Human League have released 9 studio albums, a remix album, a live album, 6 EPs, 29 singles and 13 compilation albums. They have had 6 top 20 albums and 13 top 20 singles in the UK and had sold more than 20 million records worldwide by 2010. [3] [4] As an early techno-pop [5] act that received extensive MTV airplay, they are regarded as one of the leading artists of the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. [6] History [ edit ] 1970s: Early years [ edit ] Susan Sulley said that the rejection of Secrets was "the lowest the band had been since 1992 and, after putting in so much time and effort in to an album that then failed, nearly causing them to call it a day." [31] Masterton, James (1 January 1995). "Week Ending January 7th 1995". Chart Watch UK . Retrieved 16 September 2021.The Human League are an English synth-pop [1] 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 in 1981 after restructuring their lineup. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit " Don't You Want Me". The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including " Mirror Man", " (Keep Feeling) Fascination", " The Lebanon", " Human" (a second US No.1) and " Tell Me When". a b c d e f g h i j k l Turner, Sean. "Complete guide to The Human League 1977–1980". Blindyouth.co.uk . Retrieved 30 January 2014. a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.262. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

Their renewed success prompted the band to tour again for the first time since 1987, and they conducted a tour of the US and UK in 1995. Subsequent singles " Filling Up with Heaven" and the non-album single " Stay with Me Tonight" also reached the UK Top 40, and a new remix of "Don't You Want Me" was released to capitalise on the band's revitalised profile. This was in the run up to a new "greatest hits" compilation in 1996, but which proved less successful than their first "Greatest Hits" album from 1988. Formed in Sheffield in 1977, The Human League released two albums with their original line-up. When founding members Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware left to form Heaven 17, singer Phil Oakey brought it female vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley and reinvented the group, moving them away from their dark, experimental roots and reinventing them with a more commercial synth-pop sound. A chart-topping album, 1981’s Dare, followed, as well as a string chart hits, including Don’t You Want Me, Love Action (I Believe In Love) and Mirror Man.On completion of the tour, Burden went on to his next commitment playing bass guitar in West Berlin. Because of the professionalism they had shown and because he planned to use them further vocally, Oakey and manager Bob Last made Sulley and Catherall full members of the band, to be paid on a salary basis. At the end of 2012, the band undertook the 'XXXV Tour' across Europe and the UK to celebrate 35 years in existence. The shows were critically acclaimed. The UK's Daily Telegraph said "as good a night's entertainment as you are likely to find anywhere on the planet". [41] On September 22, 2006, the band performed on the U.S. network television show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. This was immediately before the highlight of 2006 (for fans) when they played to an audience of 16,000 at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, one of their largest solo concerts to date. This was followed up by a short US tour and an extensive tour of Europe in November and December 2006. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol.11, no.5. 4 February 1995. p.36 . Retrieved 16 January 2018.

Lilleker, Martin. Beats Working for a Living: Sheffield Popular Music 1973–1984. Juma March 2005. ISBN 978-1-872204-26-0 In August 1978 the band recorded a session for John Peel, including a re-worked version of "Being Boiled." [10]The band has been the subject of, and appeared in, various TV documentaries and features, including Channel 4's Made in Sheffield and the BBC's Young Guns: The Bands of the Early 1980s. In June 2007, Sulley and Catherall presented a documentary on Sheffield's pop music history entitled The Nation's Music Cities for VH1. Oakey has stated that upon discovering the girls were only teenagers and also best friends, he invited them both so they could look after each other on the tour for safety. He has also said that he thought having two women as vocalists and dancers would also add glamour to the band. Because of the girls' ages, Oakey and Wright later had to visit Sulley and Catherall's respective parents to obtain permission for the girls to go on the tour. Their parents let them join the band under the provision that Oakey would keep them safe. Sulley also reported that both her father and Catherall's went to the girls' school and convinced them that the experience of touring could be highly educational because of the travelling involved. [16]