Marc Almond | |
|---|---|
 Almond in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Peter Mark Almond (1956-07-09)9 July 1956 (age 69) Southport, Lancashire, England |
| Origin | Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | marcalmond |
Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1956)[1] is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of thesynth-pop duoSoft Cell. He is known for his distinctive soulful voice andandrogynous image, and has had a diverse career as a solo artist.
Almond rose to prominence in the early 1980s with Soft Cell's hit "Tainted Love" (1981), which became a defining track of the new wave and synth-pop movement. After Soft Cell disbanded in 1984, Almond pursued a solo career, incorporating elements of pop, cabaret, and electronic music. His hits include a duet withGene Pitney on the 1989 UK number one single "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart".[2] and "Tears Run Rings".
Almond has released numerous albums and collaborated with artists such asJools Holland,Nico, andSiouxsie Sioux, exploring diverse musical styles ranging from torch songs to Russian folk music. Almond's career spanning over four decades has enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim, and he has sold over 30 million records worldwide.[3] He spent a month in a coma after a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2004 and later became a patron of the brain trauma charity Headway.[4]
Almond was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2018 New Year Honours for services to arts and culture.[5]
Almond was born inSouthport, Sefton,[6] the son of Sandra Mary Diesen and Peter John Almond, aSecond Lieutenant in theKing's Liverpool Regiment.[7] He was brought up at his grandparents' house inBirkdale with his younger sister, and as a child suffered frombronchitis andasthma. When he was four, they left their grandparents' house and moved toStarbeck, Harrogate. Two years later they returned to Southport, and then moved toHorsforth, Yorkshire. There, he attended Horsforth Featherbank Infant School.[8]
At the age of 11, Almond attendedAireborough Grammar School nearLeeds. He found solace in music, listening to radio pioneerJohn Peel. The first albums he purchased were the soundtrack of the stage musicalHair andBenefit byJethro Tull, and the first singles were "Green Manalishi" byFleetwood Mac and "Witch's Promise" byJethro Tull.[9] He became a great fan ofMarc Bolan andDavid Bowie, and got a part-time job as a stable boy to fund his music listening.[10] After his parents' divorce in 1972, he moved with his mother back to Southport where he attendedKing George V School. He gained twoO-Levels in Art and English and was accepted onto a General Art and Design course atSouthport College, specialising in Performance Art.[11]
Almond applied toLeeds Polytechnic, where he was interviewed byJeff Nuttall, also a performance artist, who accepted him on the strength of his performing skills. During his time at art college, he did a series of performance theatre pieces:Zazou,Glamour in Squalor,Twilights and Lowlifes, as well asAndy Warhol inspired mini-movies.Zazou was reviewed byThe Yorkshire Evening Post and described as "one of the most nihilistic depressing pieces that I have ever had the misfortune to see", prompting Almond to later refer to it as a "success" in his autobiography.[12] He left art college with a2:1 honours degree. He later credited writer and artistMolly Parkin with discovering him. It was at Leeds Polytechnic that Almond metDavid Ball, a fellow student; they formedSoft Cell in 1977.[13]
As a child, Almond listened to his parents' record collection, which included his mother's "Let's Dance" byChris Montez and "The Twist" byChubby Checker, as well as his father's collection of jazz, includingDave Brubeck andEartha Kitt. As an adolescent, Almond listened toRadio Caroline andRadio Luxembourg. He listened at first toprogressive music,blues, and rock, and bands such asFree, Jethro Tull,Van der Graaf Generator,the Who, andthe Doors. He bought the first ever issue ofSounds because it contained a free poster ofJimmy Page. Almond became a fan of Bolan after hearing him onTheJohn Peel Show, buying theT. Rex single "Ride a White Swan". From then on, Almond "followed everything Marc Bolan did" and it was his obsession with Bolan that prompted Almond to adopt the "Marc" spelling of his name.[14] He discovered the songs ofJacques Brel through Bowie as well asAlex Harvey andDusty Springfield. Brel became a major influence.[8]
Almond andDave Ball formed the synthesiser-based duo Soft Cell and signed to the Some Bizzare label. Their hits included "Tainted Love" (UK No. 1), "Bedsitter" (UK No. 4), "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (UK No. 3), "Torch" (UK No. 2), "What!" (UK No. 3), "Soul Inside" (UK No. 16), and the club hit "Memorabilia". Soft Cell's first release was an independent record (funded byDave Ball's mother) entitled "Mutant Moments" via Red Rhino Records in 1980.[15]
"Mutant Moments" came to the attention of music entrepreneurStevo Pearce, who at the time was compiling a "futurist" chart for the music papers Record Mirror andSounds which featured young, upcoming and experimental bands of the new wave of electronic sound. He signed the duo to hisSome Bizzare label and they enjoyed a string of nine Top 40 hit singles and four Top 20 albums in the UK between 1981 and 1984. They recorded three albums in New York with producer Mike Thorne:Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret,Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing andThe Art of Falling Apart. Almond became involved with the New York Underground Art Scene at this time with writer/DJAnita Sarko, which led him to meet artists includingAndy Warhol and perform at a number of Art events.
"Tainted Love", a cover of aGloria JonesNorthern Soul classic, was number one in the UK and in many countries over the world, and was in theGuinness Book of Records for a while as the record that spent the longest time in theBillboard Hot 100 chart in the US. It also won the best-single award of 1981 at the first Brit Awards. Soft Cell brought an otherwise obscure Northern Soul classic to mass public attention and their version of the song is, to date, the UK's 59th best-selling single of all time, selling over one million copies in the UK.[16]
Almond also became friends withJG Thirlwell and, in 1983, as Clint Ruin, Thirlwell performed with Soft Cell on theChannel 4 show The Switch. Marc travelled to New York with Thirlwell andNick Cave, where they became part ofthe Immaculate Consumptive withLydia Lunch. Almond and Thirlwell continued to work together, ultimately culminating in theFlesh Volcano single in 1987.
In 1982, Almond formedMarc and the Mambas as an offshoot project from Soft Cell. Marc and the Mambas was a loose experimental collective that set the template for the artist that Almond would become. The Mambas at various times includedMatt Johnson,Steve James Sherlock, Lee Jenkinson, Peter Ashworth,Jim Thirlwell andAnnie Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo career. Under the Mambas moniker, Almond recorded two albums,Untitled and the double-albumTorment and Toreros. He disbanded the collective when it started to feel too much like a regular band.
Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of their fourth album,This Last Night in Sodom, but the duo briefly reunited in 2001 and again in 2018.
Marc Almond had a hit early 1985 with "I Feel Love, Johnny Remember Me" withBronski Beat on the gay-themed albumThe Age of Consent, released in 1984.
Almond's first proper solo album wasVermin in Ermine, released in 1984. Produced by Mike Hedges, it featured musicians from the Mambas outfit,Annie Hogan,Martin McCarrick and Billy McGee. This ensemble, known as The Willing Sinners, worked alongside Almond for the subsequent albumsStories of Johnny (1985) from which the title track became a minor hit, andMother Fist and Her Five Daughters (1987), also produced by Mike Hedges. The latter album was highly acclaimed in reviews, with Ned Raggett writing that the 'Mother Fist' album "embraces classic European cabaret to wonderful effect, more so than any American or English rock album since Bowie'sAladdin Sane or Lou Reed'sBerlin."[17]
McCarrick left The Willing Sinners in 1987 to joinSiouxsie and the Banshees, from which point Hogan and McGee became known as La Magia. Almond signed to EMI and released the albumThe Stars We Are in 1988.[18] This album featured Almond's version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", which was later re-recorded as a duet with the song's original singerGene Pitney and released as a single. The track reached No. 1 in the UK. It also reached number one in Germany and was a major hit in countries around the world.The Stars We Are became his biggest selling solo album in the US, and the single "Tears Run Rings" became his only solo single to peak inside the USBillboard Hot 100.
Almond's other recordings in the 1980s included an album of Brel songs, calledJacques, and an album of dark French chansons originally performed byJuliette Gréco,Serge Lama andLéo Ferré, as well as poems by Rimbaud and Baudelaire set to music. This album was released in 1993 asAbsinthe, and was initially recorded in the late 1980s then finished in Paris in the early 1990s.
Almond's first release in the 1990s was the albumEnchanted, which spawned the UK Top 30 hit "A Lover Spurned". A further single from the album, "Waifs and Strays", was remixed by Dave Ball who was now in the electronic dance bandthe Grid. In 1991, Soft Cell returned to the charts with a new remix of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" followed by a re-release of "Tainted Love" (with a new video). The singles were issued to promote a new Soft Cell/Marc Almond compilation album,Memorabilia - The Singles, which collected some of the biggest hits from Almond's career throughout the previous ten years. The album reached the UK Top 10.
Almond then signed to WEA and released a new solo album,Tenement Symphony. Produced partly byTrevor Horn, the album yielded three Top 40 hits including renditions of the Jacques Brel classic "Jacky" (which made the UK Top 20), and "The Days of Pearly Spencer" which returned Almond to the UK Top 5 in 1992. Later that year, Almond played a lavish one-off show at theRoyal Albert Hall in London, which featured an orchestra and dancers as he performed material from his entire career. The show was recorded and released as the CD and video12 Years of Tears.[19]
In 1993 Almond toured Russia (includingSiberia) by invitation of the British consul in Moscow. Accompanied only by Martin Watkins on piano, he played small Soviet halls and theatres, often without amplification, and ended at the "mini Bolshoi" in Moscow. Transmitted live on television Almond made a plea for tolerance of gay people. The tour was fraught with troubles, which Almond detailed in his autobiography, but it marked the beginning of his love affair with the genre of Russian folktorch songs known as Romance.
Almond's next albumFantastic Star saw him part with WEA and sign to Mercury Records. Much ofFantastic Star was originally recorded in New York with Mike Thorne, but later after signing to Mercury, was reworked in London. Almond also recorded a session for the album with John Cale, David Johanson, and Chris Spedding; some made the final cut. Other songs were produced by Mike Hedges andMartyn Ware. Adding to the disjointed recording process was the fact that during recording Almond also spent several weeks attending a treatment centre inCanterbury for addiction to prescription drugs.[20] However, on its releaseFantastic Star gave Almond a hit single with "Adored and Explored", and also minor hits and stage favourites such as "The Idol" and "Child Star".Fantastic Star was Almond's last album with WEA and also marked the ending of his managerial relationship with Stevo Pearce.[21]
Almond signed to Echo records in 1998 with a more downbeat and atmospheric electronica album,Open All Night. This featured R&B andtrip hop influences, as well as torch songs for which he had become known. The album featured a duet ("Threat of Love") withSiouxsie Sioux as well as one ("Almost Diamonds") withKelli Ali (then of theSneaker Pimps). "Black Kiss", "Tragedy" and "My Love" were the singles from the albumOpen All Night.[19]
Almond relocated in 2000 to Moscow where he rented an apartment. With the encouragement and connections of executive producer Misha Kucherenko, he embarked on a three-year recording project of Russian romance and folk songs, calledHeart on Snow.[22] Featuring many Russian stars old and new such asBoris Grebenshchikov,Ilya Lagutenko of the Russian bandMumiy Troll,Lyudmila Zykina andAlla Bayanova and featuring The Rossiya Folk Orchestra conducted by Anatole Sobolev, it was the first time that such a project had been undertaken by a Western artist, many of the loved Soviet era songs sung in English for the first time.[23] The album was produced by musician/arranger Andrei Samsonov.[24] Almond performed many times at the famous, and now demolished, Rossiya Concert Hall withLyudmila Zykina andAlla Bayanova, and with the Rossiya Folk Orchestra.[22]
In 2001, Soft Cell reunited briefly and released their first new album in 18 years,Cruelty Without Beauty. Two singles came out of this album, "Monoculture" and a cover of theFrankie Valli's "The Night", which led to aTop of the Pops appearance for the band, their first since the mid-1980s.[25] Almond also presentedNew Music Television that year.[26]
Almond released his eleventh studio album,Stranger Things, in 2001.
In October 2004, Almond was seriously injured in a motorbike accident nearSt Paul's Cathedral, London.[27][28] Near death and in a coma for weeks, he suffered two huge blood clots and had to undergo emergency surgery twice.[29] He also suffered serious head injuries, multiple breaks and fractures, a collapsed lung and damaged hearing. He began a slow recovery determined to get back on the stage and in the studio.
In June 2007, Almond released an album of cover songs,Stardom Road. Picked to tell a story of his life and career, the album featured songs as diverse as "I Have Lived" byCharles Aznavour, to "Stardom Road" by Third World War, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night", and "Kitsch" by Paul Ryan. The album featured his first new song since the motorbike accident, "Redeem me (Beauty Will Redeem the World)".Stardom Road was to be one of three albums for theSanctuary label, the UK's largest independent record label up until 2007[30] when it got itself into financial difficulty and was sold off in June 2007 toUniversal Music Group.[31] In July 2007, Almond celebrated his 50th birthday on stage at theShepherd's Bush Empire in London and in September performed at a tribute show to Marc Bolan, his teenage hero. At the concert he dueted with Bolan's wife, Gloria Jones, on an impromptu version of "Tainted Love". In October 2007, the fashion houseYves Saint Laurent picked Almond's "Strangers in the Night" to represent their show at London'sFashion Rocks. Almond performed for the event at the Royal Albert Hall.[29]
In 2008 and 2009, Almond toured withJools Holland throughout the UK as well as guesting at shows by Current 93, Baby Dee and a tribute show to the late folk singerSandy Denny at the Festival Hall. In October 2009, Almond released his second album of Russian romances and gypsy songs entitledOrpheus in Exile. The album was a tribute to gay Russian singerVadim Kozin, who was exiled to the gulags of the Arctic Circle. The album was produced by Alexei Fedorov and features an orchestra arranged by Anatole Sobolev.[32]
In June 2010, Almond releasedVarieté, his first studio album of self written material sinceStranger Things in 2001.[33] The album marks Almond's 30th anniversary as a recording artist, a fact he celebrated with a new concert tour in Autumn 2010.[34] Also in the summer of 2010 Almond was named Mojo Hero, an award given by the music magazineMojo.[35] The award was presented to Almond byAnohni who flew from New York for the occasion.[36]
In 2011, Almond released theFeasting with Panthers album, a collaboration with musician and arrangerMichael Cashmore. It featured poetry set to music, including works by CountEric Stenbock,Jean Genet,Jean Cocteau,Paul Verlaine andRimbaud.[37] Later in the same year Almond took part in a music-theatre workTen Plagues, held at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, as part of the 2011Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from 1 to 28 August 2011.[38]Ten Plagues is a one-man song cycle based onDaniel Defoe'sJournal of the Plague Year (which dates back to 1722), with metaphors of AIDS and epidemics.[39] It was written for him byMark Ravenhill andConor Mitchell.Ten Plagues was awarded a Fringe First Award.[40]
In 2012, Almond took the role of the Roman Stoic philosopherSeneca in the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet's experimental rock adaptation ofPoppea, based onMonteverdi's original 17th-century operaThe Coronation of Poppea.[41] The production also featured ex-Libertines memberCarl Barât, French singer-songwriterBenjamin Biolay, Swedish singerFredrika Stahl and was directed by ex-Clash drummerPeter Howard.[41] Later that year, on 9 August 2012, Almond performed at Anohni'sMeltdown Festival in London'sSouthbank Centre, reforming Marc and the Mambas to perform their second albumTorment and Toreros live for the first time.[42] Anohni has stated thatTorment and Toreros was her favourite album throughout her teens and that it became the starting point forAnohni and the Johnsons.[43] Anohni joined the band on stage for one song, singing "My Little Book of Sorrows" with Almond.[42]
In 2013, Almond revivedTen Plagues and performed it for a month atWilton's Music Hall in London.[44] He also performed withJethro Tull'sIan Anderson on stage, performing Tull's concept albumThick as a Brick at theRoyal Albert Hall.[45] That year Almond also received TheIvor Novello Inspiration Award which was presented to him by longtime friend and co-Manager Vicki Wickham, and was also awarded the Icon Award fromAttitude.[46][47]
Almond released three albums throughout 2014. First wasThe Tyburn Tree with composerJohn Harle, a concept album about dark historical London.[48] This was followed byThe Dancing Marquis album, made with a number of collaborators includingJarvis Cocker,Carl Barât andJools Holland, featuring production fromTony Visconti on some tracks.[49] Finally, Almond released a studio recording of his 2011 show,Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle.[50]
In 2014 Almond was awarded a fellowship from Leeds College Of Music[51] and performed several concerts with the colleges Contemporary Orchestra And Pop Choir.
2015 saw the release ofThe Velvet Trail, an album of original material co-written and produced byChris Braide.[52] Almond also worked on asong cycle to accompany the filming of a multi media performance ofÀ rebours (translated asAgainst Nature) byJoris-Karl Huysmans.[53] The score for this project was written byOthon Mataragas with words fromFeasting with Panthers collaboratorJeremy Reed. Reed states that he wrote 15 songs for the project commenting thatAgainst Nature is "still probably one of the most decadent books ever written" and that Almond had always wanted to perform it, stating that "now we're both jaded aesthetes we could do it".[54]
In 2016, Almond landed his first major label deal in 20 years, signing a two-album deal withBMG Rights Management.[55] In 2017, the compilation albumHits and Pieces / The Best of Soft Cell & Marc Almond, debuted at number seven in the UK album chart.[56] In September 2017 the albumShadows & Reflections was released, entering the UK chart at No.14.[57]
In 2017 Almond was presented with an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy fromEdge Hill University inOrmskirk, Lancashire, close to his hometown ofSouthport. He also delivered that year's graduation address.[58]
In 2017 Liverpool Gallery, working with DuoVision Art, curated a retrospective exhibition of his life entitled Addicted to Excess.[59]
In September 2018 Soft Cell played the O2 Arena in London celebrating the band's 40-year career.[60]
In January 2019 Marc formed an offshoot rock band called The Loveless with Neal X (Sigue Sigue Sputnik) on guitar and Matt Hector and Ben Ellis (Iggy Pop’s band) on drums and bass. They have released 4 albums including Wild In The Streets (2021), Meet The Loveless (2023) and Live At The 100 Club (2024).[61]
Almond's next solo album,Chaos and a Dancing Star, also written with Braide, was recorded in Los Angeles and released in January 2020.Ian Anderson played flute on the album.[62] DuringCOVID-19 lockdowns, Almond and David Ball wrote a new Soft Cell album,Happiness Not Included, which was released on 6 May 2022. The album contained 12 new tracks, including a collaboration withPet Shop Boys on the track "Purple Zone", which reached number one in the Official Physical Singles Chart and also the Official Vinyl Singles Chart.[63]
In early 2022, Almond supported Ukraine and released an English-language cover of the Ukrainian folk song, "What A Moonlit Night".[64]
In April 2024 an exhibition of Marc’s personal collage artworks was curated for TCFE Gallery in central London. The exhibition was entitled Deities and Demons.[65]
In July 2024 Marc released his solo album, I’m Not Anyone through BMG. It is an album of cover songs including compositions by Don McLean, King Crimson and Paul Anka. Once again Ian Anderson guested on a track. This was the second of Marc's albums produced by Mike Stephens.[66]
In 2024 Marc's version of I’m Not Anyone was adopted by LGBTQ+ Prides around the world.[67]
In September 2024 Marc toured the UK and Germany with a retrospective concert of cover songs entitled I’m Not Anyone Tour.
In 2025 Marc signed a new Soft Cell album deal with Republic Of Music (ROM). The album will be entitled Danceteria.[68]
In 2025 Marc signed a new two album solo deal with Cherry Red Records. The first album is produced by Barry Adamson and will be released in 2027.[69]
In March 2025 Marc toured Australia for the first time as a double bill of Soft Cell and Marc Almond in two halves.[70]
In May and June 2025 Soft Cell toured the USA on a 24 date tour with Simple Minds.[71]
David Ball's death in October 2025 marked an indefinite end to Soft Cell.
Almond formerly divided his time amongLondon,Moscow andBarcelona.[72][failed verification] He stopped living in Moscow following theRussian invasion of Ukraine, stating in a 2024 interview "I don't think I can see myself ever going back to Moscow now. I think as an Englishman, and as an openly gay man, I'd just be too scared." In the same interview, it was mentioned that he had recently bought a small farm inPortugal.[73]
Almond has stated that he dislikes being pigeon-holed as "a 'gay' artist", saying that such a label "enables people to marginalise your work and reduce its importance, implying that it won't be of any interest to anyone who isn't gay".[74]
In his autobiography, Almond describes being invited for initiation intoAnton LaVey'sChurch of Satan, and that "not being one to turn down a theatrical moment and a chance to be relegated to the bad book, I immediately said yes."Noise musicianBoyd Rice performed the simple ceremony in "a small grotto in a wood" owned byRose McDowall close to where theHellfire Club used to meet. Almond states that the ceremony involved "no dancing naked, no bonfires, no blood sacrifice", but even so "every hair on my neck stood on end and sweat broke out on my top lip."[75][76] Almond later stated in a 2016 interview withLoud and Quiet that the initiation was "a theatrical joke that got a bit out of hand" and that he is not a Satanist.[77] By 2020, Almond had converted toDruidism.[78]
In response to being appointed OBE at the age of 60, Almond said he is still a "little bit" anti-establishment, but added: "I can't really be a rebel any more. I think it's time to leave it to younger people."[4]
In his 1999 autobiography, Almond stated that he hasMénière's syndrome, which has repercussions on his hearing.[79]
Marc remains a passionate animal rights campaigner, working tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of animals across the world, and is a staunch supporter of the Campaign To Ban Trophy Hunting.[80]
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brit Awards | 1982 | Soft Cell | British Breakthrough Act | Nominated | [81] |
| "Tainted Love" | British Single of the Year | Won | |||
| 1990 | "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart"(withGene Pitney) | Nominated | [82] | ||
| Ivor Novello Awards | 2013 | Himself | The Ivors Inspiration Award | Won | [83] |
| Mojo Awards | 2010 | Hero Award | Won | [84] |
"I've always suspected I'm on the autistic spectrum, although I have never been diagnosed," he says.
