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📅 1977 🌍 Sheffield, England 🎵 New Wave

The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. The band had an early hit with "Being Boiled", but achieved stardom after a key change in line-up in 1980, releasing multiple international hits from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s. Dare (1981), the band's most popular album, yielded the single "Don't You Want Me", a #1 hit in the UK, US, and many other territories. Other international hits include: "Love Action", "Open Your Heart", "Mirror Man", "Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" (a US #1) and "Tell Me When". The only constant band member since 1977 is vocalist and songwriter Philip Oakey. Originally an avant-garde all-male synthesizer-based group, The Human League evolved into a commercially successful synthpop band under Oakey's leadership. Since 1987, the band has essentially been a trio of Oakey and long-serving female vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley (who joined the ensemble in 1980), with various sidemen. The Human League has influenced many electro-pop, other synthpop, and mainstream performers including Madonna, La Roux, Moby, Pet Shop Boys, and Little Boots. They have been sampled and covered by various artists including Tony Christie, Utah Saints, Ministry of Sound, Craig David, George Michael, KMFDM, Robbie Williams and Out of the Blue (Oxford University). Since 1978, The Human League have released nine studio albums, four EPs, thirty singles and several compilation albums. They have had five albums and eight singles in the UK Top Ten and have sold more than 20 million records.