Philip Oakey

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In late 1977, the Future changed its name to the Human League, named after an element of a science-fiction board game. The new band played their first live gig at Psalter Lane Arts College in June 1978 (a blue plaque now marks the spot) and signed to Fast Records. The early Human League had a reputation for being arty and enjoyed very little commercial success, releasing two singles, "Being Boiled" and "Empire State Human," with lyrics written by Oakey. They would eventually release two albums, Reproduction (1979) and Travelogue (1980), both recorded at the band's Monumental Pictures studio. Reproduction failed to chart, but after an impromptu appearance on Top of the Pops in May 1980, Travelogue entered the UK Album Chart and peaked at #16. Despite this, the band still had no hit singles and, dogged by the lack of commercial success, Oakey and Ware's working relationship became increasingly strained. During the autumn of 1980, on the eve of a European tour, the tension reached a breaking point and Ware departed, taking Marsh along. Oakey and director of visuals Adrian Wright were permitted to retain the band name but would be responsible for all band debts and the tour commitment. Ware and Marsh soon recruited Glenn Gregory and became Heaven 17.

Facing financial ruin with the tour promoters threatening to sue him, Oakey had less than a week to assemble a new band. In an unplanned move, Oakey visited a Sheffield city-centre discothèque called The Crazy Daisy and recruited two teenage girls whom he saw dancing there, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, to join the band. Oakey had noticed them for their dance moves, dress style and makeup. They were already fans of the Human League and recognised Oakey. He now calls this the best decision of his career, as the girls would be critical in the band's further success, and Sulley and Catherall became Oakey's business partners in the present-day band.

After the tour, the band had their first UK Top 20 hit, "The Sound of the Crowd," in April 1981. Now with the addition of Jo Callis and Ian Burden, the band became a six-piece and went on to release the single "Love Action (I Believe In Love)," which became a #3 hit in the UK. This was followed by "Open Your Heart," which also reached the top 10. Soon afterward they released a full album, Dare, mostly written by Oakey. Dare would soon become a #1 album in the UK and achieve multi-platinum status. At the end of 1981, the fourth and final single from the album, "Don't You Want Me," provided the band with their first #1 single and would sell more than 1.5 million units in the UK, remaining at #1 for five weeks. It also topped the chart in the U.S. the following year, selling another million copies there. By the end of 1981/82 Oakey and the Human League would be famous worldwide.

Oakey had a relationship with Catherall which lasted several years; the pair remain friends.

The remainder of the 1980s saw the band's success peak and dip, with the follow-up release of the album Hysteria in 1984 underachieving. In 1986, Oakey accepted an offer to work with American producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which resulted in the release of the album Crash and the single "Human," which became another international hit and reached #1 in the U.S. However, by 1987, the band had lost most of its members, leaving only Oakey, Sulley and Catherall. In 1989, Oakey persuaded Sheffield City Council to grant a business development loan for the building of Human League Studios in Sheffield, Oakey's dedicated studio for the band and a commercial venture.

The 1990 album Romantic? underperformed commercially, peaking at #24 in the UK and in 1992, Virgin Records cancelled the band's recording contract. This had a devastating effect on the band, causing Oakey to seek counselling for depression and Sulley to have a breakdown. Oakey recalled in 1995: "We watched Romantic disappear without a trace. Gone, gone into the past with all you've hoped for. […] About that time, I think, I had a low-grade nervous breakdown." Oakey's and Sulley's emotional problems nearly caused the band to dissolve. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Catherall, by 1993 Oakey and Sulley had recovered and the band signed to East West Records, followed by the release of the gold-selling album Octopus in 1995 and the hit singles "Tell Me When" and "One Man in My Heart."

Another change of record label saw the release of the critically acclaimed Secrets album in 2001. Secrets failed to sell because the record label went into receivership, curtailing promotion. After the failure of the project, Oakey lost faith in the record industry and changed the band's focus to more lucrative live work. Since 2002, they have toured regularly and played at festivals such as V Festival and Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, as well as in front of 18,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in 2006.

In 2011, the band released a new album, Credo. Though the album was commercially unsuccessful, the band continues to tour regularly.

Solo and collaborative career

Oakey has worked solo and also with other artists and producers. His first collaboration was producing the Spanish-released single "Amor Secreto" by Nick Fury in 1983 for which he also played synthesiser, together with Jo Callis.

His most commercially successful collaboration was with producer Giorgio Moroder. In 1984 for the film Electric Dreams, he and Moroder provided the film theme song, "Together in Electric Dreams." When later released as a single. it became an international hit, more successful than some of Oakey's Human League singles of the same period.

In 1985, Oakey and Moroder released the joint album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder, which generated two further single releases, "Be My Lover Now" and "Good-Bye Bad Times." Released in both the UK and US, these singles were not as successful as "Together in Electric Dreams" and the Oakey/Moroder partnership effectively ended.

In 1990, Oakey provided guest vocals on "What Comes After Goodbye," the one-off release by the short-lived Sheffield dance band Respect.

In 1991, Oakey collaborated with Vic Reeves on the track "Black Night," a Deep Purple cover.

In 1999, Oakey provided vocals for the single "1st Man in Space" by the Sheffield band All Seeing I. The song was written by Jarvis Cocker.

In 2003, Oakey provided vocals for Sheffield band Kings Have Long Arms on the single "Rock and Roll Is Dead" and worked with producer/DJ Alex Gold for the trance single "LA Today."

In 2008, Oakey worked with Hiem, a band fronted by former All Seeing I lead singer David "Bozz" Boswell, for the song "2 am."

In early 2009, Oakey collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys on their tenth studio album Yes, supplying vocals for the intended bonus-disc song "This Used to Be the Future." Also in 2009, Oakey collaborated with British female synthpop artist Little Boots on her first album, Hands, recording the duet track "Symmetry."

Source

• 1982: BRIT Awards – (as The Human League) 'Best British Breakthrough Act'
• 2004: Q Awards – (as The Human League) 'The Q Innovation in Sound Award'
• Nominated for Grammy Award in 1982 for Best New Artist (as The Human League)