Marc Almond

Soft Cell and Marc & The Mambas redirect here Marc Almond, born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond (1957- ) in Southport, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. As a child, he suffered from asthma and bronchitis which meant that he had a great deal of time off school. He was cared for until the age of four by his grandparents and then moved to Yorkshire. When Almond was about 14 he worked as a stable lad and learned to ride horses. He attended Leeds Polytechnic, where he met Dave Ball: they formed Soft Cell in 1979. Their single Tainted Love, an electro/new wave cover of a Northern soul song by Gloria Jones, went to number 1 in the UK charts in 1981 and remains a staple dance track (it went top 5 again ten years later). The band racked up a total of nine UK top 40 hits before Ball and Almond dissolved their partnership, although they reformed in 2001.

Almond's second project was Marc & The Mambas, a collective that at times featured Matt Johnson and Steve James Sherlock (The The) and Jim Thirlwell (Foetus). This lineup recorded two LPs and a Peel Session before Marc ended this too, feeling it was too much like a regular band.

Since then he has made a specialty of exploring his fascination with torch ballads and cabaret, although not at the expense of commercial success (he had a number 1 hit as a duet with Gene Pitney, Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, in 1989). He was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in 2004, having to deal with repeated surgery and post-traumatic stress before he could resume his career.

Links to Peel
Almond claims his early interest in music was due to listening to Peel: "I listened to John Peel all the time: I discovered much music and many bands through (him). Even when I was at school, I used to put my head under the bedclothes and listen to the late night John Peel show. It was a great education in music listening to (his programmes), as I'm sure many of my contemporaries did also." He says that he first heard Tyrannosaurus Rex on Peel, became obsessed with Marc Bolan and changed the spelling of his name as a result. Peel appears to have played Soft Cell rarely, although he was required to introduce their tracks on Top Of The Pops: on his first show since 1968, he mentioned that he had seen them at "a rather squalid gig in Leeds." (He also saw them at Queens Hall, Sheffield in September 1980 as part of Futurama 2 ).

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * One session, with Marc & The Mambas. Available on In Session Volume One) (Strange Fruit).

1. Recorded: 1983-02-01. First broadcast: 24 February 1983. Repeated: 10 March 1983.
 * Empty Eyes / The Bulls / Once Was / Your Aura

Other Shows Played
Soft Cell
 * 23 September 1980: 'Metro Mrx (7"-Mutant Moments EP)' (A Big Frock Record)
 * 04 February 1982 (TOTP): 'Say Hello Wave Goodbye'
 * 27 May 1982 (TOTP): 'Torch'
 * 25 December 1982 (TOTP): 'Torch'
 * 05 January 1984 (TOTP): 'Tainted Love'
 * 01 March 1984 (TOTP): 'Down In The Subway'