Marc Almond

Marc Almond

After the success of Soft Cell, Marc Almond disbanded the project and headed toward a solo career. He followed in the same trend of music that Soft Cell was known for. The sleezy, electronic, dance music that made them famous.

Almost immediately he formed Marc and the Mambas. This project featured Matt Johnson of The The and Annie Hogan. They released an album that consisted of mostly Syd Barrett and Lou Reed covers, titled 'Untitled', in 1982. The album also featured covers of Jacques Brel songs. Almond would refer to Brel's work thoughout his solo career. 1983's 'Torment and Toreros' would be the Mamba's final release

Almond then formed the The Willing Sinners. The Sinners would be his backing band on 1984's 'Vermin in Ermine', and later on 1985's 'Stories of Johnny'. 'Stories of Johnny' spawned a top UK hit with it's title track. The albums were never released in the US dispite a rather large cult following in Europe.

1987 saw the release of Almond's first proper solo effort, 'Mother Fist and her Five Daughters'. It was his bleakest work to date. A singles compliation appeared in the same year.

'Stars We Are', released the following year, was a more upbeat album. This record featured a duet with Nico and one with Gene Pitney on his own 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart,' which became a number one single. This was also his first work to be released in the States since anything from Soft Cell.

Almond followed the success of 'Stars we Are' with a collection of Brel covers, titled 'Jacques'. The same year he relesed an even more successful album, 'Enchanted'. Three more albums were released durning the 90's, which included a live album, before a brief Soft Cell reunion in the early 00's.