Heaven 17

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Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (1980 – present)

Heaven 17 is a British synthpop band originating in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, formed in 1980.

Taking their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange (where ‘The Heaven Seventeen’ are at number 4 in the charts with ‘Inside’), Heaven 17 formed when Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their earlier group The Human League and formed production company British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.). Shortly after, they recruited their good friend and photographer Glenn Gregory on vocals to complete their lineup for Heaven 17. Contrary to popular belief, they were not New Romantics and shared few visual characteristics with groups such as Spandau Ballet and Culture Club.

Like The Human League, Heaven 17 heavily used synthesizers and drum machines. They had a few minor hits including the early ‘Play To Win’ which featured on the album Penthouse and Pavement. Their debut single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ from the same album attracted some attention, became a left-wing anthem for a while, and was banned by the BBC because of its overtly political lyrics, but it still reached number 45 in the UK singles chart.

Major chart success eluded them until the single ‘Temptation’ (in which they were augmented by the vocalist Carol Kenyon) reached number 2 in the UK charts in summer 1983. Other songs from the same album, The Luxury Gap, also charted though not as high - ‘Come Live With Me’ reached number 5 in the UK, ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ reached number 17, and ‘Let Me Go’, reaching 41 in November 1982. The album itself charted at their best ever position, number four.
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  • Endless
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  • Best of the 80's
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  • Best Of Heaven 17
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  • Penthouse And Pavement
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  • avantimedia

    This Saturday, May 5th 23.50 on ARTE: Into the Night with Midge Ure and Glenn Gregory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfBgMOVcRXI

    24 days ago

  • tangerman

    ELECTRO PEARLS

    last month

  • cdax2307

    Troll just because he has an opinion you hate? Get lost.

    March 2012

  • FoxDoeBull

    you believe that. No reasoning with a person like you

    December 2011

  • Doctorinho

    Sheffield's finest, along w Arctic M.

    November 2011

  • emperorliu

    v Cradle of Filth? Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

    October 2011

  • nafets1218

    Oddly I don't like this, in response to what I see here about if you don't like this band you don't like synthpop: I disagree. I listen to what sounds good to me, and the only thing that seems to bug me about this band is the vocals. If I hear synthpop and like it, I can still like it and not like this. I like Cradle of Filth's cover of Temptation. Granted genre elitists hate Cradle of Filth, and finding out it was a cover seemed to excuse how soft the song was for me. I myself was initially disappointed when I thought that was really the direction that band was taking, but I now have relief. I wouldn't deny that this group likely had a large influence on future groups... I may have to give them another shot sometime...

    July 2011

  • duranies

    Temptation <3 [3]

    June 2011
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