Vince Clarke might just be a Genius

Not many musicians can claim to be part of a huge band. Vince Clarke can claim to be part of 3 huge bands. He was a founding member of Depeche Mode when he and Andy Fletcher were old school mates in Basildon, England. That's Vince there below on the right.

After recording only one album with Depeche Mode, Vince decided to quit the band. To this day, no one really knows why he left but the music of Depeche Mode did turn a bit darker after his departure.
Here's the video for the Vince Clarke penned Just Can't Get Enough:

After leaving Depeche Mode, Vince teamed up with Alison Moyet and formed Yazoo (or as they were called in the US, Yaz)

I do have to ask....What Was Up With Vince's Hair??? Yazoo was one of those great bands that had killer, catchy songs and a great lead vocalist. Here's The video for Don't Go:

Yazoo split up after only 2 albums with Alison going on to a successful solo career. Next up for Vince was a few singles with a smaller band called The Assembly but in 1985 he teamed up with vocalist Andy Bell after putting an ad in a music magazine looking for a singer. The band Erasure was formed and Vince finally seemed to find his musical partner at last.

Erasure has released 16 albums in the last 3 decades, including in the late 80's/early 90's having four #1 UK albums in a row. But one of my favorites is their first album, Wonderland, which contained this great song, Oh L'amour:





Not a bad career for a guy from Basildon who seems to be a good judge of talent.