Martyn Ware

Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is a British musician and music producer. As a founder member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation". He has also worked as a record producer, notably helping to revitalise Tina Turner's career in 1983 with "Let's Stay Together", kick starting Terence Trent D'Arby's career by co-producing his solo debut, Introducing the Hardline According to... in 1987 and producing Erasure's I Say I Say I Say album in 1994.

More recently, he has collaborated with Vince Clarke (as The Clarke & Ware Experiment) on two music projects; the Pretentious album (1999), and Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (2001). He has also contributed programmes to internet radio stations.

He is a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, University of London, a member of BAFTA, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a founder of 5D – the future of immersive design. He has also received an Honorary Doctorate in Science from University of London.

Heaven 17

Heaven 17 are an English new wave synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The band were a trio for most of their career, comprising Martyn Ware (keyboards), Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously with The Human League) and Glenn Gregory (vocals). Although most of the band's music was recorded in the 1980s, they have occasionally reformed to record and perform, playing their first ever live concerts in 1997. Marsh left the band in 2007 and Ware and Gregory continued to perform as Heaven 17.

History

1980s

Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware were the founding members of pioneering British electro-pop group The Human League; Glenn Gregory had been their original choice when seeking a vocalist for the band but he was unavailable at the time, so they chose Philip Oakey instead. When personal and creative tensions within the group reached a breaking point in late 1980, Marsh and Ware left the band, ceding the Human League name to Oakey. Taking their new 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"), they became Heaven 17 and formed the production company British Electric Foundation (BEF).

The Human League

The Human League are an English electronic new wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Dare (1981), the band's most popular album, yielded the single "Don't You Want Me", a No. 1 hit in the pop charts of UK, US and many other countries. After its UK success, their first single, "Being Boiled", was reissued and became a top ten hit at the beginning of 1982. They received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough act in 1982. The success of "Don't You Want Me" is seen as the beginning of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. Other international hits include: "Love Action", "Open Your Heart", "Mirror Man", "Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" (a US No. 1) and "Tell Me When".

The only constant band member since 1977 is vocalist and songwriter Philip Oakey. Originally an avant-garde all-male synthesizer-based group, The Human League evolved into a commercially successful synthpop band under Oakey's leadership. Since 1987, the band has essentially been a trio of Oakey and long-serving female vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley (both of whom joined the ensemble in 1980), with various sidemen.

Being Boiled

"Being Boiled" is a song by the British synthpop band The Human League. Composed by then-bandmembers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, it has been released several times since 1978, finally becoming a UK Top Ten hit in 1982.

Different versions

"Being Boiled" was first released as a single in 1978 on the Fast Product label, and although failing to chart, was influential amongst other new wave and post-punk artists. In 1987 this version was added as a bonus track to the CD edition of the band's debut album Reproduction.

The band recorded a new version as part of a session for the John Peel radio programme in the summer of 1978. The session was recorded 8 August 1978 and broadcast on 16 August. Among the four songs recorded, "Being Boiled" is the only one which has had an official release.

A totally re-recorded version of "Being Boiled" was included on the band's Holiday '80 EP, which reached number 56 in 1980 and number 46 in 1982. This version was also included on their 1980 Travelogue album, and is also available on the Original Remixes and Rarities compilation album (2005).

Martyn

Martyn may refer to:

See also