Simon Le Bon

Biography

Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is a British synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously the main songwriter for several groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and The Assembly. In Erasure, he is known for his deadpan and low-key onstage demeanour, often remaining motionless over his keyboard, in sharp contrast to lead vocalist Andy Bell's animated and hyperactive frontman antics.
Erasure have recorded over 200 songs and have sold over 28 million albums worldwide. Clarke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 as a member of Depeche Mode.

Early life and influences

Vincent John Martin was born on 3 July 1960 in South Woodford, Essex; he later moved to Basildon, Essex. He initially studied the violin and then the piano. Clarke's early musical influences included Sparks, Paul Simon, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), who inspired his interest in electronic music. Clarke also cites electronic influences such as the Human League, Daniel Miller and Fad Gadget.
In the late 1970s, Clarke and schoolmate Andy Fletcher formed a short-lived band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass guitar. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in the Plan, an Ultravox-influenced band, with friends Robert Marlow and Paul Langwith.

Depeche Mode

In 1980, after the Plan dissolved, Clarke and Fletcher formed Composition of Sound, and were soon joined by Martin Gore. Clarke provided vocals until lead vocalist Dave Gahan joined the band, which was renamed Depeche Mode. At that time, he adopted the stage name Vince Clarke, by which he is currently known. The band initially adopted a slick synthesised electropop sound, which produced the studio album Speak & Spell and the Clarke-penned singles "Dreaming of Me", "New Life", and "Just Can't Get Enough" in 1981.
Clarke left Depeche Mode shortly thereafter. He later said he couldn't remember exactly why he left, but potentially due to ego problems, thinking he would go back to work for British Rail. Clarke also stated that he did not enjoy the public aspects of success, such as touring and interviews, and found himself frequently at odds with his bandmates, particularly on the tour bus. He also stated: "I think everybody in the band, especially myself, imagined that the reason we were doing so well was because of themselves ... We were pretty young and very lucky, and things had happened very quickly for us, and I don't think we were really mature to handle the situation." Clarke was replaced by musician Alan Wilder.

Yazoo

Clarke then teamed with lead vocalist Alison Moyet (at the time known by the nickname of Alf) to form the popular synth-pop duo Yazoo (known as Yaz in the US), which produced two studio albums, the platinum-certified Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both. Their hits include "Only You", "Don't Go", "Situation", "The Other Side of Love" and "Nobody's Diary".
Yazoo disbanded in 1983, and Moyet had a successful solo career. Yazoo reformed in 2008/2009 for a series of live dates to celebrate 25 years since the duo's split.

The Assembly

Clarke teamed up with Eric Radcliffe in 1983. Their idea was to collaborate with different artists on each new single, under the name the Assembly. With singer Feargal Sharkey, former lead vocalist of the Undertones, they scored the top 5 UK hit "Never Never". Meanwhile, Clarke founded the label Reset Records with Radcliffe. During 1983 and 1984 he produced four singles, "The Face of Dorian Gray", "I Just Want to Dance", "Claudette", and "Calling All Destroyers" for his friend Robert Marlow, which were released on this label. They also produced a studio album, at first shelved but later released in 1999, under the name The Peter Pan Effect. In 1985, another collaboration took place with Paul Quinn of Bourgie Bourgie; the result was the single "One Day×One Day1996 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1One Day3:162Song For3:203One Day (Extension)4:164Song For (Extension)5:10" by Vince Clarke & Paul Quinn. However, the project never took off, and Clarke moved to other projects.

Erasure

In early 1985, Clarke placed an advertisement in Melody Maker for a singer, and one applicant was Andy Bell, who was a fan of his earlier projects. He teamed with Bell to form the group Erasure, and the duo became one of the major selling acts in British music with international hits like "Oh L'amour", "Sometimes", "Chains of Love", "A Little Respect", "Drama!", "Blue Savannah", "Chorus", "Love to Hate You", "Take a Chance on Me", and "Always".
As of November 2022, the duo have released 19 studio albums and have enjoyed a long string of hit singles spanning their four decades together. In 2026, Clarke announced Erasure would be retiring from touring, saying “I just don’t want to do it anymore.”

VCMG

In 2011, Clarke collaborated with his former Depeche Mode colleague Martin Gore for the first time since 1981, as techno duo VCMG, on an instrumental minimalist electronic dance album called Ssss, released on 12 March 2012. The first EP, entitled Spock, was released worldwide exclusively on Beatport on 30 November 2011. The second EP, Single Blip, was once again first released exclusively on Beatport on 20 February 2012. Their third EP, Aftermaths, was released on 20 August 2012.

Collaborations and other works

In July 1984, Clarke teamed with Stephen Luscombe of Blancmange, Pandit Dinesh, and Asha Bhosle. The group, West India Company, released a four-track, self-titled EP.
Clarke worked with synth-pop producer Martyn Ware (of Heaven 17 and The Human League) in 1999 as The Clarke & Ware Experiment and released the album Pretentious. The duo collaborated again in 2001 for the album Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle×Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle28 May 2001 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1White (You Are in Heaven)12:392Yellow (You Are on a Beach)12:013Red (You Are in the Womb)12:394Blue (You Are Underwater)12:205Green (You Are in a Forest)12:036White (You Are in Heaven Again)12:15, which was created with "3D music technology" specifically designed for listening in headphones. That same year also saw the release of the Clarke-produced album Erasure's Vince Clarke, which featured The Peter Pan Effect, an album that he and Eric Radcliffe produced for his long-time friend Robert Marlow. Clarke wrote "Let's Get Together" for the pop girl group Girl Authority for their second and final studio album Road Trip (2007). The song was originally meant to be for Depeche Mode but was never recorded by them. Clarke also co-wrote "What Do I Want from You?" with Freeform Five, for their debut studio album Strangest Things (2005).
Clarke participated in a 2000 project called Family Fantastic. They produced the album Nice!. In 2008 Family Fantastic released a second album, entitled Wonderful. In 2001, Clarke founded Illustrious Co. Ltd. with Martyn Ware, to create new forms of spatialised sound composition using their unique 3D AudioScape system, collaborating with fine artists, educational establishments, the performing arts, live events, corporate clients, and educational settings round the world. In 2004, Clarke provided additional music for an episode of Johnny Bravo titled "The Time of My Life". This was a collaboration with Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs.
On 21 May 2009, Clarke was awarded with an "Outstanding Song Collection" prize, during the Ivor Novello Awards ceremony of the same day, in recognition of 30 years in the music industry. Clarke was featured in the BBC Four documentary Synth Britannia (2009).
In 2012, Clarke produced a cover of the Depeche Mode song "Fly on the Windscreen×Fly On The Windscreen2012 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Fly On the Windscreen4:30" featuring Ane Brun. Clarke also did DJ sets in various locations in North America and Europe and also continued his production work of remixing songs for Dido and Chad Valley.
On 14 July 2015, Clarke announced a collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre called "Automatic", released as a part of the studio album Electronica 1: The Time Machine on 16 October 2015. On 10 June 2016, in collaboration with Paul Hartnoll, Clarke digitally released the album 2 Square on his new record label, VeryRecords.
Since 2017, Clarke has hosted The Synthesizer Show with VeryRecords artist Reed Hays on Maker Park Radio, a non-profit community streaming radio station from Staten Island, New York. Clarke's first solo album called Songs of Silence×Songs of Silence17 November 2023 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Cathedral4:242White Rabbit4:423Passage3:134Imminent4:595Red Planet4:426The Lamentations of Jeremiah4:267Mitosis4:538Blackleg3:089Scarper3:4910Last Transmission4:47 was released on 17 November 2023.
In 2026, Clarke joined forces with Blancmange's Neil Arthur and electronic musician Benge to form the supergroup Doublespeak. The trio released their self-titled debut album on 29 May.

Production and recording methods

When Clarke started making music, synthesisers were predominantly analogue. Clarke later migrated to the new industry-standard MIDI, but he continued to prefer analogue instruments. For Erasure's fifth studio album Chorus (1991), he gathered together his collection of analogue synthesisers from various recording studio locations in London and set up a small studio in Amsterdam.
Clarke continued to expand his collection of analogue synthesisers and in 1994 set up "37B", a recording studio built adjacent to his custom-made home, "Ammonite", in Chertsey, Surrey. From 1994 to 2003, all Erasure studio albums were either wholly or in part recorded at "37B".
In 2004, Clarke moved to Maine. While waiting for his studio equipment to be shipped from the UK he began using an Apple Mac laptop with Logic Pro, Max/MSP, and various software synthesisers (many of which were analogue emulations). Since then he has continued to use Logic Pro, along with both software and analogue synthesisers.
As of 2009, Clarke has installed his analogue synthesisers alongside his Logic Pro-based workstation in a custom-built commercial studio called "The Cabin" in Maine.
Current & past studio equipment: Dave Smith Instruments Mopho, Roland System 700, Roland System-100M, Roland Jupiter-8, Roland Jupiter-4, Roland MKS-80, Roland SH-1, Roland VP-330, Roland JP-8000, Roland Juno-60, Roland Juno-106, Roland Super JX, Roland D-550, ARP 2500 Modular, ARP 2600, PPG Wave 2.2, Waldorf Microwave, Waldorf Pulse, Moog Modular, Minimoog, Moog Source, E-Mu Modular System, Buchla 100 series Modular, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Sequential Circuits Pro-One, Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar, Synton Syrinx, Korg MS-20, Korg MS-10, Korg 700, Korg M1, Korg DVP, Serge Modular, Polyfusion Modular, Oberheim Xpander, Oberheim SEM System, RSF Kobol, Casio CZ-101, Casio CZ-1000, Electronic Music Studios VCS 3, Matten and Wiechers x2 48 track sequencers total 96 track, Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, Apple iPad 2, Apple Power Mac G5, Apple MacBook Pro.
Current & past software: Apple Logic Pro, Cycling '74 Max/MSP, Arturia ARP 2600 V, Arturia Minimoog V, Arturia Moog Modular V, GForce impOSCar, GForce Oddity, LinPlug Octopus, Muon Tau Pro, Native Instruments Absynth, Native Instruments Reaktor, Native Instruments FM7, Native Instruments FM8, Vienna Symphonic String & Choir Libraries.

Personal life

Clarke was married for 20 years to Tracy Hurley Martin (the twin sister of Tonya Hurley), who was a booking agent and publicist to various entertainment artists, including Clarke's former band Depeche Mode. Tracy died in January 2024, two years after her diagnosis of stomach cancer. They have a son.