ABC

**ABC** are a British pop band hailing from Sheffield, founded in late 1980. Core members Steve Singleton and Mark White had been performing and recording experimental electronic music using synthesisers and drum machines since 1977 under the name of Vice Versa. After meeting vocalist Martin Fry, they invited him to join the band which then became ABC with a radical change in musical style, preferring a pop/funk approach.

Fleshed out with a bass player and drummer, the group had a hit with their first single "Tears Are Not Enough" in October 1981 and went on to record their multi-million selling debut album *The Lexicon Of Love*, with producer Trevor Horn and orchestra arranger Anne Dudley giving the snappily dressed ABC and the album their final pop shine. (Horn and Dudley would later go on to form Art of Noise). After enjoying a string of hit singles from the album during 1982 ("Poison Arrow", "The Look of Love", "All Of My Heart") the original three piece returned the following with a follow-up album *Beauty Stab* and a further change in style. This time the band preferred a more rock music based approach, which disappointed many fans however and failed to replicate the commercial success of *The Lexicon of Love*. Several personnel and image changes ensued, until achieving another successful album *Alphabet City* in 1987.

## Links to Janice

Janice Long would have followed ABC's rise to success in the early 80s, as well as perhaps paying some interest to their less successful moments straight afterwards. In June 1986, frontman Martin Fry was one of Janice's guests on Singled Out and many years later in 2009, he was a guest of Janice's again discussing the live performance of *The Lexicon of Love* at The Royal Albert Hall, and event which Janice herself hosted for Radio 2 in April of that year (see Live below).

## Live

* ABC and the BBC Concert Orchestra present The Lexicon of Love - rec. 08-04-2009, first broadcast 11 May 2009 (rpt. 04-05-2009).

### 1980s

* 26 December 1983 - All of My Heart
* 03 August 1987 - When Smokie Sings

### 2000s

* 08 April 2009 - Tears Are Not Enough
* 09 April 2009 - All Of My Heart (Live with the BBC Concert Orchestra)
	+ ABC's Martin Fry talks about his career, his album *The Lexicon of Love*, performing the album live at The Royal Albert Hall and he picks some of his favourite music. (known choice: Roxy Music - Virginia Plain)
* 27 April 2009 - The Look of Love
* 10 July 2009 - The Power of Persuasion ('Tunes of the Unexpected')

### 2010s

* 27 April 2012 - Poison Arrow
* 29 June 2015 - Poison Arrow
* 15 March 2016 - Living Inside My Heart (from *Fly (Songs Inspired by the Film Eddie the Eagle),* 2016 )
* 02 May / 03 May / 04 May / 05 May 2016 - Viva Love (R2 Record of the Week)
* 18 May 2016 - Viva Love
* 24 May 2016 - The Flames Of Desire (R2 album of the week *The Lexicon of Love II*)
* 18 July 2016 - The Flames Of Desire
* 26 July 2016 - The Flames Of Desire
* 13 March 2018 - When Smokey Sings
* 15 January 2019 - The Look of Love

### 2020s

* 13 January 2021 - All of My Heart
* 05 August 2021 - When Smokey Sings

### Top of the Pops

* 30 December 1982 (TOTP) - The Look of Love
* 18 June 1987 (TOTP) - When Smokey Sings