Heaven 17
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
As a means of establishing the synthesizer as an expressive, human instrument, Marsh and Ware formed the British Electric Foundation, a production project which employed a variety of musicians and singers including Tina Turner, Sandie Shaw, and Gary Glitter. The B.E.F.s debut, 1980s Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1, also included vocalist Glenn Gregory, a former photographer whom Ware and Marsh met at a Sheffield drama center; in 1981, the duo enlisted Gregory for Heaven 17, the first and most successful B.E.F. alter ego, and debuted with the single (We Dont Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, a minor hit banned by the BBC over its title. An album, Penthouse and Pavement, followed the same year.
By the release of 1983s The Luxury Gap, the B.E.F. had fallen by the wayside, and Heaven 17 had become Ware and Marshs primary focus; the LP proved highly successful, spawning the hit singles Temptation, Come Live With Me, Crushed by the Wheels of Industry, and Let Me Go. The follow-up, How Men Are, was another British hit, but the group receded from view after its release; when they returned in 1986 with the album Pleasure One, it was with a number of guest musicians and vocalists.
After the commerical failure of 1988s Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho, Heaven 17 officially disbanded; Ware focused on production chores and worked on Terence Trent DArbys debut Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent DArby. In 1990, he and Marsh resurrected the B.E.F. aegis, releasing Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 2 the following year. In 1996, a reformed Heaven 17 returned with Bigger Than America.
