About
Blancmange formed in Harrow, London in 1979, by vocalist, Neil Arthur (born on 15 August 1958, in Darwen, Lancashire); and instrumentalist Stephen Luscombe (born on 29 October 1954, in Hillingdon, Middlesex). They released their first EP "Irene and Mavis" the following year, but had their first real exposure via a track on the seminal Some Bizarre compilation album, alongside fellow acts Soft Cell and Depeche Mode. This led to them signing a deal with London Records.
Their first success was the Talking Heads influenced single "Feel Me", a minor hit in 1982, but later that year they broke through with the single "Living on the Ceiling" (below), which made Number 7 in the UK singles chart. Arguably their seminal moment arrived in 1984, when they elected to cover ABBA's single "The Day Before You Came" - a brave move, as ABBA were then unfashionable. The single reached No 22 in the UK. They were one of the New Romantic's biggest propagating machines for the movement emanating out of London and Essex. Eventually as synthpop became less fashionable, the band's fortunes declined, with the 1985 single "What's Your Problem" only reaching No. 40, and the same year's album Believe You Me spending only two weeks in the British album chart. Blancmange split up in 1986.
Luscombe later released an album of Indian influenced music, New Demons, with Pandit Dinesh, under the name 'The West India Company', in 1989. Arthur meanwhile released his solo album Suitcase, in 1994.
As stated on the band's official MySpace page, Blancmange have recently reformed and are writing material for a new album.
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