Heaven 17

From...

Was he from, not Human League, Heaven 17, Steve Gregory? Could be, I don't know.

That's one of the most famous saxophones.

No, that was Glenn Gregory.

That's Raphael Ravenshaw.

But no, Steve Gregory did the, he was in other bands and he did a lot of other solo stuff as well.

No, it was Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17.

I was getting confused.

Well, I lied through my teeth to get that gig.

So that was with an 80s band called Heaven 17 and it was a tour with the Human League, Heaven 17 and ABC.

So an 80s kind of tour and it was all on electronic drums and Heaven 17 hadn't... played live I think in almost ten years at that time.

And the main – speaking of mentors, his name is Martin Ware.

He was one of the guys in Heaven 17 and he was a bit like the Mark Ronson of the 80s.

Right, yep.

He – He produced Tina Turner's Comeback and he had a group called the British Electronic Foundation.

He started the Human League, then they broke up and then became Heaven 17.

And we did some live shows together.

I've sung with Heaven 17 a few times, just guested.

He made me, he asked me to sing Temptation once at a John Shuttleworth gig because somebody else dropped out and he literally rang me the day before and he was like, you can sing Temptation, can't you? Come down to London tomorrow and do it.

And I was just like, what? I can't sing that, you're kidding.

You need a label to put up a ton of money, but nobody's really going to take a risk on my record because I don't have, with this project, it's a new project, don't really have that much of a following anymore.

There's still the Long Blondes fans, obviously, which is great.

And I'm sure some of them will be interested in this because it's me and there'll be some Heaven 17 fans who'll be interested in this because it's Martin.

But, you know, in terms of like the stats that you have to have, like I don't have... 60 000 followers on instagram i don't have a youtube channel i don't have all of the stuff already there i can't gig at the moment because you know it takes it costs a lot of money to actually set the live side of things up as well so i don't really have any proof of worth to a record label And I think, you know, I'm also a 47-year-old woman, so I'm not a young pop star anymore.

tracks coming up, but the first cover is, well, it's an odd one.

Originally by The Associates and covered here by Heaven 17 from a cover CD from the magazine Electronic Sound, this is Party Fears 2.

MUSIC PLAYS I'll have a shower And then phone my brother up

Within the

From

closer to near Awake me Don't turn around I won't have to look at you And what's not found Is all that I see in you My manners are failing me I'm left feeling ugly And you say it's wonderful To live with I never will So, what if this party feels too? The alcohol loves you whilst turning you blue From closer to near Awake me I'm standing still And you say I dress too well Still standing still I might, but it's hard to tell Even a slight remark Makes nonsense and turns to shock Have I done something wrong? What wrong's the wrong that's you you I'll have a shower Then phone my brother up Within the hour I'll smash another cup

Party Fears 2 by The Associates, covered by Heaven 17.

And I think you'll agree, a very different version.

East? Well, it was County Dome, but now it's Teesside.

So there aren't really any bands that I... hold up from I guess you know Newcastle has Sting or back then and Middlesbrough has Chris Rear and there's a couple from Sunderland but I can't think of any that I like which is which I don't know I mean it's terrible if I grew up in Sheffield I could give you a handful go on then Carre Voltaire, Human League, just about all the industrial electronic acts of the Heaven 17.

The list is endless.

Yeah, I knew you was going to kick that off of Cabo Volta as soon as you said that.

I mean, Sheffield had a decent music scene as well.

Think about Human League, Heaven 17, ABC, and so on and so forth.

These guys used to come to the shop, so I was in, you know, I was getting them clothes and walking into nightclubs at 16.

Human League wearing Next.

ABC.

Heaven 17.

Arctic Monkeys, even.

Oh, there you go.

My music stuff's been quite interesting.

I went to see a band called holy holy the other week at the o2 which is one guy from david bowie's spiders from mars band and the producer of a couple of albums there was like two people and then they had you know for those you were old enough they had glenn gregory from heaven 17 as the lead singer and that was really good just playing loads of bowie stuff from like mainly the the mid 70s and a I got tickets for, and this is now where my daughter comes into it because she like drags me along as like dad's taxi.

I got Fontaines and Blossoms, two nights back to back in November.

Nice.

Before that was Jan Hammer with the Miami Vice theme, and starting it off was Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant.

Coming up, we've got some Pet Shop Boys, Heaven 17, and starting us off, Modern English.

Moving forward using all my breath.

Making love to you was never second best.

Oh, West End girls.

Oh, West End girls.

Who doesn't love some West End Girls from the Pet Shop Boys? Before that was Temptation by Heaven 17, and starting it off, Modern English with I Melt With You.

I'm Craig Johnston, steering you towards the end of the Weekend Blast Off.