The Human League

The Human League formed in Sheffield, England in 1977, pioneering a fully electronic approach to pop music using synthesizers and drum machines before the format was commercially established. After a radical lineup split in 1980, vocalist Philip Oakey rebuilt the group with two backing vocalists recruited from a Sheffield nightclub — Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. The resulting album Dare (1981) produced the worldwide number one hit "Don't You Want Me" and became one of the defining records of the synth-pop era. Their stripped-back, synthesizer-only approach influenced virtually every electronic pop act that followed.