Marc Almond has sold over 30 million records worldwide and is an icon with great influence for an entire generation of musicians.
Marc completed a general art and design course at Southport Art College before graduating from Leeds Polytechnic Fine Art Department and studying performance art and film.
Marc met David Ball at Leeds Art College and founded the internationally successful electro duo Soft Cell in 1979. They recorded four albums and their single “Tainted Love” broke all records. The song remained on the US Billboard for the longest time and received a British award for the best single of the year.
Soft Cell split up amicably in 1984 to pursue solo projects.
Marc recorded the innovative and influential double album “Torment and Toreros” with Marc and the Mambas. This was followed by a diverse and highly successful solo career with over a dozen music albums and a second number one single: “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” in 1989 with the 60’s legend Gene Pitney.
Marc has been awarded the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award and Attitude Magazine’s Icon Award, as well as the Mojo Magazine Inspiration Award, and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Leeds Music College. He is also referred to in the Russian press as the “adopted son of Russia” after releasing Heart on Snow, his 2009 album of Russian “Romance’ Songs and Russian Folk” and “Orpheus In Exile”, the songs of the late Russian gypsy romantic singer, dissident and now gay icon Vadim Kozin.
In addition to a large number of recordings, Marc has also published two best-selling autobiographies, Tainted Life and In Search of The Pleasure Palace, as well as three books of verse: The Angel of Death in the Adonis Lounge, A Beautiful Twisted Night, and The End of New York. Almond is also no stranger to the theater stage. His credentials include Ten Plagues, the winner of first prize at The Scotman’s Fringe, and Mandel was highly praised for his role as Seneca in the experimental rock adaptation of Poppea at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Marc’s solo album The Velvet Trail was released in March 2015 and was accompanied by a sold-out European tour. In November 2015, Marc produced an album of pop operetta, Against Nature, together with poet Jeremy Reed and composer Othon, based on the book A Rebours by J K Husymans and funded by Kickstarter.
In July 2016, Marc performed with the Leeds College of Music Contemporary Orchestra and the Pop Choir at the Royal Festival Hall. November 2016 saw the release of Trials of Eyeliner, Marc’s long-awaited box-set anthology, released by Universal Music.
In March 2017, Marc released “Hits and Pieces” through Universal to celebrate his greatest hits. Shortly after this Top Ten album, a sold-out UK tour followed
