1977-Phil OakeyVocals, synth
Martyn WareSynth1977-1980
Ian MarshSynth1977-1980
Adrian WrightVisuals, keyboards1977-1986
Ian BurdenBass1980-1987
Joanne CatherallVocals1980-
Susanne SulleyVocals1980-
The band took their name from StarForce: Alpha Centauri, the first tabletop sci-fi wargame ever made, produced by Simulations Publications from 1974 to 1981. It included an empire called the Human League, which was motivated by a desire for freedom and independence.
The group split in two after releasing their first two albums. Adrian Wright and Philip Oakley formed the new Human League with a bass player and two school girls as additional vocalists. Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh left to form the British Electric Foundation and later launched Heaven 17.
It's not clear what caused the rift that broke up the band, with Oakey recalling it as an issue of stubborn, forceful personalities clashing and others seeing it as a record-label move to favor Oakey, whom executives viewed as having true pop-star potential.
In the early years, the band experienced a lot of friction because of their "artsy-fartsy" style and reliance on electronics. Local musicians' unions protested their lack of a drummer, and a band named the Undertones dissed them in their hit single "My Perfect Cousin." Punk-scene live audiences displayed similar antagonism, booing and even throwing things at them.
Oakey first approached Joanne Catherall, 18, and Susanne Sulley, 17, in October 1980 when he spotted the schoolfriends dancing together at Sheffield's Crazy Daisy nightclub. Neither had any experience singing or dancing professionally. Sulley recalled to Q magazine in 2016:
"He came over, he was very serious and said, 'I don't know if you know but I'm Philip Oakey from the Human League. Our group has just split up but we're contracted to do a tour of Europe in three weeks and we're looking for a female singer. I saw you and your friend together and wondered if you wanted to audition."
Oakey was working as a hospital porter when he was approached to be the Human League's vocalist. He recalled to Q magazine: "I was a hospital porter out of absolute desperation. I'd worked at a bookshop for two years where their wages were £9.50 a week; at least with portering I was earning £50 a week. That was the only reason I did it, I was finished otherwise."
The band were truly ahead of their time. The initial 1979 release of their debut album, Reproduction, was a flop. Neither it nor its lone single, "Empire State Human," cracked the charts. But when the band re-released the album two years later, in 1981, it caught on. The album climbed to #34 and earned a Silver disc award, eventually receiving UK Gold certification in 1988, and "Empire State Human" charted at #62.
Founding members Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware were computer operators who got their hands on a then-revolutionary synthesizer called the Korg 700S. They used it to create a unique fusion of electronica and pop music that spread by word of mouth, leading them to adopt the semi-proper name The Dead Daughters. After bringing in another electronic-music enthusiast, Adi Newton, they changed their name to The Future. Newton quickly left to focus on his own music.
Lead singer Philip Oakey had no singing experience when Marsh and Ware invited him to front the band. They based their decision solely on Oakey's look. It was a rough start as Oakey struggled to find his footing, but he eventually grew into his new role. He went on to become the band's lone mainstay, persisting through many lineup changes.
The last member of the founding core was a film technician named Philip Adrian Wright, who was brought in as Director of Visuals and tasked with improving the quality of live shows and video recordings. The band were concerned that their electronic music would not translate well to a live crowd.
Oakey's move to bring in Catherall and Sulley was driven by desperation. The Human League had been contracted to tour Europe and had to fulfill the commitment. The women were not formally invited to join the band, but were asked
to fill in for the three-week tour. They struggled with their roles.
"We just hummed along and did some dancing," Sulley
told The Guardian. "And occasionally got so drunk we fell off stage," Catherall added.
The new lineup angered German fans, who pelted them with beer cans, but the collaboration proved to have surprising lasting power. Both Catherall and Sulley have stayed with the band through the present day and provided the chemistry that elevated its sound and success with smash songs like "Don't You Want Me" in 1981.
Oakey saw a live show by German electronic band Kraftwerk at Sheffield University in 1976 and
recalled the performance as being "as seismic as the Sex Pistols. Everybody loved it." Though strongly influenced by Kraftwerk, the Human League did not want to sound as robotic as the German group and added human warmth and liveliness to their sound.
The Human League of Oakey, Catherall, and Sulley has remained consistently active. In 2026 they launched their first major coast-to-coast US tour in 15 years and played several headline slots at UK summer festivals.
The Human League made their live debut on June 12, 1978, at Psalter Lane Art College in Sheffield. Watching from the audience was Ian Burden, who would join the group two years later as their bassist. "Two of my friends set up an array of video monitors carrying experimental black-and-white imagery as a backdrop," Burden recalled to Uncut magazine. "Most of the sounds came from a tape machine at center stage. Philip clutched his microphone tightly, rooted to the spot, and looked very nervous. I can't say that they generated much excitement. It was a very small audience who were mostly bemused."
