1990s
The Human League reconvened for their 1990 album Romantic?, which Catherall contributed vocals for, but the album was not well received, only charting barely and receiving little critical support. By now The Human League consisted solely of Catherall, Philip Oakey and Susan Sulley with supporting musicians.
Then in 1992, after much acrimony, Virgin Records cancelled the band's contract. Without a recording contract for the first time in 14 years, and with mounting debts following the relative failure of their most recent album, the band began to fall apart. Oakey succumbed to depression after the rejection and sought counselling. More seriously, Catherall's best friend and co-vocalist Susan Sulley had a nervous breakdown. It was during this period that Catherall, often described as the quietest member of the band, demonstrated her considerable strength of character. She is credited as being responsible for keeping the band together during their darkest period.
The Human League recovered and were able find a new record label quickly, in the form of EastWest records. Using material rejected by Virgin, and new material written by Oakey and Sutton, the band released a new studio album in 1995. Propelled by some radio friendly singles, Octopus returned the band to the UK top 10 for the first time since the 1980s. As well as performing on UK TV music shows, various talk shows were keen to interview the band. On one occasion, during an interview of ITV's This Morning, host Richard Madeley made the mistake of telling viewers that the band were making an "80s comeback", prompting an irritated Catherall to reply: "We've never stopped working, we've never been away!".
Despite the commercial success of Octopus, history repeated itself in 1997 when EastWest records decided to change creative direction and purged their older signings. The Human League were again let go, and the remainder of the 1990s saw the band refining their live act, playing relatively small venues. In 1997, an offer was made to the band to be part of an 80s nostalgia tour of the US with Culture Club and Howard Jones called 'The Big Rewind'. The tour was then repeated in the UK, but with ABC as the opening act instead of Jones. The band, who detest being called an "80s" act, reluctantly agreed to take part; as Catherall later said "the money was too good to turn down". The decision turned out to be a blessing in disguise; the tour fielded further, albeit nostalgic, interest in the band. Oakey, Catherall and Sulley quickly capitalised on this and refined their set lists to include more nostalgia friendly back catalogue tracks.
In 1997 Joanne Catherall became a mother and gave birth to a son named Elliot, the only member of the trio to have children.
Read more about this topic: Joanne Catherall