Philip Oakey - Entry Into Music

Entry Into Music

Oakey’s entry into music in 1977 was entirely accidental. He had bought a saxophone but had given up trying to learn how to play it, and had no aspiration to be in a pop group. In Sheffield in 1977 Martyn Ware (a school friend of Oakey’s), Ian Craig Marsh and Adi Newton had formed a band called ‘The Future’. Although they had recorded a number of demo tapes, they remained unsigned. They were part of an emerging genre of music that used analogue synthesisers instead of traditional instruments, which would later be defined as Synthpop. Newton quickly left the band after they were turned down by record companies. To replace him Ware decided that The Future needed a dedicated lead singer. His first choice was Glenn Gregory, but Gregory was unavailable. So Ware suggested his old school friend Philip Oakey to Marsh. Although Oakey had absolutely no musical experience he was well known on the Sheffield social scene, principally for his eclectic dress sense and classic motorcycle. The lack of experience didn’t bother Ware as he declared that Oakey “already looked like a pop star”. Ware went to visit Oakey to ask him to join The Future; finding him away from home, he famously left a note on Oakey’s front door asking him to join The Future as lead singer, an offer Oakey quickly accepted, joining the band in mid 1977.