Philip Oakey - Human League Career

Human League Career

In late 1977 The Future changed its name to ‘The Human League’ - after an element of a science fiction board game. The new band played their first live gig at Psalter Lane Arts College in June 1978 (a blue plaque now marks the spot) and signed to Fast Records. The early Human League had a reputation for being arty and had only limited commercial success, releasing two singles, "Being Boiled" and "Empire State Human", with lyrics written by Oakey. They would eventually release two albums, Reproduction (1979), and Travelogue (1980), both recorded at the band's Monumental Pictures studio, but dogged by the lack of commercial success Oakey and Ware’s working relationship became increasingly strained. In October 1980, on the eve of a European tour, it reached breaking point and Ware walked out taking Marsh with him. Oakey and director of visuals Adrian Wright were permitted to retain the band name but would be responsible for all band debts and the tour commitment. Ware and Marsh soon recruited Glenn Gregory and became Heaven 17.

With the tour promoters threatening to sue Oakey and facing financial ruin, he had less than a week to put a new band together. In an unplanned move that is now entrenched in popular folklore, Oakey went to a Sheffield city centre discothèque called The Crazy Daisy (since demolished) and recruited two totally unknown teenage schoolgirls: Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall into the band. As luck would have it, the women were already fans of The Human League and recognised Oakey. He now calls this the best decision of his career, as the girls would be critical in the band's further success, and Sulley and Catherall are now Oakey's business partners in the present day band.

In mid 1981 Oakey and Catherall commenced a long-term relationship that lasted until the end of the decade. Later that year at the height of the band’s success they were touted as a celebrity couple; but were also pursued by the tabloid press after a sensationalist story. Oakey and Catherall split amicably in 1990, remaining friends and colleagues, contrary to press stories they never married. Catherall has since married. After the tour in April 1981 the band had their first top 20 hit "Sound of the Crowd" and with the addition of Jo Callis they went on to release the number three single "Love Action (I Believe in Love)". Briefly during 1981 Oakey truncated his name to Phil, and even referred to himself as Phil in “Love Action”. He would not use it for long quickly returning to Philip. He would later say "I’ve never been a Phil; I’m a formal sort of person really". The band under Oakey’s direction then released another single "Open Your Heart", then a full album Dare much of it written by Oakey. Dare would soon become a number one album in the UK and go double platinum. It has since been called one of pop music's most influential albums, responsible for shaping an entire genre of music. At the end of 1981, the Oakey and Sulley conflicting duet "Don't You Want Me" would sell two million copies in the UK staying at number one for four weeks. It would do the same in the US, selling another million. By the end of 1981/82 Oakey and the Human League would be famous worldwide.

The remainder of the 1980s saw the band's success peak and dip, with the follow-up release of the album Hysteria in 1984 underachieving. In 1986 Oakey accepted an offer to work with US producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis which resulted in the release of the album Crash and the single "Human" which became another international hit and went to number one in the US. By 1987 the band had lost most of its original members leaving only Oakey, Sulley and Catherall. In 1989 Oakey persuaded Sheffield City Council to invest in business development loan for the building of Human League Studios in Sheffield, Oakey's dedicated studio for the band and a commercial venture.

The 1990 album Romantic? failed to sell and in 1992 Virgin records cancelled the band's recording contract. This had a devastating effect on the band, causing Oakey to seek counselling for depression, and Sulley to have a breakdown. The emotional problems of the pair nearly caused the band to fold. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Catherall, by 1993 Oakey and Sulley had recovered and the band was back on its feet. They signed to Eastwest records which resulted in the release of the gold selling album Octopus and the hit singles "Tell Me When" and "One Man in My Heart".

Another change of record label saw the release of critically acclaimed Secrets album in 2001. Secrets failed to sell because the record label went into receivership curtailing promotion. After the failure of a project he had put so much work and time into, Oakey lost faith in the record industry and changed the band's focus in to more lucrative live work. Between 2002 and the present day they have toured almost constantly, either on their own or as guests at festivals. They have played at such prestigious events as V festival, Festival Internacional de Benicàssim and to 18,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles in 2006.

In 2011, the band released a new album, Credo.