Marc Almond

Marc Almond emerged from the smoky northern English clubs of the late 1970s to become one of pop's most theatrically wounded romantics. As frontman of Soft Cell, he transformed the banal story of a Soho prostitute into "Tainted Love" (1981), a synth-pop masterpiece that sold millions and established his tremulous, Brel-influenced vocal style as a signature of New Romantic excess. The duo's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret captured both the glamour and grime of early Thatcher-era Britain.

His solo career traversed torch songs, Russian folk, and Jacques Brel interpretations, demonstrating a restless appetite for emotional extremity. Albums like The Stars We Are (1988) yielded hits including "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" with Gene Pitney. Almond's openly queer persona during the AIDS crisis made him culturally significant beyond mere chart success, his melodramatic delivery channelling queer heartbreak into mainstream consciousness. Surviving a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2004, he continues performing, a figure who made suffering sound seductive and outsider status strangely aspirational.