Joanne Catherall

Joanne Catherall (born 18 September 1962) is an English singer who is one of two female vocalists in the English synth-pop band The Human League.

In 1980, when Catherall had just turned 18 and was still at school doing A levels, she and her best friend Susan Ann Sulley were discovered in Sheffield's Crazy Daisy Nightclub by Philip Oakey, the lead singer and a founding member of the Human League.

At his invitation, the pair then joined Oakey as he formed a new and subsequently commercially successful line-up of the band, following the acrimonious departure of two other founding members of the band.

Catherall has remained in the band ever since, and is a joint business partner in the band (along with Oakey and Sulley), which continues to perform today.

The Human League had recently split acrimoniously over creative differences, leaving only two of the original four members, Oakey and Adrian Wright, to continue.

Crucially, The Human League was contracted to a European tour starting within a week.

Already in debt to Virgin Records, Oakey had to recruit new band members in a matter of days for the tour or be sued by the tour's promoters, face bankruptcy, and see the end of the band.

Oakey went into Sheffield one evening to recruit a single female backing singer for the tour, needed to replace the original high backing vocals of the now departed Martyn Ware.

He immediately noticed Catherall and Sulley dancing together in the Crazy Daisy and now states that they stood out from all the other girls in the club due to their unique dress sense, immaculate make-up, and idiosyncratic but sophisticated dance moves.

Without preamble, Oakey asked both girls to join the tour as dancers and incidental vocalists.

Catherall now states that she knew it was a genuine offer, as Oakey was well known in Sheffield; she and Sulley already had tickets to see The Human League on the Doncaster leg of their tour.

Catherall and Sulley agreed to the offer immediately, despite having no singing or professional dancing experience.

However, the girls were 17 and 18 years old and the final decision regarding going on the tour lay with their parents.

The parents of both the girls were unhappy with the idea and initially refused to give their consent.

This was overturned reluctantly when Oakey, complete with his then trademark lop-sided haircut, red lipstick and high heeled shoes, visited both sets of parents to convince them that the girls would come to no harm.

Catherall and Sulley's school also agreed to the absence, as it was thought visiting Europe would be educational.

The first European tour of The Human League got underway with the two young recruits assigned to dancing and incidental vocal duties.

The girls at this stage were just guests in the group on a salary of £30 a week.

Although the tour was a success, the crowds were largely hostile to Catherall and Sulley, as fans had bought tickets for the original all male line-up.

Catherall recalls dodging several beer cans thrown at her during the tour and was often heckled.

During the tour, Oakey had experimented with the girls singing on a number of the original tracks and was impressed with the results; he was also impressed with the girls' professionalism and determination during the tour.

On return to Sheffield in December 1980, both girls were made full-time members of The Human League.

After the tour, Catherall and Sulley returned to school full-time while Wright and Oakey set about composing and songwriting.

Catherall adopted the striking black kohl eye make-up and bright red lipstick, which became her trademark early-1980s style.

The band reached the Top Ten with their next two singles, "Love Action" and "Open Your Heart".

The new Human League of Sulley, Oakey, Catherall and Wright started to gain ground in early 1981 with the release of the single "Boys and Girls."

Although it charted only at number 48, it was the most successful single at that point.

The girls were not used in the production, as the song was written without any female backing, and they were busy with school, however they were featured on the record sleeve and in promotional photo shoots.

Soon after "Boys and Girls" came the recruitment of professional musicians Ian Burden and Jo Callis, which sharpened the band's output considerably.

Now working with a new producer, Martin Rushent, the band's next single, "Sound of the Crowd", was their commercial breakthrough, becoming a Top 20 hit.

It was also the first single to include both Catherall's and Sulley's vocals.

The band were invited to play on the UK's principal music programme BBC TV's Top of the Pops with only a few hours' notice.

The first Catherall knew about her first appearance on TV was when Sulley's mother rushed to collect her and Sulley from school mid-lessons for the drive to the London studios.

By this time, music videos had become highly popular for broadcast TV.

Spurred on by pre-filmed promos and live TV appearances, the band started to refine their personal appearance styles for a commercial audience.

In October 1981, the band released their next studio album Dare.

By now, The Human League were in their ascendancy and were becoming extremely popular with the mainstream British public.

In mid November 1981, with the Human League fully in the public eye, and sales of the album Dare soaring, Virgin records decided to release one more single from Dare.

Oakey had always disliked the track "Don't You Want Me".

Virgin Records had more faith; they commissioned an expensive and elaborate promo video to accompany the release of "Don't You Want Me".