Level 42 Announce
Headline UK Tour
London, Wednesday 15th January, Level
42 are set to play a series of headline shows across the
UK in summer of 2008 tickets go on sale 9am Friday 18th
January 2008……
Level 42 were formed in 1980 by Mark
King (Bass and vocals) Mike Lindup (Keys and vocals) and
brothers Boon Gould (Guitar) and Phil Gould (Drums) and
were signed up by Elite Records, an independent jazz funk
label in north London.
It didn’t take long before they began to fulfil early
promise with their debut single Love Meeting Love (featuring
Wally Badarou, who was to become a regular addition in the
studio, on synths) quickly becoming a classic on the jazz
funk club scene, and a reputation as a great live band was
begun.
The band took the 80s by storm with their brand of bass
driven jazz funk that came from the underground soul scene
of wedge hair cuts, pegged trousers, sharp shoes and soul
patrols. They led a band of UK ‘funksters’ and
soul acts that for a time changed the face of the street
scene in Britain , dovetailing with the start of the commercial
New Romantic movement , Two Tone and the dying embers of
punk.
Level 42 clearly became the most influential of all the
British acts but with the likes of Incognito, Light of the
World, Lynx , and Beggar and Co to name just four , made
their indelible mark and gave the scene an identity which
allowed mainstream radio to embrace more easily the infectious
bass lines that were the hallmark of Mark King and Level
42 for a decade and beyond.
Their slick pop-funk sound marked them out for more than
cult success, and it was not long before their growing reputation
brought them to the attention of Polydor Records who in
1981 released the ‘Level 42’ album which in
turn spawned the hit Love Games, then the underground classic
Starchild. This was supported by the bands first foray into
Europe as opening act for The Police.
In 1982 the band released ‘The Pursuit of Accidents’
and the singles Are you Hearing (What I Hear); Weave Your
Spell, and The Chinese Way all made the charts. More touring
followed, and it was whilst in Europe that two members of
the legendary Earth, Wind, and Fire, Larry Dunn and Verdine
White, heard the band and offered to produce the next Level
42 album.
This became ‘Standing in the Light’ , recorded
in LA in 1983 and gave the band their first UK top-ten hit
The Sun Goes Down (Living it Up), Micro-Kid, and Out of
Sight, Out of Mind.
In 1984 the band teamed up with legendary producer Ken Scott
to make ‘True Colours’ and had more International
success with ‘Hot Water’, and ‘The Chant
Has Begun’.
1984 also saw the release of Mark King’s first solo
album ‘Influences’.
1985 saw the bands first World tour on the back of the ‘World
Machine’ album, and the singles’ Something about
you’ and ’Leaving me now’ became massive
hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
1986, more touring commitments, and a foray into the studio
that saw the creation of the ‘Running in the Family’
album which in turn delivered ‘Lessons in Love, ‘Running
in the Family’, ‘To be with you again’,
It’s over’, and ‘Children Say’.
Inevitably the pressure of work took its toll and the band
underwent its first line-up change with the Gould brothers
being replaced by drummer and pianist Gary Husband, and
guitarist Alan Murphy.
1988 and the band decamped to Southern France to produce
the ‘Staring at the Sun’ album, followed in
1990 by the release of ‘Guaranteed’, and 1993’s
‘Forever Now’.
To date the band and Mark have released
14 studio albums, 7 live albums, and 6 compilation albums,
had 18 top 40 singles, including Lessons in Love, Something
About You, Leaving Me Now, Running in the Family, and Hot
Water, sold out Wembley for a total of 21 nights and sold
in excess of 30 million albums worldwide. In short they
proved to be one of the biggest British bands of the 1980’s,
and the recent emergence of DVD as a major format has seen
a host of re-masters and releases from Universal Music,
Studio Hamburg, and River Records among others.
Though the band stopped touring and
recording in 1994, founding member and front man Mark King
continued under his own name, and with his distinctive slap
bass and song-writing style kept the loyal fan base happy.
In 2001 he acquired the rights to the name ‘Level
42’ and took the band back out on the road again where
their unique sound and virtuosity as instrumentalists remains
an inspiration to young players the world over.
Level 42 are:
Mark King bass/vocals
Gary Husband drums
Mike Lindup keys/vocals
Nathan King guitar/vocals
Sean Freeman sax/vocals
