Phil, born and bred in Sheffield, co-founded the iconic group The Human League in 1977. The group's debut single, "Being Boiled," was released in 1978, but it would take four years for it to hit the UK singles chart. In October 1979, the group released their first album, "Reproduction," featuring a somewhat distasteful album cover. One year later, they released their second album, "Travelogue," shortly after recruiting Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, two schoolgirls they met dancing in a club, to join the group.
The Human League's major breakthrough occurred in 1981 with the release of their third, and arguably best, album, "Dare." The single, "Don't You Want Me," became a huge hit in both the UK and the US and is still considered a classic. Their fourth album, "Fascination," provided two further hits, "Keep Feeling (Fascination)" and "Mirror Man," but the group's fifth album, "Hysteria," did not meet expectations. The first single from "Hysteria" was the unusually political "The Lebanon," which, while well-meaning, was somewhat clumsy in style, reminiscent of the "War Song" by 80s contemporaries Culture Club.
Philip decided to record a solo album with disco producer Giorgio Moroder in 1985, which led to the theme for the film Electric Dreams (1984),a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. A change of direction followed in 1986 when The Human League recorded their next album, "Crash," with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song, "Human," penned by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, gave them their second US number one hit as well as a return to the UK Top 10, but the follow-up, "I Need Your Loving," did not fare as well.
After an absence of four years, the band released their next album, titled "Romantic?," but it was not a glorious comeback, with only one minor hit single, "Heart Like A Wheel." Matters improved slightly with 1995's "Octopus," which spawned their first UK Top 10 single, "Tell Me When," in almost as many years. Their last album to date was released in 2000, called "Secrets," leading to an appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops on August 15th and a minor hit, "All I Ever Wanted."
