Level 42

Level 42
	; Level 42 (2009)
	General information
origin	Isle of Wight , England
Genre (s)	Jazz radio , new wave , synthpop
founding	1979, 2001
resolution	1994
Website	www.level42.com
Current occupation
Vocals , bass	Mark King
Keyboard , vocals	Mike Lindup
Drums	Pete Ray Biggin
Guitar, vocals	Nathan King
saxophone	Sean Freeman
former members
Drums	Gary Husband
Drums	Phil Gould
guitar	Rowland 'Boon' Gould †
guitar	Jakko Jakszyk
guitar	Alan Murphy †

Level 42 is a British musical group that was founded in 1979. Their music is characterized by distinctive funk elements and catchy melody structures. Occasional instrumental pieces also show clear influences from jazz . With two singers with very different vocals, Mark King and Mike Lindup, the songs gain additional depth.

Band history

Brothers Phil Gould (drums) and Rowland “Boon” Gould (guitar) and boyfriend Mark King (bass / vocals) had been making music together since their teenage days when Phil brought in a fellow student in 1979 - Mike Lindup (keyboard / vocals). They had already done a few smaller gigs when the idea came up to get the band name 88. But since there was already a formation called Rocket 88, the number 42 was used instead (initially without a level ) based on Douglas Adams ' novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . It answers the question of all questions - the answer is 42 .

Wally Badarou , with whom Phil and Mark had already worked and who knew about synthesizers , joined the band, but not as an official member as he was otherwise bound by contract. However, he appears on several albums as a composer, musician and producer.

1980–1983: Foundation and first records

In May 1980, Andy Sojka noticed her and took her in his little Independent - Label Elite Records on. Here they changed the band name to Level 42 and recorded their debut single Love Meeting Love in July after writing a text for the actually instrumental piece. The single entered the UK funk / disco charts and caught the attention of Polydor , who subsequently produced the second single (Flying on the) Wings of Love .

Their first Top 40 single, Lovegames , released in England in April 1981 , was produced by Mike Vernon, followed by the first album Level 42 , which entered the top 20 of the UK album charts within two weeks. Other singles: Turn it On and Starchild .

After they had already started work on their second album in January 1982, the first decision was made in March to release older material from the band from the time at Elite Records under the title The Early Tapes . In July, Mark and Mike released a single called Freedom under the name Thunderthumbs and the Toetsenman (German thunder thumb and the keyboard man).

Again with Mike Vernon they completed the third album The Pursuit of Accidents in September 1982 , the releases of Are You Hearing (What I Hear?) , Weave Your Spell and The Chinese Way were quite successful.

Larry Dunn and Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire had seen Level 42 in Germany in 1983 and offered to produce their next album Standing in the Light in Los Angeles. In May 1983 they played their first concert in the USA at the Britain Salutes New York Festival. After their return they played at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival . Extracts from the album were The Sun Goes Down , Out of Sight, out of Mind and Microkid .

1984–1987: Popular live band with great hits

After Mark King had released his solo debut Influences , the next single Hot Water followed in August 1984 from the new album True Colors , which came out in October. For reinforcement, Krys Mach joined the saxophone, who also accompanied the band at the following concerts. The second single was The Chant Has Begun .

Since Level 42 was considered a good live band, they wanted to capture that live feeling, resulting in the live album A Physical Presence , which came out in May 1985. World Machine followed in September of the same year , again with the two successful releases Something About You and Leaving Me Now . The group ended this year with an almost completely sold out tour of England.

The most successful single to date, Lessons in Love , this time with Gary Barnacle on saxophone, came out in April 1986 and was also very popular in Europe and even in the USA. The single Running in the Family , released in February 1987, was also successful , followed by the album of the same name, which achieved platinum status within just one week. Several sold out concerts all over Europe followed. The third release from Running in the Family was To Be with You Again .

1987–1989: Brothers Gould and Level Best resign

In October 1987, Phil and Boon Gould left Level 42. Phil Gould felt drained, and it turned out he was diabetic. He was also unhappy with the band's newer pop sound. Boon Gould had persistent stomach problems and wanted to retire from the band in favor of his family.

Neil Conti and Paul Gendler stepped in as a replacement for an ongoing US tour by Tina Turner , who accompanied her. In the video for Children Say , which was released in December, only Mike and Mark could be seen. Gary Husband and Steve Topping joined as new musicians. After some recordings in Ireland, Steve left the band because he didn't really get into the style and life of the band.

Alan Murphy, a popular session guitarist in England at the time, stepped in. Again produced by Julian Mendelsohn and Wally Badarou, Staring at the Sun hit record stores in September 1988 , followed by a four-month European tour. The releases on this LP were Heaven in My Hands , Take a Look and Tracie .

Alan Murphy died of AIDS on October 19, 1989 after a brief, serious illness . The single Take Care of Yourself was released shortly thereafter without much advertising. The Level Best compilation followed shortly thereafter .

1990–2000: Solo excursions by Lindup and King and other albums

In June 1990 Mike Lindup's first solo album Changes came out. He was supported by well-known musicians such as Pino Palladino , Manu Katché and Dominic Miller and gave two concerts.

The band's new album, Guaranteed , was already finished but was put on hold due to differences between the band and their Polydor record company. They wanted Level 42 to sound even more commercial, which Mark, Mike and Gary didn't like at all. Compared to their initial style, the band had made concessions to the pop business a few times that weren't always well received by the fans. So they separated from Polydor and looked around for alternatives. Allan Holdsworth stepped in on guitar at some concerts at the end of the year .

The label BMG / RCA recorded Level 42 and released Guaranteed in September 1991, as did the single of the same name. They went on tour again for their promotion, supported by guitarist Jakko Jakszyk. The album also featured a piece composed by Gary Husband for the first time. The second single was overtime .

In March 1992 Guaranteed was also released in the USA, but they did not tour there because the sales were rather average. The third release, My Fathers Shoes, was a country-sounding piece that couldn't rank high.

In March 1994, Level 42's tenth studio album, Forever Now , hit record stores . Both the title track and the second release, All over You , reached higher chart positions again. The third track was Love in a Peaceful World . On a small tour of Japan, Gavin Harrison helped out on drums.

Back in England, Mark King and Mike Lindup played their last concert together on October 14, 1994 at the Royal Albert Hall. They decided to go their separate ways from now on.

In 1995 Boon Gould released a solo album called Tin Man .

In 1998, Mark King released another solo album, One Man , the release of which Bitter Moon was even record of the week on BBC Radio. Then Mark was found as the front man on the famous The Nokia Night of the Proms tour, on which he played some Level 42 classics, supported by a full symphony orchestra.

Another solo production by Mark King, entitled Trash, was released exclusively through Mark's website in 1999 and included holdovers from material Mark had written for One Man . Under the name Grupo Mark King, they went on a mini tour to promote trash, with two old friends joining them - Gary Husband and Jakko Jakszyk.

Since 2001: Current solo and band projects

The year 2002 started with the news that Mark King had secured the rights to the band name Level 42 and could thus also perform live under it. A number of live albums and DVDs came out.

At the end of 2003 Mike announced the release of his second solo album called Conversations with Silence , a four-year project in which Mike proves his qualities as a pianist.

Numerous concerts were played in 2004 with the new line-up of Mark King (bass), Gary Husband (drums), Nathan King (guitar), Lyndon Connah (keyboards) and Sean Freeman (saxophones).

In October 2006 the studio album by Level 42 Retroglide was released by Universal. The musicians: Mark King, Gary Husband, Mike Lindup, Nathan King, Lyndon Connah, Sean Freeman and Boon Gould (guitar solo for Ship ). All songs were composed by Mark and Boon.

In 2010 they celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band with a world tour.

In October 2013, the EP Sirens was released with six titles.

Guitarist Boon Gould died in late April 2019 at the age of 64.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	title	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B	Remarks
1981	Level 42	-	-	-	UK20th silver (18 weeks)UK	-	-	First published: August 1981 Producer: Mike Vernon
1982	The Early Tapes July – August 1980	-	-	-	UK46 (6 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: March 1982 Producers: Andy Sojka, Jerry Pike
1982	The pursuit of accidents	-	-	-	UK17th silver (16 weeks)UK	-	-	First published: September 1982 Producer: Mike Vernon
1983	Standing in the light	DE27 (10 weeks) DE	-	-	UK9 gold (13 weeks)UK	-	-	First published: August 1983 Producers: Larry Dunn, Verdine White
1984	True Colors	DE23 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH14 (6 weeks) CH	UK14th silver (8 weeks)UK	-	-	First published: October 1984 Producer: Ken Scott
1985	World Machine	DE12 (32 weeks) DE	AT14 (10 weeks) AT	CH14 (9 weeks) CH	UK3 × 2 Double platinum (72 weeks)UK	US18 (36 weeks) US	R&B64 (3 weeks) R&B	First published: September 1985 Producer: Level 42, Wally Badarou
1987	Running in the family	DE4th gold (24 weeks)DE	AT4 (14 weeks) AT	CH4 (16 weeks) CH	UK2 × 2 Double platinum (54 weeks)UK	US23 (34 weeks) US	-	First published: March 1987 Producer: Level 42, Wally Badarou
1988	Staring at the Sun	DE8 (12 weeks) DE	AT21 (6 weeks) AT	CH6 (8 weeks) CH	UK2 gold (11 weeks)UK	US128 (7 weeks) US	-	First published: September 1988 Producers: Level 42, Wally Badarou, Julian Mendelsohn
1991	Guaranteed	-	-	CH31 (2 weeks) CH	UK3 silver (5 weeks)UK	-	-	First published: September 1991 Producer: Level 42, Wally Badarou
1994	Forever Now	-	-	-	UK8 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: March 1994 Producer: Level 42, Wally Badarou

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

literature

Michael Cowton: Level 42: The Definitive Biography (1989), Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd; ISBN 0-283-99837-7 , (English).

swell

↑ Band biography at laut.de (accessed on January 20, 2010)
↑ Youtube: Level 42 - Lessons In Love (30th Anniversary World Tour October 22, 2010) February 8, 2018. Accessed May 4, 2020.
↑ Helena H .: At the age of 64: Level 42 founder Rowland Boon Gould died. In: Promiflash , May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .

[1] Band biography at laut.de (accessed on January 20, 2010)

[2] Youtube: Level 42 - Lessons In Love (30th Anniversary World Tour October 22, 2010) February 8, 2018. Accessed May 4, 2020.

[3] Helena H .: At the age of 64: Level 42 founder Rowland Boon Gould died. In: Promiflash , May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.

[charts-4] Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US

[5] Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .