Red Box is a British pop group founded by Simon Toulson-Clarke and Julian Close. Active from the early 1980s to the present day, they scored two UK top ten hits with the singles " Lean on Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)" in 1985 and "For America" in 1986, both of which were included on their debut album, '' The Circle & the Square''. Red Box returned briefly in 1990 with the single "Train" and the second album '' Motive,'' and again in 2010 with the third album '' Plenty,'' released in October 2010. The group is now led by singer-songwriter Simon Toulson-Clarke with a third line-up of supporting players. In February 2019, the band released "This Is What We Came For", the first single from their fourth studio album ''Chase the Setting Sun'', which was released in September 2019. In July 2019, they released a second single "Gods & Kings", also from ''Chase the Setting Sun''.

History

Early years and formation (1978–1984)

Simon Toulson-Clarke formed his first band, aged thirteen, at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

with his friend Paddy Talbot (another member of the band was cricketer and insurance executive Matthew Fosh, who recognised,"two of the guys were talented and two of us were rubbish. I was one of the rubbish ones"), playing covers of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

and

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

as well as some self-penned material. Other early influences are cited as being

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

and particularly

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

. On leaving school, he moved to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and formed another band in the vein of

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved ...

. In the late 1970s, he travelled south to study at the Polytechnic of Central London where he formed a band with Bristolian Julian Close. Initially the band performed under the name Harlequins and comprised Toulson-Clarke (vocals/guitar) and Close (saxophone) together with Paddy Talbot (keyboards), Rob Legge (bass) and Martin Nickson (drums). The band later took the name Red Box, after some deliberation, from a box left behind by the rock group

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

following a performance at college (and in which they had since been storing

microphones A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

). The name was favoured for its political (Red) connotations – Toulson-Clarke describes the band members as 'Student Activists'. He was also attracted to the notion of ''square'' (Box) being an old North American Indian term for 'white man' (''circle'' being the term for 'man' before Europeans were encountered), a concept which would be explored further on the debut '' The Circle & the Square'' album in the song "Heart of the Sun", a line from which gave the album its title. Whilst still students, the band regularly sold-out shows at the Marquee and Moonlight Club and released their debut single "Chenko" on the Cherry Red label in 1983. The record was a hit on radio and brought them to the attention of Seymour Stein, who signed the band to Sire in 1984. Soon after this, the band slimmed down to a duo, took on a more

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

direction and re-signed direct to

WEA The Wea were a Miami–Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as being either closely related to the Miami tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of th ...

, who released their second single "

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

" (a cover of the

song), under the Sire imprint.

''The Circle and the Square'' (1985–1987)

In August 1985 the duo had their first UK hit single, " Lean on Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)", a song which reached and stayed at number three in the UK top 40 for over a month. It also reached number 1 in five countries and the top 5 in a further 12 giving worldwide exposure to the band. It was promoted with an unusual

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

(nominated for Best Video at the Brit Awards 1985) in which a

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the Deafness in the United Kingdom, deaf community in the UK. While private correspondence from William Stokoe hinted at a f ...

(BSL) interpreter provided a translation of the song's lyrics, which led to a feature on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

's ''Newsweek'' programme. In 1986, the band released their debut album '' The Circle & the Square'', mixing traditional musical styles – brass ensembles,

choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

and

chants A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of not ...

– with modern rock and

. Among the vocalists drafted in to create the multi-tracked backing vocals (or "Box Vox") is English actor

Anthony Head Anthony Stewart Head (born 20 February 1954) is an English actor and singer. Primarily a performer in musical theatre, he rose to fame in the UK in the 1980s following his role in the Gold Blend couple television advertisements for Nescafé, ...

. The album received praise for its "evocative lyrics" and "global political intelligence" and is notable for introducing 'ethnic rhythms' and elements of

World Music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

into the 1980s pop milieu alongside established artists such as

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

( ''Graceland'', 1986) and

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

('' The Sensual World'', 1989). It includes a re-worked version of the 1984

cover "

", as well as "Chenko", which was given a more sombre, stately treatment bringing chants to the fore and featuring Alexander Balanescu on violin. Toulson-Clarke and Close, however, found themselves at odds with their record company regarding what it perceived as a lack of mainstream appeal in their choice of material, despite the success of " Lean on Me" in the UK and Europe. Toulson-Clarke responded to

's request for something to appeal to American radio with the sardonic "For America", which lambasted what he saw as the style-over-content approach of the American media, as well as alluding to American military involvement in

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. The song was not a hit in the United States, though it did worldwide outsell "Lean on Me", reaching number one in six countries and the top ten in several others including the UK, where it spent twelve weeks in the chart peaking at number ten. Two more tracks were released as singles – "Heart of the Sun" and a second re-working of "Chenko" – but both failed to make a significant impact on the charts. Due to increasingly strained working relations between the band and the record company, Close left to work in A & R and Toulson-Clarke took time out from writing and recording to travel.

''Motive'' (1990)

Toulson-Clarke was persuaded back to recording by Max Hole – a former contact at

– who had been given charge of the subsidiary company

EastWest East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...

. He began work on a new album in collaboration with musician and arranger Alastair Gavin, as well as David Motion (who had produced '' The Circle & the Square''), under the proviso that the 'tribal' elements which contributed so strongly to the sound of the earlier record be toned down. '' Motive'' is less tribal than its predecessor, with several tracks built around piano, brass provided by The Kick Horns and full orchestral arrangements. It also displays a more personal style of writing from Toulson-Clarke (the song "Moving" is dedicated to the memory of Kenneth Roy Wyles – father of Red Box drummer Chris Wyles – who died during recording), combined with the cultural and political allusions of the previous record. The opening track and first single "Train" begins with the sound of a

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

gradually picking up speed (and subsequently shunting to a halt at the song's end) and includes samples from the Voix Bulgares, " O Fortuna" (also known as the theme to the Old Spice advertisements) and T.Rex. The

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

is provided by singer Jenny Tsao's eccentric vocal refrain during the chorus. "Train" was selected as the first single and released in the autumn of 1990. The

was aired on the '' ITV Chart Show'', and the band performed on the re-vamped ''

Juke Box Jury ''Juke Box Jury'' was a music panel show which ran on BBC Television between 1 June 1959 and 27 December 1967. The programme was based on the American show '' Jukebox Jury'', itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series. The American ser ...

'' hosted by

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

, with the panel proclaiming the song a hit. However, a progressively deteriorating relationship between band and label undermined any efforts to promote the single or album. Despite the positive reception for "Train", and for reasons which remain unclear, the song was recalled from retailers. No further singles were issued and the album was eventually released without further publicity. By 'heartfelt agreement on both sides', the band and label parted and the band went into hiatus.

Reissues

Both '' The Circle & the Square'' and '' Motive'' received only a limited release on CD. Though the first album was widely released on LP and cassette in 1986, a CD issue was limited to Germany, with a

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

in Japan in 1998. In light of continued interest in the Red Box back catalogue, a petition was created to show support for the reissue of both albums on CD. A new recording of "Lean on Me" by Toulson-Clarke and Close was made available through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

in September 2007. ''The Circle & the Square'' was re-released on CD by Cherry Red Records on 20 October 2008. It features all 12 tracks from the original album, along with the Cherry Red versions of "Chenko" and "Valley", plus four additional bonus tracks. The second album, ''Motive,'' was reissued in the UK in March 2011. The album includes 12 tracks in total, two of which are bonus tracks, the B-side to the "Train" single, "Hello, He Lied", as well as "Train (Fantasy Island Version)".

''Plenty'' (2010–present)

'' Plenty'' is the third album from Red Box, released on Cherry Red Records on 11 October 2010. The notion of a new album and subsequent reformation of Red Box was first conceived in 2000. While working for East West, Toulson-Clarke signed a band to the label from the USA called The Vulgar Boatmen, releasing an album ''Opposite Sex'' in 1996. Interviewed in 2009, he explained: “A bond of friendship producing heartfelt and honest music reminded me of our early days. I missed it, and I suppose the small notion of Red Box ‘riding again’ planted itself then. I suppose ''Plenty'' really began in the woods outside Gainesville, Florida.” Red Box promoted ''Plenty'' with live performances, especially in Poland, where the songs "The Sign" and "Hurricane" achieved number one status on the Trójka Radio charts (5 weeks and 4 weeks respectively). The band consists of: * Simon Toulson-Clarke – lead vocals and guitar * Derek Adams – drums, acoustic guitar, backing vocals and

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

* Dave Jenkins – bass * Sally-Jo Seery – acoustic guitar and backing vocals * Jane Milligan – keyboards and backing vocals * Michal Kirmuc – electric guitar and percussion * Ali Ferguson – electric guitar and backing vocals * Karin Tenggren – violin and backing vocals

Other projects

Enjoy

In 1990, Red Box scored a club hit with "Enjoy" which was essentially a remix, by

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

, of an old

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, under the ''Solid Gold Easy Amex'' name. This record was charted at Number 75 on

Independent Radio Independent radio indicates a radio station that are run in a manner,different from usual from the countries it broadcasts in. Conversely, in places such as the United States, where commercial broadcasters are the norm, independent radio is some ...

's ''Network Chart'' (also used by ''Number One Magazine'') but missed the Gallup UK Singles Chart as used by the

Guinness Book of British Hit Singles ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...

Julian Close

Julian Close left the band in 1987 and worked behind the scenes at

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

for several years, eventually becoming Head of A & R. He went on to run the ''Silent Records'' label, and, more recently, Tube Recordings. He received an acknowledgement in the '' Motive'' sleeve notes as "Sniffy". Nowadays, Julian runs Tube Management, an entertainment company incorporating a record label, music publishing and management.

Simon Toulson-Clarke

Simon Toulson-Clarke has since balanced various roles as a sound engineer, producer and songwriter for other artists and has worked as a music consultant for East West Records' A & R department. In 1992, he collaborated with

Miguel Bosé Miguel Bosé (born Luis Miguel Dominguín Bosé; 3 April 1956) is a Spanish-Italian Pop music, pop singer and actor. Early life Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (1931–202 ...

and Ross Cullum on six songs for Bosé's successful first East West album ''Under the Sign of Cain'' (''Bajo El Signo de Cain''). He also contributed to two songs on the 2007 Miguel Bosé album '' Papito'', sharing co-writing honours with

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

on the track "Lo Que Hay Es lo Que Ves". * SPA :In 1997, he collaborated with Phill Brown (who had produced the Cherry Red version of "Chenko") and Alastair Gavin, using the

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

SPA, on a concept album in tribute to American Comedian

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and ofte ...

. *Plenty :In 2000, the song "Might As Well Go Home" by Plenty was featured on the soundtrack to the film '' Saving Grace'' starring

Brenda Blethyn Brenda Blethyn ( Bottle; born 20 February 1946) is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as n ...

and

Craig Ferguson Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-American actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for having hosted the CBS late-night talk show ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2005–2014). He is the winner of ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

^* Network chart

References

External links

Official Red Box band site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Red Box (Band) English art rock groups British world music groups English new wave musical groups English pop music groups Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Musical groups reestablished in 2010 Pop music groups from London Warner Records artists Cherry Red Records artists Sire Records artists East West Records artists