ABC is an English pop band that originated in Sheffield in 1980, evolving from the earlier ensemble Vice Versa.

The band's classic formation featured Martin Fry as the lead vocalist, Mark White on guitar and keyboards, Stephen Singleton playing the saxophone, and David Palmer behind the drums.

ABC has its roots in Vice Versa, a Sheffield band formed in 1977 by synthesizer players Stephen Singleton and Mark White.

Martin Fry, who wrote the fanzine Modern Drugs, interviewed Vice Versa and shortly afterwards they asked him to join as synthesizer player.

[9][10][11][12] The band's last day as Vice Versa was at the Futurama 2 Festival in Leeds in September 1980; from then on it performed as ABC, with Singleton playing saxophone and White on guitar and keyboards.

Their second album, Beauty Stab, was released in November 1983, produced by Gary Langan who was the engineer on The Lexicon of Love.

Fry and White then enlisted the services of Fiona Russell Powell (under the name "Eden") and David Yarritu in the band's new line-up.

After a hiatus, during which Fry was being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma, he and White reconvened ABC as a duo, releasing the album Alphabet City in 1987.

One was Paul Rutherford's (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) solo album and first single release; the other was for Lizzie Tear on the duo's own Neutron label.

Two singles, "Love Conquers All" and "Say It", narrowly missed the UK Top 40, though a remix of the latter by the Italian production team Black Box appeared on the US dance chart.

With Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and Keith Lowndes contributing to the sessions and songwriting, the album was commercially unsuccessful though a single, "Stranger Things", reached No.

Although Fry was the only member left, he had a backing band and adorned the album cover in his famed gold lamé suit.

Although essentially a reissue of the 1990 greatest hits compilation Absolutely, the album featured two new songs by Fry, "Peace and Tranquility" and "Blame".

Following a tour of the United States in May and June 2006, Fry and Palmer, together with session keyboardist Chuck Kentis, put together a new ABC album, Traffic.

The first single, "The Very First Time", debuted on BBC Radio 2 in January, was added to the station's "A" playlist for the week beginning 29 March and was released as a music download track on 1 April.

This appearance included a rendition of "Addicted to Love", with Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet and Peter Cox of Go West.

In April 2009, ABC performed The Lexicon of Love album live at the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Anne Dudley of Art of Noise, who arranged and played keyboards on the original record, conducted the performance.

A music review in the 13 April 2009 edition of The Independent newspaper, described the performance as a "glorious night that has placed one of the Eighties' most perfectly constructed albums back near the top of the pop pantheon".

[17] On 1 March 2013, ABC appeared in Dubai, UAE, in the '80s Rewind' concert with Rick Astley, Heaven 17, Howard Jones and T'Pau.

In June 2014, it was revealed that a dozen early tapes had been discovered of rare remixes and unheard songs from ABC's first three albums.

From Beauty Stab, reams of early studio takes have come to light including one song, 'You and Me', that never made the final album.

From The Lexicon of Love era, the band's own, pre-Trevor Horn demos of 'All of My Heart' have come to light, along with a reel entitled '4 Ever 2 Gether – The Outtake, Starring Martin Fry as Ken Dodd'".

ABC were joined by the original orchestral team of Southbank Sinfonia and longtime collaborator and arranger Anne Dudley who conducted on the evening of the recording.

On 4 August, The Lexicon of Love was reissued (belatedly) for its 40th anniversary with special vinyl editions and an SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio, No.

Renowned musician, songwriter and producer Steven Wilson remixed the classic album in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo for this special reissue, which was also made available on streaming platforms.