The Sisters of Mercy were formed in Leeds, England, in 1980 by Gary Marx and Andrew Eldritch, driven by their desire to hear themselves on the radio.

One early formation included vocalist Keith Fuller and keyboardist Claire Shearsby, who accompanied Eldritch on drums and Marx on guitar.

Eldritch assumed responsibilities for lyric writing, Doktor programming, and record production, while co-writing the music with Marx and, occasionally, Adams.

It commenced with the Doktor/Eldritch/Marx/Adams incarnation of the band performing a gig at the Riley Smith Hall of the Leeds University Union building in early 1981.

Eldritch's melancholic baritone, Craig Adams's pulsating bass, Doktor Avalanche's beat, and Marx's flowing guitar contributed to the band's early underground success.

exemplifies the Sisters' early work and highlights the maturation of songwriter Eldritch, who wrote, produced, and reportedly played all instruments on the release.

In late 1983, following the highly successful "Temple of Love" single, the band signed a contract with major record label WEA.

The Black October UK tour (October–November 1984) solidified the band’s underground cult status; however, the growing estrangement between Eldritch and the rest of the group became increasingly problematic during the recording of the debut album First and Last and Always.

Most songs on the album were written and rehearsed by Marx, Hussey, and Adams, with Eldritch stepping in at the final stage to write lyrics and provide vocals.

Following the release of First and Last and Always, produced by David M. Allen, Marx departed from the band in the midst of a supporting tour, citing an inability to continue working with Eldritch.

The Sisters of Mercy completed the tour as a three-piece act, bidding farewell to fans with their final performance at London's Royal Albert Hall on 18 June 1985.

When Adams and Hussey left the band, they were replaced by the American singer and bass guitarist Patricia Morrison of the Bags and the Gun Club.

However, Eldritch stated elsewhere that the "2-5-0-0-0," which opens "Jihad" on the Sisterhood LP, represents the sum of money he won from the Mission in the civil courts.

The next incarnation of the Sisters of Mercy featured an unknown German guitarist, Andreas Bruhn, whom Eldritch allegedly discovered playing in a Hamburg pub and brought into the band in April 1989.

The new line-up kicked off with the Vision Thing album, released in October 1990, produced by Eldritch (one song, the single "More," was a co-production and co-written with Steinman).

Fearing a clash between the predominantly white fans of the Sisters and the primarily Black following of Public Enemy, several cities banned the performances, leading to the tour being canceled halfway through.

Late in 1991, bassist James left the group to pursue a solo career, and the band continued by using a pre-recorded backing track.

Early in the year, the band performed the track on Top of the Pops with Haza and Tony James, marking the final time the recording line-up for *Vision Thing* shared the stage.

that the issues stemmed from either the short-lived tour with Public Enemy in 1991 or Eldritch's ongoing disputes with EastWest Records, as the band still owed them two original studio albums.

In 1995, Eldritch remixed two songs for the German group Die Krupps and appeared on the Sarah Brightman single "A Question of Honour".

In late 1997, the contract with EastWest was terminated after the company agreed to accept material recorded under the SSV name instead of the two albums for which the Sisters of Mercy had contractual obligations.

The company consented to accept the material (techno-like droning featuring mumbling vocals by Andrew Eldritch, without drums) without listening to it first.

We are working on an album, inter alia, but the matter of single releases is currently on hold.In 2005, The Sisters of Mercy recruited Chris Catalyst as a guitarist, followed by the addition of Ben Christo on guitar in 2006.

[19] The band has maintained an active touring schedule, performing at headline shows and music festivals almost every year, showcasing both released and unreleased material.

[26] In the same year, three Sisters of Mercy reissues were released on 3 November in Europe (and 30 October in the USA) via WEA International: First and Last and Always (1985), Floodland (1987), and Vision Thing (1990).

[29][30] The band has performed thirteen new songs during concerts held between 2019 and 2024, such as "There's a Door", "Don't Drive on Ice", "I Will Call You", "Show Me (On the Doll)", "When I'm on Fire", "On the Beach", "But Genevieve", "She's a Monster", "Here" and "Quantum Baby", but no studio recordings have been made available.

[31] Since 2012, some of the shows have featured a guest appearance by the Irish singer Lisa Cuthbert, who performs her cover version of "This Corrosion" on piano.

[35] [36] According to Jennifer Park, the band has also mentioned Leonard Cohen, Hawkwind, Gary Glitter, Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges, Suicide, the Birthday Party, and the Fall as additional influences.

Soon after, the first digital Doktor appeared in the form of a set of Compaq portable PCs, which had to be scrapped when it became impossible to maintain them because of a lack of spare parts.

[40] In recent years the "Digital Doktor" has been moved to a custom-built laptop designed by Eldritch and constructed by an English military software and hardware company.