Colourbox

Formed in 1982 by brothers Martyn and Steven Young, Colourbox drew on influences as varied as blues, soul, rock, reggae/dub and funk, they combined elements from each with movie dialogues and weird and wonderful samples. Vocalist Debian Curry was recruited to sing on their 1982 4AD debut "Breakdown"; Currie was replaced by [a=Lorita Grahame] in 1983. After releasing the mini-album Colourbox in 1983, they released a couple singles and began to work on their first full album, 'Colourbox', which garnered great reviews and topped the UK independent chart in 1985. Colourbox's idiosyncratic approach to music left journalists struggling to pin down their identity; they deliberately stayed out of the spotlight and focused on refining their sound. Two singles followed in 1986; 'The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme' and a reworking of the [a=Augustus Pablo] track, 'Baby I Love You So'. It was in 1987 that the Young brothers broke out of the indie charts as [a=M|A|R|R|S], with the genre-defining track, '[r=51097]'. A collaboration with [a=A.R. Kane], Chris [a=CJ Mackintosh] and [a=Dave Dorrell], the single went from underground club anthem to UK National No.1. However, the success of the track and litigation surrounding the samples led to the end of the band. Ian Robbins died in 2014. and Steven Young died on 13 July 2016.