Paul Humphreys
Paul David Humphreys (born 27 February 1960) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who is best known for his contributions to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), an electronic band which he founded alongside Andy McCluskey in 1978. John Doran in The Quietus remarked: "If, roughly speaking, McCluskey is the intellect and inquisitive nature in the group, then Humphreys is the heart."[1]
For other people named Paul Humphreys, see Paul Humphreys (disambiguation).
Paul Humphreys
Paul David Humphreys
27 February 1960
London, England
Wirral Peninsula, England
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- Vocals
- synthesizers
- keyboards
1978–present
Humphreys provided synthesizer/keyboard work and vocals from the band's inception in 1978 until his 1989 departure, seven years before their dissolution, and returned for their 2006 reformation. Despite this period of absence, his songwriting contribution features on all of the group's studio albums, save for 1991's Sugar Tax. Humphreys sang lead vocals on several OMD tracks, including the singles "Electricity", "Souvenir", "Never Turn Away", "Secret", "(Forever) Live and Die" and "What Have We Done". He fronted spin-off band the Listening Pool from 1989 to 1996, and recorded with former Propaganda lead vocalist Claudia Brücken as the duo Onetwo from 2000 to 2013.
Career
OMD
Humphreys grew up on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England, during which time he developed an interest in German electronic music by bands such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can and La Düsseldorf. He was also influenced by the work of Brian Eno and early ambient styles of music. Humphreys joined a variety of bands in the mid-1970s but this was mostly defined by progressive rock and it wasn't until he met Andy McCluskey that they began their own musical experiments which culminated in a one-off gig as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark at Eric's Club in Liverpool.
OMD became one of the leading bands in the synth-pop movement, though they developed largely independently of others such as the Human League. OMD enjoyed considerable commercial success internationally during the 1980s. Humphreys' songwriting partnership with McCluskey has been dubbed the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".[2][3]
Although McCluskey was the lead singer for OMD, Humphreys did sing on several singles during the 1980s, and provided lead or prominent vocals on the album tracks "Promise", "Georgia" and "ABC Auto Industry", as well as on the B-sides "4-Neu" and "Gravity Never Failed". Humphreys was a more reserved individual than McCluskey; of their partnership, the latter said: "We always had this joke that two Pauls wouldn't get anything done and two Andys would kill each other".[4] Humphreys left OMD in 1989, but continued to pen songs for the band. He co-wrote the 1993 single "Everyday" (from Liberator), and was the main writer of two tracks from Universal (1996): "Very Close to Far Away" and "If You're Still in Love with Me". Sugar Tax (1991) is the only album in the OMD catalogue not to feature the songwriting contribution of Humphreys.
Instruments
Humphreys' main instruments are electronic keyboards. With OMD, he made use of a wide range of these including the Korg M-500 Micro Preset monophonic analog synthesizer, polyphonic analogue synthesizers such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and the Korg Trident, the electromechanical tape-sampling instrument known as the Mellotron, electronic organs such as the Vox Jaguar, and digital sampling keyboards such as the E-mu Emulator and Fairlight CMI. Due to the restrictive nature of the equipment available to Humphreys and McCluskey they resorted to invention and innovation, which often defined their early sound. On the track "Souvenir" (1981) Humphreys used recordings of a choir tuning up to create the ethereal and fluttery choral effects which gave the song its original sound.
More recently he predominantly uses Pro Tools software and a series of soft synths for recording and writing, and a Roland Fantom keyboard for live work, largely using it as a sampling keyboard to faithfully reproduce the original sounds. When recreating the original OMD sounds of the 1980s he had to resort to buying synthesisers off eBay.
Humphreys is a self-taught musician and in the first years of OMD he built his own electronic sound making equipment. The group's first synthesiser, the Korg M-500 Micro Preset was purchased through a catalogue belonging to Andy McCluskey's mother.
Personal life
Humphreys was married to Maureen Udin.[7] He later had a relationship with Claudia Brücken, with whom he performed in Onetwo; the pair lived together in London.[8]
In 2018, Humphreys married Lithuanian marketer Rūta Degutytė.[9][10]