Perhaps Basildon’s most famous former residents are the electronic band Depeche Mode, who have sold over 100 million records around the world.

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Formed in Basildon during 1980, three of the founder members (Vince Clark, Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore) went to Nicholas Comprehensive School in Laindon. Dave Gahan, lead singer, was a pupil at Barstable.

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In May 1980 the band played their first gig at Nicholas Comprehensive, an event that is memorialised with a plaque.

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The band’s first single, ‘Dreaming of Me’ was recorded for Mute records in 1981 and made the top 60.  Their second, ‘New Life’ reached number 11 and earned them an appearance on BBC1’s Top of the Pops.  They travelled to the television studios by train, departing from Basildon station, carrying their keyboards with them.

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Depeche Mode’s third single, ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, is perhaps their best-known single and was their first top 10 hit.

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It was in 1981 that the band’s first album, ‘Speak and Spell’, was released.  The album reached the top 10 of the UK album charts.

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Before the end of 1981 Vince Clark announced that he would be leaving the band.  He soon joined forces with Billericay born Alison Moyet to form Yazoo. Martin Gore stepped in to the role as the band’s song writer, and Alan Wilder joined the band.

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They would release six albums during the 1980’s.  Their biggest hit single of the decade, ‘People are People’, was released during 1984 and reached number 4 in the UK charts, as well as being a number 1 hit in Germany.

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The ‘Violator’ album was released in 1990, reaching number 2 on the UK, German and Swiss album charts as well as being number 1 in France.

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The first single from the album was ‘Enjoy the Silence’.  It was the band’s first top ten hit since ‘Master and Servant’ in 1984.  The album would produce four top 20 hits.

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Their compilation album ‘Singles 86>98’, released in 1998, had a photo of a large travel case with the words ‘Basildon’ and ‘Essex’ painted on it.

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The albums and hits continued in to the 21st Century.  The single ‘Precious’ reached number 4 in the UK, 2 in Germany and a number 1 hit in Italy, Spain and Sweden.
 

Andrew Fletcher died on 26 May 2022 at his home in Brighton, aged 60