Product Code Database
Paul David Humphreys (born 27 February 1960) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the keyboardist and secondary vocalist of the Electronic music band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he founded alongside lead vocalist and bassist Andy McCluskey in 1978. The Quietus remarked, "If, roughly speaking, McCluskey is the intellect and inquisitive nature in the group, then Humphreys is the heart." The pair have been recognised as pioneers of electronic music.
Humphreys played with OMD until 1989, seven years before the band's dissolution, and returned for their 2006 reformation. 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".
Aside from his work with OMD, Humphreys fronted spin-off band the Listening Pool from 1989 to 1996, and recorded with former Propaganda singer Claudia Brücken as the duo Onetwo from 2000 to 2013.
OMD became one of the leading bands in the synth-pop movement, though they developed largely independently of others such as the Human League. The group enjoyed considerable commercial success internationally during the 1980s, with Humphreys and McCluskey being recognised as pioneers of electronic music. John Doran of The Quietus remarked, "If, roughly speaking, McCluskey is the intellect and inquisitive nature in OMD, then Humphreys is the heart." The pair's songwriting partnership has been dubbed the "Lennon–McCartney of synth-pop".
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". Humphreys left OMD in 1989, but was credited as co-writer of 1993 single "Everyday" and 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.
By the late 1990s, Humphreys was performing OMD setlists once more. "Paul Humphreys from OMD", in which Humphreys performed McCluskey-sung material as well as his own songs, was still active as of 2001.
In 1996, Humphreys began a songwriting collaboration with German musician Claudia Brücken, who was formerly lead vocalist of the band Propaganda. They recorded and performed live under the name Onetwo from 2004 (the duo was nameless when they began performing in 2000) until their separation in March 2013.
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.
In 2018, Humphreys married Lithuanians marketer Rūta Degutytė. The couple have two children together, Lily (b.2021) and Lucas (b.2025).
|
|
