Living in a Box

Biography

Living in a Box were a British pop trio from the 1980s (formed in 1985). The members were Richard Darbyshire (vocals and guitar), Marcus Vere (synths) and Anthony Critchlow (drums). Career - Formation and split up: Living in a Box was formed in 1985 in Manchester. The group named themselves after the first song they had recorded together in the studio. It was, in fact, this song that had brought them together first. Vere and Critchlow were recording the demo version of the tune in a studio als...

Living in a Box were a British pop trio from the 1980s (formed in 1985). The members were Richard Darbyshire (vocals and guitar), Marcus Vere (synths) and Anthony Critchlow (drums).

Career - Formation and split up:
Living in a Box was formed in 1985 in Manchester. The group named themselves after the first song they had recorded together in the studio. It was, in fact, this song that had brought them together first. Vere and Critchlow were recording the demo version of the tune in a studio also being visited by Richard Darbyshire, an independent recording artist at the time. Richard was invited to join his two future band-mates in the studio to record vocals for the track, and the three officially became a band.
 
Released two years later, "Living in a Box" was their most commercially successful single, peaking at #5 on the UK Singles Chart and became the bands only single to chart in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The single was featured on the group's self-titled debut album, which also included follow-up singles "Love is the Art," "So the Story Goes," and "Scales of Justice." While "So the Story Goes" was the only one of these additional singles to crack the US Billboard Hot 100, all three songs charted in their home country, where the band continued to enjoy more success. Their follow-up album, Gatecrashing in 1989 proved to be even more successful in the UK, generating two Top Ten hits, "Blow the House Down" (which featured Queen's Brian May on guitar) and "Room in Your Heart". The album itself peaked at #21. Artistic differences, as well as changes to their record label Chrysalis, caused the band to break up in 1990 before a third album could be released.
 
After Living in a Box:
Frontman Richard Darbyshire has continued his long-standing music career, writing songs for artists such as Lisa Stansfield and briefly enjoying modest success as a solo artist. His solo album, How Many Angels (1994) has been re-released several times (beginning in 1999, when it was re-issued under the title of Love Will Provide) with various new and unreleased tracks.
 
Anthony "Tich" Critchlow and Marcus Charles Vere temporarily retired from the music industry after the band split. Tich runs his own company providing bespoke illumination and lighting installations.
 
After a brief break, Vere changed direction and produced an award-winning series of educational DVDs called Here Comes A...! For pre-school aged children; topics include live-action films about tractors, diggers, trains and fire engines. The business moved online in early 2017 as Kids Trucks TV and has become a phenomenal success on YouTube. In May 2016, Vere was credited with writing the songs "Viva Love," "Flames of Desire," "Kiss Me Goodbye" and "Ten Below Zero" on the Top 5 ABC album Lexicon of Love II.
 
Living in a Box reform:
In 2016, Living in a Box reformed with British soul singer Kenny Thomas replacing Darbyshire. Since then the band has appeared at live festival events in the UK such as Let's Rock, Rewind and Flashback throughout the summer of 2016 and through 2017.
 
Legacy:
The song "Living in a Box" was later covered by Bobby Womack, who had also worked with Living in a Box on the single, "So the Story Goes." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.