1) Andy Bell was born in Peterborough on April the 25, 1964. He first sang

in a church choir, got thrown out of school and formed a group called The

Void. Vince Clarke was born on July 3 1960. He was an original member of

Depeche Mode, then teamed up with Alison Moyet to form Yazoo.

2) When in Yazoo, Vince cultivated a Jimbob Carter-style bit of hair. He

later cut it off, but kept it in an envelope at home, "I think it's gone all

mouldy".

3) When Vince got bored of Yazoo - and his daft bit of hair - he put an

advertisement in a music paper for a new singer. Nearly a hundred people

replied and he auditioned forty-two of them. Andy was the forty-second. " He

just looked like a general looking bloke", says

Vince, " it was only when he opened his mouth that there was something

special". As for Andy?. " I felt that I had the job before I even got

there".

4) Erasure's first three singles were complete flops.

5) Andy is super confident. Vince isn't. "I'm just very very cautious".

6) Yet it wasn't always that way. When Andy made his first appearance on

television he was visibly shaking and at Erasure's first gig ( at London's

Heaven nightclub in December 1985) he was " a complete chicken, I dressed

all in black".

7) These days anything goes, but his stage shows weren't the first time he

dressed up in public. " I remember I used to babysit at home and the Danny

La Rue Show ( female impersonator) was on TV. I thought ' oh that's really

easy to do', so I borrowed my sister's long party dress, put on some make-up

and went out in the street in it".

8) Andy's cooking speciality is Mint Soup.

9) Vince wasn't so impressed by Andy's early forays into clothing

extravagance - he thought Andy was colour-blind!. " Or at least it seems to

me that he is. We've got different colour co-ordination".

Eventually, Vince played along too. On a recent Top Of The Pops he wore a

dress.

10) Andy has fancied Vince for years. "He's got a cute little body".

Vince hasn't returned the compliment.