Tributes have been coming in to Stephen Luscombe, the keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist who for years was one half of Blancmange.
Luscombe’s death was confirmed by his partner in the early '80s synth pop band, Neil Arthur, over the weekend. “Heartbroken. RIP Stephen. Love you forever,” Arthur wrote on Facebook.
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Meanwhile, chart contemporary Boy George took to Twitter/ X and said: “Yesterday we said goodbye to Stephen Luscombe from Blancmange he was also in ‘The West India Company’ and we went to India together which was amazing.
“Stephen along with Neil Arthur made one of the most seminal electro tracks. ‘Living On The Ceiling’. I saw them do it live supporting our Erasure last year. Bye Stephen. Legend!”
Fellow synth-pop icons Soft Cell put on Facebook: “Very sad to hear of the passing of Stephen Luscombe of Blancmange, and send our condolences both to his family and friends, as well as to Neil Arthur at this time. Stephen was a unique, talented, and innovative musician, and leaves a rich back catalogue of Eastern-influenced electronica as his legacy.”
Blitzed Magazine wrote: “Very sad to learn that Stephen Luscombe has died. A founder-member of synth-pop outfit Blancmange, he had been suffering from ill health for some time. Our thoughts go out to Stephen’s family and friends at this time.”
Luscombe and Arthur formed Blancmange in 1979 though it would take a few years before they caught a break, this came when they were included on the 1981 Some Bizarre compilation album alongside The The and Soft Cell.
The duo signed to London Records and hit the Top Ten in late 1982 with Living On The Ceiling. It would be the first of seven Top 40 hits over the next three years, including a cover of Abba’s The Day Before You Came that ended up charting higher than the original.
Blancmange split in 1986 and, as Boy George alluded to, Luscombe persued his interest in Indian music in the West India Company which saw him recording with tabla master Pandit Dinesh and Asha Bhosle (she of “Brimful Of Asha’ fame). He and Arthur reunited in 2011 and released the fourth Blancmange album, Blanc Burn.
Luscombe had to depart the band soon afterwards after suffering an abdominal aortic aneurysm. It’s not clear if this was a factor in Luscombe’s passing – at the time of writing no cause of death had been confirmed.
