BLANCMANGE co-founder Stephen Luscombe has passed away after a long illness; he was 70.

Born in Hillington, Luscombe grew up in Southall, an area of London with a significant population of immigrant heritage from the Indian sub-continent, the music of which would prove to be a significant influence in the sound of BLANCMANGE.

Developing an interest in the violin, Luscombe became a member of the PORTSMOUTH SINFONIA, an orchestral combo who were noted for not actually having had formal training to play their instruments. One of its former members was Brian Eno who invited them to play on the lovely ‘Put A Straw Under Baby’ from his second solo album ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’.

Taking to keyboards, Luscombe met Lancastrian Neil Arthur at Harrow College where the pair had played in various bands separately. Luscombe had even self-released a solo cassette ‘Do The Plastic Bag’ in 1978. Developing a mutual admiration for each other’s artistic sensibilities including a shared love of KRAFTWERK, they decided to work together.

The first track Luscombe and Arthur wrote was the instrumental ‘Sad Day’ but their debut release as BLANCMANGE was the ‘Irene & Mavis’ EP in April 1980; cramming six tracks onto a 33RPM 7” record and respectively adopting the pseudonyms of Irene ‘Disco’ Sinden and Mavis Secostas, Luscombe and Arthur came to the attention of Futurist DJ Stevo Pearce who included ‘Sad Day’ on his influential ‘Some Bizzare Album’ in January 1981 which also showcased DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and B-MOVIE.

Also becoming aware of the duo was Mute supremo Daniel Miller who would invite them to open for DEPECHE MODE and later affectionately refer to BLANCMANGE as “The Maiden Aunts of Techno”. Support slots with JAPAN and Grace Jones would follow with the statuesque songstress inviting the pair after the show to take turns sitting on her knee and to go clubbing.

Signing to London Records which allowed Luscombe to make his first synth purchase, a Roland Jupiter 8, BLANCMANGE hit paydirt with their third single ‘Living On The Ceiling’. With an authentic Eastern flavour provided by Indian musicians Pandit Dinesh on tablas and Deepak Khazauchi on sitar, ‘Living On The Ceiling’ would reach No7 in the UK singles chart in Autumn 1982 and give BLANCMANGE’s impressive debut album ‘Happy Families’ a well-deserved leg up.

A more disco-approach under the auspices of New York producer John Luongo dominated the cleverly titled second album ‘Mange Tout’ but while the first single from it ‘Blind Vision’ would hit the UK Top10, it would be ‘Don’t Tell Me’ again featuring Deepak Khazanchi and Pandit Dinesh that would provide BLANCMANGE with an even bigger hit in March 1984, reaching No8.

BLANCMANGE’s final Top30 hit would come with a cover of ABBA’s ‘The Day Before You Came’ in July 1984; the idea come while Luscombe and Arthur were holidaying in Tenerife with Vince Clarke. Immersing themselves in a cassette of ABBA’s ‘The Singles – The First Ten Years’, all present hit upon the idea of covering the Super Swedes with Clarke following suit in 1986 when ERASURE covered ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’. But while BLANCMANGE’s take on ‘The Day Before You Came’ largely followed the original arrangement, it was the sound of the Indian sub-continent that Luscombe brought in which provided some spice with Deepak Khazanchi and Pandit Dinesh again contributing.

The third album ‘Believe You Me’ in 1985 saw BLANCMANGE’s fortunes wane with the lead single ‘What’s Your Problem?’ only just denting the Top40; Luscombe and Arthur mutually decided to call it a day to save their friendship after a concert at the Royal Albert Hall 1986. In 1989, Luscombe released the album ‘From New Demons’ under the name THE WEST INDIA COMPANY, a project collaborating with a variety of guest musicians including Pandit Dinesh and Vince Clarke who had been involved as early as 1984 with the first single ‘Ave Maria (Om Ganesha)’ featuring Asha Bhosle who would later be celebrated by CORNERSHOP with the No1 single ‘Brimful Of Asha’.

Continuing to work on film and TV soundtracks, with the back catalogue reissued on CD for the first time in 2008, Stephen Luscombe and Neil Arthur quietly reconvened as BLANCMANGE. Retaining their quirkily poetic eccentricity, the end result ‘Blanc Burn’ was released in March 2011 but with Luscombe having been diagnosed with a spinal aneurysm, he was unable to take part in the subsequent live tour.

When he was able to, Luscombe would attend BLANCMANGE concerts in London, watching Arthur keep the BLANCMANGE name alive from the proximity of the balcony and after the shows, he would often be seen chatting to fans who celebrated him as a stoic keyboardist in the tradition of Ron Mael, Dave Ball, Vince Clarke and Chris Lowe.

Moby has described BLANCMANGE as “probably the most under-rated electronic act of all time” and while Stephen Luscombe leaves behind some great music, his legacy in these now-horribly divisive and racist times is his embracement of multi-culturalism and as a champion of music from the Indian sub-continent.

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th September 2025