ABC

As of 2020, the British pop band ABC’s core membership only consists of vocalist Martin Fry, who has been there since day one, i.e. 1977. He has kept the ABC name alive after the group’s last classic member, drummer David Palmer, left in 2009. Indeed throughout the years ABC has had a total of eight primary members. But the quartet which defines the group in the eyes of its biggest fans are Fry, Palmer, saxophonist Stephen Singleton (who left in 1984) and Mark White (who bounced in 1991).

The reason that particular quartet is considered the quintessential ABC is because it was during the 1980s in which the band experienced their most success. For instance, three of their songs (“Poison Arrow”, “The Look of Love” and “All of My Heart”) made it onto the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in 1982. Afterwards they never scored as high as number 11. And concerning that, it was a 1987 track entitled “When Smokey Sings” which marked the highest they ever peaked, number 5, on the Billboard Hot 100. And “The Look of Love” and “When Smokey Sings” also topped Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, as did their 1985 track “Be Near Me”.