Born on September 8: Frank Tovey, the electro soul of Fad Gadget

A pioneer of electronic and industrial music, Frank Tovey was born in London in 1956 and left us far too young in April 2002.

Like many others, Frank Tovey first studied Fine Arts, an ideal entry point, before turning to music. Much like Vince Clarke, founder and short-lived member of Depeche Mode, early synthesizers quickly became a limitless field of experimentation for him.

In 1979, he was the first artist to sign with the fledgling Mute Records label, founded by Daniel Miller. Under the name Fad Gadget, he made his mark with singles such as the strange "Back to Nature" (1979) and the robotic "Ricky's Hand" (1980), two essential pieces from his repertoire that, strangely enough, did not appear on his debut album, "Fireside Favourite" (1980). An electronic wizard, Frank Tovey also built his reputation around his deliberately sarcastic lyrics and extravagant stage performances. I still haven't forgotten my first encounter with him under the tent of a small festival in Flemish Brabant, Belgium (see photo).

In the early 1980s, with only four memorable albums, including "Incontinent" (1981) and "Gag" (1984), Fad Gadget undeniably laid the foundations for synth-pop and, even more so, for what would become known as EBM (Electronic Body Music).

Starting in 1986, with "Snakes & Ladders," he became Frank Tovey again and settled down somewhat. Without abandoning electronic music, he also explored more organic sounds, notably guitar and brass. His experiments, which could almost be described as folk and blues, on, for example, "Tyranny And The Hired Hand" (1989), are reminiscent of the—admittedly indefinable—work of Blixa Bargeld with Einsturzende Neubauten. Despite an excellent sixth album, "Worried Men In Second-Hand Suits" (1992), and a surprising cover of the classic "Sixteen Tons," as well as excellent reviews, he never managed to garner the same public acclaim. He therefore temporarily abandoned the profession in 1993.

In 2001, just as his career was experiencing a resurgence with a return under the name Fad Gadget, opening for Depeche Mode, Frank Tovey died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 45 on April 3, 2002, while working on new songs.

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Frank Tovey with Fad Gadget at the All Stars Festival in Alsemberg (Belgium) on October 9, 1981