Yargo were a band from Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England, active in the mid-to-late 1980s, featuring former members of Biting Tongues

Biting Tongues

Biting Tongues were a post-punk band formed in Manchester, England in 1979, whose members went on to join Simply Red, Yargo, and 808 State.-History:...

.

History

The band was formed in the mid-1980s by Basil Clarke (vocals), Phil Kirby (drums) and Paddy Steer (bass guitar) (all of whom had previously played with Biting Tongues), with guitarist Tony Burnside. They mixed jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, with Clarke receiving comparisons with Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, and made their debut in 1986 with the Get High EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 on the Skysaw label, featuring Andy Diagram

Andy Diagram

Andy Diagram is a British musician and trumpet player. He has worked with the instrument in a variety bands and contexts ranging from pop and rock to experimental jazz, art rock and dance music...

 on trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

. Their profile was riased by a performance on The Tube

The Tube (TV series)

The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...

. Their debut album, Bodybeat, was released in 1987 on their own label of the same name. In 1988 they were signed by London Records

London Records

London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....

, who reissued their debut album and followed it with Communicate in 1989. Also in 1989, they recorded the theme to Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson

Anthony Howard Wilson, commonly known as Tony Wilson , was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC....

's Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 show The Other Side of Midnight, which was also released as a single. They reverted to the Bodybeat label for a live album in 1991, which proved to be their final release.

Clarke recorded as a solo artist, releasing the "Out of my Face" single in 1991, and made a guest appearance on the Future Sound of London album Accelerator in the same year. He also contributed vocals to The Strange Parcels' Disconnection album in the mid-1990s.

Albums

• Bodybeat (1987), Bodybeat - UK Indie #15, reissued (1988), London
  London Records
  London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
  
  
• Communicate (1989), London
• Live (1991), Bodybeat

Singles, EPs

• Get High EP (1986), Skysaw
• "Carrying Mine" (1987), Racket Manufacture
• "Help" (1987), Bodybeat
• "Help" (1988), London
• "The Other Side of Midnight" (1989), London
• "The Love Revolution" (1990), Bodybeat