The Cure

The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). As of 2026, the band's line-up comprises Smith, Simon Gallup (bass), Roger O'Donnell (keyboards), Jason Cooper (drums) and Reeves Gabrels (guitar). Smith has remained the only constant member throughout numerous line-up changes since the band's formation.The Cure's 1979 debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, and several of their early singles placed the band at the forefront of the emerging post-punk and new wave movements that were gaining prominence in the United Kingdom. The band adopted an increasingly dark and tormented style beginning with their second album, Seventeen Seconds (1980), which had a strong influence on the emerging genre of gothic rock. After the release of their fourth album, Pornography (1982), Smith started to introduce more pop into the band's music. The Cure achieved mainstream success with the albums Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987), Disintegration (1989) and Wish (1992). The Cure's best-known songs include "Boys Don't Cry" (1979), "A Forest" (1980), "Close to Me" (1985), "Just Like Heaven" (1987), "Lovesong" (1989), and "Friday I'm in Love" (1992).The Cure have released 14 studio albums and over 40 singles, selling more than 30 million records worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Their 14th album, Songs of a Lost World (2024), was their first release of all-new material in 16 years and received widespread acclaim, topping the charts in multiple countries.The founding members of the Cure were school friends at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley. They first performed in public at an end-of-year show in April 1973 as members of a one-off school band called Obelisk. That band consisted of Robert Smith on piano, Michael Dempsey on guitar, Lol Tolhurst on percussion, Marc Ceccagno on lead guitar, and Alan Hill on bass. In January 1976, while at St Wilfrid's Comprehensive School, Ceccagno formed a five-piece rock band with Smith on guitar and Dempsey on bass, along with two other school friends. They called themselves Malice and rehearsed David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Alex Harvey songs in a local church hall. By late April 1976, Ceccagno and the other two members had left, and Tolhurst (drums), Martin Creasy (vocals), and Porl Thompson (guitar) had joined the band. This lineup played all three of Malice's only documented live shows during December 1976. In January 1977, Creasy departed from the band. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure; this name was derived from a song written by Tolhurst.After winning a talent competition, Easy Cure signed a recording contract with German record label Ariola-Hansa on 18 May 1977. In September 1977, Peter O'Toole (no relation to the actor), who had been the group's vocalist for several months, left the group to live on a kibbutz in Israel. The band auditioned several vocalists that month before Smith assumed the role. The new four-piece of Dempsey, Smith, Thompson, and Tolhurst recorded their first studio demo sessions as Easy Cure for Hansa at SAV Studios in London in October and November 1977. None were ever released.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.