*** Welcome to piglix ***

One Man in My Heart

"One Man In My Heart"
Omimhcdcover.jpg
Single by The Human League
from the album Octopus
Released 6 March 1995
Format 2 x CD single
Recorded 1994
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:45
Label East West Records
Writer(s) Oakey, Sutton
The Human League singles chronology
"Tell Me When"
(1994)
"One Man in My Heart"
(1995)
"Filling Up with Heaven"
(1995)

"One Man in My Heart" is a song recorded by British synthpop band The Human League. It was released as the second single from the band's album Octopus. A ballad, the song differs from all previous Human League tracks as the lead vocal is performed by a female member of the band, Susan Ann Sulley, with spoken word refrains from Philip Oakey and contrasting backing from the third Human League member Joanne Catherall. Released on 6 March 1995 in the UK only, the song received positive reviews from music critics and eventually peaked at number thirteen in the UK Singles Chart, eventually spending 8 weeks in the charts. In 2001 in The Guardian newspaper it was called one of the best love songs of the 1990s.

The song was written by Neil Sutton and Philip Oakey not only to give Sulley, who was seeking a higher profile on the album, an opportunity to expand her repertoire but also to contrast with the accepted Human League sound of Oakey’s lead and Sulley's and Catherall’s backing which dominated the album. It was devised purely as an album track: the band never intended it to be released as a single.

After the unexpected commercial success of the first single from Octopus, Tell Me When, East West Records wanted another commercial, radio-friendly song to follow up with. They selected 'One Man in My Heart', much to the surprise of the band. Oakey was said to be happy with the choice, but the only person in the band who wasn’t was Sulley herself. To have a single with her on lead vocals with Oakey barely contributing four lines was something never done before; it was an enormous creative and commercial risk. Sulley's vocal ability had been harshly criticized in the past and she expected to be mauled badly by the music critics. If the single bombed it would make it difficult to release a third single from the album. Sulley feared that she personally would be blamed by the media for any failure.

In the event the single was a success and generally well received by the critics. Ironically criticism of Sulley's vocals was that she was too technically proficient making her sound "bland": one critic declared that he missed "The rough edges of the girl plucked from the Sheffield dance floor".


...
Wikipedia

...