TALK

Marc Almond and Jools Holland consummate a longstanding creative relationship on their exuberant debut album A Lovely Life To Live.

The pair first met in early 80s New York with their respective bands Soft Cell and Squeeze.

“It was a wild place, like Rome just before it fell,” chuckles Holland, 60. “It made Caligula look like Butlins. Soft Cell seemed to blend in with that very well – and so did we.”

In the years since Almond’s recovery from a serious, near fatal, traffic accident to a reinvigorated prolific solo career (and recent Soft Cell comeback) he has been aided by appearances with Jools’s brilliant Big Band.

“I actually forgot how to sing,”