English singer-songwriter Marc Almond was BOTD in 1957. Born in Southport, Lancashire to a military family, he had an itinerant childhood, raised in various towns and cities in Yorkshire. He was educated in Leeds and Southport, and studied art at Southport College and Leeds Polytechnic. In 1977, he formed the synth-pop band Soft Cell with fellow art student David Ball. After releasing their debut album in 1980, they rose to fame with a synth cover of Tainted Love, which reached No 1 in the UK and spent 43 weeks in the US charts. Three further successful albums followed, until they disbanded in 1984. Almond pursued a solo career, performing a remix of Donna Summer songs I Feel Love and Love to Love You Baby with Jimmy Somerville on Bronski Beat’s 1984 album Age of Consent. He scored a second No 1 hit in 1989 with a cover of soul classic Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart, duetting with Gene Pitney. His musical projects have included an album of Jacques Brel songs, a three-year residency in Russia recording and performing folk music, and collaborations with Nico and Siouxsie Sioux. In 2004, he was critically injured in a motorcycle accident, requiring extensive surgery and a three year break from performing and recording. He returned in 2007 with an album of cover songs Stardom Road. During the 2010s, he released an album of musical settings of poetry by Jean Genet, Jean Cocteau, Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, and collaborated on a number of musical theatre pieces. In 2021, Soft Cell reunited for a series of concerts, releasing the album Happiness Not Included in 2022. Openly gay since forever, Almond is credited with inspiring younger generations of queer artists, including Anohni. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2018 for services to music. Almond lives in London and Portugal. His relationship status is unknown.