Force Majeure was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 new wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 group, formed in 1983 in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. The band was formed from the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 based group, The Agents

The Agents

The Agents were a post-punk band formed in 1980 in Bristol, England. The band formed from the remnants of several bands that were playing the American Military bases circuit in Europe in the 1970s. The Band were based in Mannheim, Germany and the lineup consisted of vocalist Swig , guitarist Dave...

, and mixed post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

, electronic dance with an original line-up of two singers and two keyboard players. The line-up consisted of Agent members Richard Snow (vocals), Dave Libby (keyboards) and Steve Libby (keyboards). Kerrie Cox was added to the line-up as a second singer.

The band created a large fan base in Bristol in the early 1980s, and were popular in Germany. While on tour in Germany, they were spotted at a gig in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

's nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

, Cookies, by Ralph Ruppert

Ralph Ruppert

Ralph Ruppert , a German Record Producer relocated from Frankfurt, Germany to London in August 1985. He signed an exclusive Producers contract with CBS Records to produce the Berlin/Liverpool duo Picnic At The Whitehouse, a studio project formed by Berlin based keyboardist Ilfo' Debusmann...

, a record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and chief sound engineer

Audio engineering

An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

 for Frank Farian

Frank Farian

Frank Farian , is a German record producer and songwriter. He started out as a trained cook before moving into the music industry...

, and were signed to his record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. During 1984 Snow left, and the band went through a phaze of using several singers. In 1985, Welsh singer Judith Owen

Judith Owen

Judith Owen is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her first North American album, Emotions on a Postcard, was released in 1996, and has since been followed by five additional releases...

, recorded with them. At this time they were featured on Farian's charity record, with a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

's "Mother and Child Reunion

Mother and Child Reunion

"Mother and Child Reunion" is a song by Paul Simon on his album, Paul Simon , his first solo album after Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was released as a single on February 5, 1972, reaching #4 on the U.S...

". This was issued under the name Farian Corporation, which later got shorten to Far Corporation

Far Corporation

Far Corporation is a band created by record producer Frank Farian, who created the bands Boney M. and Milli Vanilli. The name was shortened from "Frank Farian Corporation", which was originally put together to record a cover of the Paul Simon piece "Mother and Child Reunion" as a charity record and...

. The record

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 reached the Top 10 in several European countries. Owen left to replaced by Jon Dunmore, and the band relocated to Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

, under the guidance of Howard Jones

Howard Jones (musician)

Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...

's management. However, nothing materialised, Dunmore left, the band return to Bristol where Cox took over as lead vocalist. The band split shortly afterwards, but left a legacy of around 50 songs, recorded between 1983 and 1986, which contained some original material. After the band split, Dave Libby went on to write a song for Valerie Dore, which became a Top 20 hit in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.