Red Box (band)

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Red Box was British pop group active in the 1980s. It was led by Simon Toulson-Clarke and Julian Close. The group was originally a five-piece band, and released its debut single "Chenko" on Cherry Red Records in 1983. Following this, the band slimmed down to a duo, and took on a more synthpop direction. Their second single "Saskatchewan" (a cover of the Buffy Sainte-Marie song) brought them to the attention of WEA, who signed the duo.

In 1985 they enjoyed their first UK hit single, "Lean On me (Ah-Li-Ayo)", an anthemic song which was promoted with an unusual video in which a British sign language interpreter provided a translation of the song's lyrics. The following year, Red Box (with the help of numerous guest musicians) released the album The Circle and the Square.

Toulson-Clarke responded to WEA's request for something to appeal to American radio with the sardonic "For America", which lambasted what he saw as the style-over-content approach of the American media, as well as alluding to American military involvement in Grenada and Nicaragua. Unsurprisingly, the song was not a hit in the USA, though it did reach the top ten in several countries including the UK.

In 1990 they scored a club hit with Enjoy which was essentially a remix of an old B-side by Paul Oakenfold under the Solid Gold Easy Amex name. This record charted at Number 75 on Independent Radio's Network Chart (also used by Number One Magazine) but missed the Gallup UK Singles Chart as used by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles. By now the 'group' was essentially just Simon Toulson-Clarke with the following Train single and Motive album more akin to solo releases.