Red Box

Red Box are a British group.

The group 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 2010 they released the acoustic-orientated album “Plenty“, which garnered three top-selling singles in Europe.

The current incarnation of Red Box is still headed up by the group’s original protagonist, Simon Toulson-Clarke, who has gathered together a group of talented and dedicated friends for the band's most recent album “Chase the Setting Sun“, which was released on 13 September 2019.