Before new wave was all the rage in the 1980s, British group ABC was getting noticed for its keyboard-driven singles. The band's hits in the early ‘80s helped pave the way for the new wave explosion of the decade.Lead singer Martin Fry joined up with Mark White and Stephen Singleton in 1980 when the two asked Fry to join their band, Vice Versa, while doing an interview for Fry's fanzine. David Robinson and Mark Lickley rounded out the lineup and Fry quickly took hold of the reins. The group, now known as ABC, had a record deal inked by 1981 and released their debut single "Tears Are Not Enough" shortly thereafter. The song garnered the band some attention in the U.K. and put them in position to record another single.Before another track could be laid down, Robinson left the band and was replaced by David Palmer. The group hit the recording studio and came out with "Poison Arrow" and "The Look of Love," two of the band's major 1982 hits. The group released their debut album, The Lexicon of Love, on the wave of their singles' success. The album produced a third top ten hit in the U.K. with "All of My Heart."The group made the crossover into the United States that same year thanks in part to airplay on MTV. "Poison Arrow" and "The Look of Love" went over well with American listeners and the band set out to record their follow-up. Palmer left the group while recording, but the band was able still able to finish Beauty Stab. Departing from the keyboard-oriented sound of their first record, Beauty Stab featured more guitar and did not fare as well on the charts as Lexicon, flopping as far as its sales numbers went.Though unable to reclaim the success of their debut album, ABC has continued to release records at a less-than-blistering pace. They released Lexicon of Live in 1999, a collection of live performances from a 1997 tour. The band released Traffic in 2008.