The ambitious Swiss electronic duo
Yello comprised vocalist/conceptualist
Dieter Meier -- a millionaire industrialist, professional gambler, and member of Switzerland's national golf team -- and composer/arranger
Boris Blank.
Meier, a former solo artist who also spent time with the group Fresh Colour, began collaborating with
Blank in 1979, and the duo bowed with the single "I.T. Splash." After signing with
the Residents' label, Ralph Records,
Yello issued their 1980 debut LP,
Solid Pleasure, which spawned the dance hit "Bostitch."
With 1981's
Claro Que Si,
Yello made its first forays into music video; their clip for the single "Pinball Cha Cha," directed by
Meier, garnered considerable acclaim and in 1985 was selected as one of 32 works included in the Museum of Modern Art's Music Video Exhibition. Visual accompaniment remained a pivotal component of the duo's work after they signed to Elektra in 1983 for the LP
You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess, as the videos for "I Love You" and "Lost and Found" received heavy airplay on MTV.
1985's
Stella proved to be
Yello's commercial breakthrough: while the singles and videos "Desire" and "Vicious Games" found success upon their initial release, the duo enjoyed a delayed hit with the album track "Oh Yeah," which reached the U.S. singles chart after being prominently featured in the films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Secret of My Success. After the remix project
1980-1985: The New Mix in Go,
Yello recruited diva
Shirley Bassey and ex-
Associate Billy McKenzie for 1987's
One Second.
Despite the success of 1988's
Flag, which contained the international hit "The Race," over the course of the next several years
Yello grew increasingly involved with film projects: after scoring the comedy Nuns on the Run,
Meier directed his own feature, 1990's Snowball. In 1991, the duo resurfaced with
Baby, followed three years later by
Zebra. 1995's
Hands on Yello compiled reinterpretations of the group's songs by the likes of
Moby,
the Orb, and
the Grid, while
Pocket Universe, a collection of new material, appeared in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide