Effective period / Period of releases: 1980 - 2017

Members: Mark King, Mike Lindup, Lyndon Connah, Allan Holdsworth, Alan Murphy, Phil Gould, Gary Husband, Boon Gould, Jakko M. Jakszyk, Sean Freeman, Nathan King (2), Pete Biggin

At the beginning of their career, Level 42 was squarely a jazz-funk fusion band, contemporaries of fellow Brit funk groups like Atmosfear, Light of the World, Incognito, and Beggar & Co. By the end of the ’80s, however, the band — whose music was instantly recognizable from Mark King’s thumb-slap bass technique and associate member Wally Badarou’s synthesizer flourishes — had crossed over to the point where they were often classified as sophisti-pop and dance-rock, equally likely to be placed in the context of Sade and the Style Council as any group that made polished, upbeat, danceable pop/rock.