DEPECHE Mode and Erasure star Vince Clarke’s wife Tracy Hurley Martin has died from stomach cancer.
Creative powerhouse Tracy, 53, had battled her illness for several years and underwent a hysterectomy in 2022.
Erasure co-founder Andy Bell announced the news on social media today, writing: “There are no words. My heart, my soul, and all of my love goes to Vincent and Oscar, Tonya, Michael and Isabelle and all of Tracy’s family and friends.”
Synth legend Vince, 63, is yet to publicly comment on his loss.
The couple, who lived together in a sprawling Manhattan home, have an 18-year-old son called Oscar.
Vince addressed Tracy’s illness in an interview with The Quietus last year.
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He said: “Something like this does affect everything that you do, you know. It does affect your life. And I think it’s affected the way that I listen to, and look to, music.
“Doing this kind of music in particular is very therapeutic. It’s helped me to switch off all of the other stuff and just think about sounds.
“Even though it’s not even me that is going through something directly. You know, I’m just a carer.”
Tracy touched on her illness occasionally on social media.
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She praised her family for their support in February 2022, writing: “I’m not only thankful for the treatment but for the around the clock care and unwavering support my husband and sister have provided me. I tear up just writing how much I love them both.
“I have reached a depth of love for all of you that I had no idea existed.”
While on Boxing Day of that year, she retweeted a poignant message on X: “When you have incurable cancer the words Last Christmas take on a totally different meaning.”
Multi-talented Tracy wore many hats as a filmmaker, publicist and museum curator.
She co-founded the now defunct Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn.
The not-for-profit venture put a spotlight on neglected histories and celebrated themes of nature, death and society, anatomy, medicine, arcane media, and curiosities.
Meanwhile Vince was a founding member of electro titans Depeche Mode in the early 80s, writing hits Dreaming of Me, New Life, and Just Can’t Get Enough.
Speaking to the New York Times last year, he said his time in the group came to an end as “egos were flying around, mine especially.”
It was just the beginning of his musical journey though as he went on to put music out as Yazoo with Alison Moyet and The Assembly with Feargal Sharkey, before co-founding Erasure with Bell in the mid 80s.
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Their hits include A Little Respect and Chains of Love, and they won Best British Group at the Brit Awards in 1989.
