Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an extensive solo music career and has collaborated with numerous other artists and producers.
Oakey was among the most visually distinctive music artists of the early 1980s. At the height of their success, the Human League released the triple platinum-certified album Dare and Oakey cowrote and sang the multimillion-selling single "Don't You Want Me," a #1 single in both the U.S. and UK, where it remains the 28th-highest-selling single of all time. Oakey has been lead singer of the Human League for more than 40 years. With the band, he has sold more than 20 million records worldwide. He continues recording and performing internationally.
Oakey was born on 2 October 1955 in Hinckley, Leicestershire.[citation needed] His father worked for the General Post Office and moved jobs regularly: the family moved to Coventry when Oakey was an infant, to Leeds when he was five and to Birmingham when he was nine, attending Catherine-de-Barnes primary school near Solihull and gaining a scholarship to the independent Solihull School. He settled in Sheffield when he was 14. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Sheffield. He left school at 18 without finishing his exams and worked in a number of casual jobs, including one in a university bookshop and as a porter at Thornbury Annex Hospital in Sheffield in 1977. In 1978, Oakey married his girlfriend Anthea Helliwell, whom he had met at school, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1980.

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