Yello -

Yello was a Swiss electro/art-pop combo from Zürich that emerged on Ralph Records with the 1980/81 albums Solid Pleasure and Claro que Si. In 1983, they scored a crossover hit with “I Love You” from their Stiff release You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess. Trimmed to the duo of Boris Blank and Dieter Meier, they charted worldwide with their 1985 album Stella and its single “Oh Yeah,” heard in the 1986 teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Members: Boris Blank (electronics, vocals), Dieter Meier (vocals), Carlos Perón (effects, tapes, 1979-83)

Yello formed in Zürich in 1978 when keyboardist/composer Boris Blank teamed with tape technician Carlos Perón. Their name is a portmanteau of “yell” and “hello.”

Blank (b. 1952) first worked with tapes loops and sound effects as a teenager. While working as a truck driver, he made new age recordings comprised of water sounds and flute melodies. He eventually met Perón (b. 1952), who also worked with tapes and affects. They founded TRANCEONIC studio in Zürich, where they devised the Yello sound.

In 1978, the pair flew to California to pitch their concept to record companies, including mega-label RCA and the independent Ralph Records. The latter, primarily known for cryptic conceptualists The Residents, signed Yello as part of its expanding international roster (Snakefinger, Nash the Slash).

Back in Zürich, Yello added vocalist Dieter Meier (b. 1945), a millionaire private banker and gambler who’d worked as a performance artist during the 1960s. Yellow issued its first single, the 12″ “I. T. Splash” (b/w “Glue Head”), on local small-press Periphery Perfume in January 1979.

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