When singer Andy Bell answered Vince Clarke’s ad seeking a vocalist in the British music newspaper Melody Maker in 1985, little did the pair know they were about to enter into – for better or worse – a musical marriage. Clarke, a founding member of Depeche Mode and former Yaz keyboardist, heard from dozens who came to audition, but Bell (lucky No. 41) beat out the other potential suitors.

Bell’s distinctive vocal style and Clarke’s knack for writing catchy pop ditties would prove to be wedded bliss. Erasure has enjoyed more than 20 years of music-making success and will be headlining this year’s Pride festival on Sunday, July 22, at 6:10 p.m.

The Gay & Lesbian Times spoke with Bell about his partnership with Clarke (for the record, they are partners-in-rhyme only), their new CD, Light at the End of the World, and the recent True Colors Tour.

The secret to any long-lasting relationship, especially of the musical variety, is finding harmony, Bell said about the give-and-take nature of his partnership with Clarke.

“In some ways, it’s very nice having somebody that is so organized and gets things done all the time,” Bell said of Clarke. “If it was up to me, I probably would have only done five albums so far.”

Erasure has racked up an impressive roster of hits in its native England and here in the United States, starting in 1986 with “Sometimes.” And the 1988 song “Chains of Love” brought the group worldwide recognition.

Erasure has also been known to give an upbeat tempo to losing love and its aftermath in such songs as “Love to Hate You,” “Victim of Love” and “Oh L’Amour.” They have also explored the flip side of finding and sustaining love with “Always,” “In My Arms” and the first single off the new CD, “I Could Fall in Love With You.”

“I think happiness can only come through deep reflection,” said Bell.

Longevity, however, can sometimes be found in experimentation, most notably the group’s 1995 CD Erasure and 2006’s Union Street.

“I’ve really enjoyed doing the other things that we’ve done in between, like the Erasure album in 1995 and the Union Street tour, the acoustic tour,” Bell said of branching out artistically.

Bell even stepped outside of the marriage, going solo in 2005 with the CD Electric Blue.

At other points in their illustrious careers, the pair has delivered great cover versions of songs, from Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” to Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill.”

“I would love to cover Kate Bush – I would love to do ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes.’ And I like ‘(I’m Always Touched by Your Presence,) Dear’ by Blondie, and we’ve done some of hers before,” Bell said.

There is a comfort in the familiar, and Erasure’s latest effort, Light at the End of the World, harkens a return to form for the duo, with synthesized beats underscoring the very real emotions that are prevalent throughout the disc.

“I was a bit concerned at first,” Bell confessed about the new CD. “I was kind of like, ‘Oh no, we’ve been here already.’ But then, because it was so up tempo, very optimistic, I was like, ‘Oh God, just let it be whatever it is.’

“And it’s really lovely; we haven’t written together for ages and ages, and we had loads of ideas because of everything that was going on,” he said. “We sort of wanted to get them out; it’s a lovely way of expressing yourself with writing songs.”

Having accrued so much time in the trenches of the pop music wars, Erasure has definitely stuck to its guns, artistically speaking, and has seen the musical landscape alter a time or two throughout its career.

“You don’t feel like you’re reinventing yourself. I think if I was Madonna, who has gone through so many looks and things, I’d be exhausted by now,” Bell joked. “At the same time, it gets to be repetitive. Around about 1992, I felt like I was on a treadmill because you get to feel like you know the pop world inside out. And then the whole thing changes in front of your eyes, and you get the rug pulled from under your feet and the support system that’s been plugging your records. And you kind of have to start from scratch.

“And then you feel as if you come around again and you start questioning everything again. And then something really amazing happens, like this True Colors Tour. So it all sort of swings in roundabouts, really. And then you really have to count your blessings for being in such a fortunate position, of having such a great job and meeting someone like Vince.”

Bell’s unwavering ability to stay true to himself as an openly gay artist, while appealing to a broad fan base, has never needed to be reinvented.

“In some ways, it kind of gets to be insignificant, your sexuality,” Bell explained. “It was kind of groundbreaking all those years ago … even though it’s much more accepted now, and you know there are things going on, still lots of work to do, and you keep going on” – for instance, The True Colors Tour, on June 27, which benefited The Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and The Matthew Shephard Foundation. Erasure shared the stage with different musical acts, including tour creators Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry. “Having the pleasure of watching Debbie and Cyndi every night … for 15 nights,” Bell said, was his favorite part of being a True Colors participant. “I think there will be a lot of people there that will say, ‘Oh, that’s who Erasure is.’ Because a lot of people might not know who we are.” But Bell need not worry that he’ll always be a bridesmaid and never the bride in terms of recognition for his on-stage presence, because he all but stole the show at the San Diego whistle stop of the True Colors Tour.

If that performance is any indication of what audiences can expect at the Pride festival, then it will be one entertaining show that seamlessly weaves old favorites along with new songs like, “Sunday Girl” and “Sucker for Love.”

Besides, there is a good chance that Bell could don a tutu, as he has done on stage innumerable times before – and every gay card shark worth his salt knows that a queen in a tutu always trumps a full house.