Leeds charity welcomes surprise donation from producer who worked with Björk and Depeche Mode
The family of LFO legend Mark Bell have donated the contents of a storage unit to Cloth Cat in Leeds
Last updated 14th Aug 2026
A Leeds music charity says its "amazed" after receiving a substantial donation of equipment used by a producer who worked with artists like Björk and Depeche Mode.
Hawksworth-based Cloth Cat helps people get involved in music by organising concerts and community events, as well as open mic nights and music courses.
Late last month the charity revealed it had been contacted by the former partner of Leeds musician Mark Bell, who first shot to fame as part of electronic music group LFO.
Cloth Cat Project Co-ordinator Shelly Johnson said: "So it was his wife, Móeiður, sent me an e-mail back in March saying that her husband, who sadly passed away 12 years ago, had been involved in the music industry and was based in Leeds."
"All this gear in Wakefield had been in storage, funnily enough, for the last nine years... she'd been talking to Mark's family, who still live in the area, about donating it so that it could actually still continue to be used and provide benefits for people in the area."
Along with collaborator Gez Varley, Mark produced one of the defining hits of the rave era of the early 1990s, with their track "LFO" hitting number 12 in the UK charts.
Varley left the group and Bell would follow up with two more LFO albums and production work, most notibly with Icelandic hitmaker Björk.
Mark produced her 1997 album Homogenic and helped Depeche Mode reinvent their sound on their 2001 album Exciter, including singles "Dream On" and "Freelove".
He died in 2014 at the age of 43, following complications from surgery.
Ben Eyes, a volunteer at Cloth Cat, has been tasked with sorting through the equipment - which includes keyboards, MIDI controllers and computers once used by Mark.
He told us: "(LFO) just kind of made these records that changed the world... Mark went on with Bjork and Depeche Mode and did loads of remixes and stuff.
"But even then, he was always in the background. So he never really, I don't think, with a lot of English electronic music, we don't really give those artists the credit."
"William Orbit died like last week and obviously he worked with Madonna, Blur, all sorts of people.
"But if you went up to the average person and you said, 'who's William Orbit?' they'd have no idea.
"So there's this kind of slight, slight sort of underdog feel for a lot of this music."
Cloth Cat are now planning to use the equipment to set up a studio, for the use of the community, with the aim of inspiring the next generation of artists and producers.
Shelly said: "I think it's really important to us that we keep dialogue going with the family to make sure that they're happy with everything.
"But we really do want to set up a studio which can be part of his legacy, really. and that will be open to, as a community recording studio, I think, obviously we don't want to put anybody else out of business."
"But for the stuff that's going to be there and benefit to the community, then I think it's really important to us."