Malcolm Holmes joined Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark after the release of the band's debut single Electricity in 1978.



Previously Malcolm had drummed in a group named The Id, who included future members of OMD. Malcolm Holmes also played on sessions for The Pale Fountains, Dalek I Love You, The Lightning Seeds and Margi Clarke, aka Margox in the late 1970's.



Malcolm Holmes stayed with Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark until he left in 1988, along with Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper, to form The Listening Pool.



Often over-looked in the band, Malcolm played on over 130 of their songs as well contributing powerful live performances at hundreds of OMD concerts.



On his first Top of the Pops TV performance in 1980 he performed standing up while playing a drum kit. He used a home made electronic drum kit for live performances before they became available to the mass market.



In April 2004 Holmes suffered a major heart attack. He rejoined OMD when they reformed in 2006.



In July Malcolm Holmes got unwell on stage during an OMD show Toronto, Canada. Initially it was thought to be caused by heat exhaustion, but the drummer later stated his collapse was due to cardiac arrest.