Tag Archives: Bronski Beat

The BBC reports: Larry Steinbachek [center in photo], former keyboardist with 1980s synthpop group Bronski Beat, has died at the age of 56. Steinbachek formed the group with Jimmy Somerville and Steve Bronski in 1983 and they had chart success with songs including Smalltown Boy and Why?. Their cover of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love with Marc Almond was also …

From the Scotsman: Scots singer Jimmy Somerville has paid an emotional tribute to the victims of a gun attack at a gay club in Orlando. In a video message on his Facebook page, Somerville said he was feeling “sad inside” and “angry” in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in recent American history. Singing lyrics to his 1984 Top …

I recently posted a message from Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant, who had alerted his fans that he’d contributed to a coming Brandon Flowers track that samples the 1984 Bronski Beat gay classic, Smalltown Boy. The track appeared on YouTube this week and you’ll have to listen closely for Tennant’s spoken line. I quite like this. (Tipped by JMG …

Killers frontman Brandon Flowers is probably the most famous Mormon in pop music and he and his family are featured in a video on the LDS website. While he’s known to be gay-friendly, Flowers said little during the Prop 8 fracas. It will be interesting to hear his take on what is arguably the most famous gay anthem of all …

Jimmy Somerville’s disco tribute album Homage will be released on Tuesday and today we get the first production video. I interviewed Somerville back in November and you can check out a great fan video from album’s glorious first single, Travesty.

I recently had the privilege of speaking with groundbreaking dance artist Jimmy Somerville about his new album and his history as one of the loudest and proudest gay artists.  JMG: Hi, Jimmy! Let’s start with today and work backwards. Tell us about your coming album, Homage, and its first single, Travesty, which made its worldwide debut on my site last …

Via press release: The euphoric joy of disco has been one consistent thread, which has run through the diverse, illustrious thirty-year career of pop legend Jimmy Somerville. Famous for re-making disco classics as his own, “Travesty”, Jimmy’s first original disco-styled single will make its debut on JoeMyGod on Sept. 15th and will be serviced promotionally (single version and extended mix) …

In the summer of 1984 my roommate and I returned from one of our twice-weekly record hunts bearing the 12″ of Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy – which we’d initially fished out of the import bin purely because we were intrigued by the cover’s pink triangle. The mournful lyrics on the flip side of that 12″ sleeve only hinted at the …

A lovely acoustic cover of the Bronski Beat classic. (Tipped by JMG reader Dwight)

Gawker’s Neetzan Zimmerman writes: “While performing the classic ’80s synth pop anthem “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat, a Berlin street musician is joined by the song’s original singer, Jimmy Somerville, who just happened to be walking by with his dog.” If you’ve somehow never heard the still-stunning Smalltown Boy, go here. It truly was a landmark musical moment for the …