Bronski Beat founder Steve Bronski has died aged 61.
The keyboard player was a founding member of 1980s synth pop trio Bronski Beat along with singer Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek and his passing was revealed in a post made by Somerville, 60, on Twitter.
He wrote: “Sad to hear Steve Bronski has died. He was a talented and a very melodic man. Working with him on songs and the one song that changed our lives and touched so many other lives, was a fun and exciting time. Thanks for the melody Steve. Jimmy x”
The group’s biggest hit was their debut 1984 single ‘Smalltown Boy’ which reached #3 in the UK charts and the music video depicted a young gay man heading off for the big city and showed Jimmy suffering a homophobic attack.
All members of the band were openly gay at the time and reflected the issues surrounding that in their music.
Steve told The Guardian in 2018 about the single: “At the time we were just three gay guys who started a band. We didn’t feel like part of any particular movement. Of course, it would transpire many years later that there were more gay artists than the public were led to believe.”
The three members of Bronski Beat vocally campaigned on gay rights issues, with their debut album ‘The Age of Consent’ featuring the consent age of men in countries around world on its inner sleeve as a protest.
As well as ‘Smalltown Boy’, the trio were known for Top 10 hits such as ‘Why?’ as well as a cover of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’.
Following their debut, the band were joined by Ian Donaldson and went on to release three more albums before disbanding in 1995.
Somerville went on to join The Communards before the original line-up reunited for a final album in 2016 titled ‘The Age of Reason’.
Steinbachek died of cancer aged 56 in 2017.
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