Bronski Beat were a British

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "

Smalltown Boy "Smalltown Boy" is a song by British synth-pop band Bronski Beat, released in May 1984 as the first single from their debut album, '' The Age of Consent'' (1984). The song was a big commercial success, reaching number three in the band's nativ ...

", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 single. All members of the band were

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

and their songs reflected this, often containing political commentary on

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

-related issues. The initial line-up, which recorded the majority of the band's hits, consisted of

Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He sang in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a solo career. He is known in particular for his powerful and sou ...

(vocals), Steve Bronski (born Steven William Forrest, keyboards, percussion) and Larry Steinbachek (keyboards, percussion). Simon Davolls regularly contributed backing vocals on many songs. Somerville left Bronski Beat in 1985, and went on to have success as lead singer of the Communards and as a solo artist. He was replaced by vocalist John Foster, with whom the band continued to have hits in the UK and Europe through 1986. Foster left Bronski Beat after their second album, and the band used a series of vocalists before dissolving in 1995. Steve Bronski revived the band in 2016, recording new material with 1990s member Ian Donaldson. Steinbachek died later that year; Bronski died in 2021.

History

1983–1985: Early years and ''The Age of Consent''

Bronski Beat formed in 1983 when Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski (both from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

)Steve Bronski: co-founder of Bronski Beat dies aged 61
Laura Snapes, The Guardian, 9 December 2021 and Larry Steinbachek (from

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

) shared a three-bedroom flat at Lancaster House in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th cent ...

, London. Steinbachek had heard Somerville singing during the making of '' Framed Youth: The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts'' and suggested they make some music. They first performed publicly at an arts festival, ''September in the Pink''. The trio were unhappy with the inoffensive nature of contemporary gay performers and sought to be more outspoken and political. Bronski Beat signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

in 1984 after doing only nine live gigs. The band's debut single, "

", about a gay teenager leaving his family and fleeing his home town, was a hit, peaking at No 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and topping charts in Belgium and the Netherlands. The single was accompanied by a promotional

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

directed by Bernard Rose, showing Somerville trying to befriend an attractive diver at a swimming pool, then being attacked by the diver's homophobic associates, being returned to his family by the police and having to leave home. (The police officer was played by Colin Bell, then the marketing manager of

.) "Smalltown Boy" reached 48 in the U.S.

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

and peaked at 8 in Australia. The follow-up single, " Why?", adopted a

hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

sound and was more lyrically focused on anti-gay

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

. It also achieved Top 10 status in the UK, reaching 6, and was another Top 10 hit for the band in Australia, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. At the end of 1984, the trio released an album titled '' The Age of Consent''. The inner sleeve listed the varying

ages of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...

for consensual gay sex in different nations around the world. At the time, the age of consent for sexual acts between men in the UK was 21 compared with 16 for heterosexual acts, with several other countries having more liberal laws on gay sex. The album peaked at 4 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, 36 in the U.S., and 12 in Australia. Around the same time, the band headlined "Pits and Perverts", a concert at the

Electric Ballroom The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England. History The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballroom in the 1930 ...

in London to raise funds for the

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) was an alliance of lesbians and gay men who supported the National Union of Mineworkers during the year-long strike of 1984–1985. By the end of the strike, eleven LGSM groups had emerged in the UK ...

campaign. This event is featured in the film ''

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) w ...

''. The third single, released before Christmas 1984, was a revival of "

It Ain't Necessarily So "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935) where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, wh ...

", the George and

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

classic (from ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', ...

''). The song questions the accuracy of biblical tales. It also reached the UK Top 20. In 1985, the trio joined up with

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...

to record a version of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her musi ...

's "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...

". The full version was actually a

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music * Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People * Medley (surname), list of people with this n ...

that also incorporated snippets of Summer's " Love to Love You Baby" and

John Leyton John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song " Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached number one in the UK Singles Cha ...

's "

Johnny Remember Me "Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead ...

". It was a big success, reaching 3 in the UK and equalling the chart achievement of "Smalltown Boy". Although the original had been one of Marc Almond's all-time favourite songs, he had never read the lyrics and thus incorrectly sang "What’ll it be, what’ll it be, you and me" instead of "Falling free, falling free, falling free" on the finished record. The band and their producer Mike Thorne had gone back into the studio in early 1985 to record a new single, "Run from Love", and PolyGram (London Records' parent company at that time) had pressed a number of promo singles and 12" versions of the song and sent them to radio and record stores in the UK. However, the single was shelved as tensions in the band, both personal and political, resulted in Somerville leaving Bronski Beat in the summer of that year. "Run from Love" was subsequently released in

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

form on the Bronski Beat album '' Hundreds & Thousands'', a collection of mostly remixes (LP) and

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

(as bonus tracks on the CD version) as well as the hit "I Feel Love". Somerville went on to form the Communards with

Richard Coles Richard Keith Robert Coles (born 26 March 1962) is an English writer, radio presenter and Church of England clergyman who was the vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire from 2011 to 2022. He first came to prominence as the multi-instrumentalis ...

while the remaining members of Bronski Beat searched for a new vocalist.

1985–1995: Post-Jimmy Somerville phase

Bronski Beat recruited John Foster as Somerville's replacement (Foster is credited as "Jon Jon"). A single, "

Hit That Perfect Beat "Hit That Perfect Beat" is a song by British synthpop trio Bronski Beat from their second album, '' Truthdare Doubledare'' (1986). It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in January 1986 and entered the top 10 in several European countr ...

", was released in November 1985, reaching 3 in the UK. It repeated this success on the Australian chart and was also featured in the film ''

Letter to Brezhnev ''Letter to Brezhnev'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy film about working-class life in Liverpool, written by Frank Clarke and directed by Chris Bernard. It starred Alexandra Pigg, Margi Clarke, Alfred Molina, Peter Firth and Tracy Marshak ...

''. A second single, "C'mon C'mon", also charted in the UK Top 20 and an album, ''

Truthdare Doubledare ''Truthdare Doubledare'' is the second album (released in 1986 on MCA Records) by the British dance band Bronski Beat. It is their first album to feature John Foster as lead vocalist, following the departure of Jimmy Somerville who went on t ...

'', released in May 1986, peaked at 18. The film ''

Parting Glances ''Parting Glances'' is a 1986 American drama film. The film was one of the earlier motion pictures to deal frankly and realistically with the subject of AIDS and the impact of the relatively new disease on the gay community in the Ronald Reagan ...

'' (1986) included Bronski Beat songs "Love and Money", "Smalltown Boy" and "Why?". During this period, the band teamed up with producer Mark Cunningham on the first-ever BBC Children In Need single, a cover of David Bowie's " Heroes", released in 1986 under the name of The County Line. Foster left the band in 1987. Following Foster's departure, Bronski Beat began work on their next album, ''Out and About''. The tracks were recorded at Berry Street studios in London with engineer Brian Pugsley. Some of the song titles were "The Final Spin" and "Peace and Love". The latter track featured

Strawberry Switchblade Strawberry Switchblade were a Scottish new wave/ pop duo formed in Glasgow in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, best known for their song "Since Yesterday" from 1985, and their flamboyant clothing with bows and polka-dots. History Before ...

vocalist

Rose McDowall Rose McDowall (née Porter; born 21 October 1959) is a Scottish musician, forming Strawberry Switchblade with Jill Bryson in 1981. History McDowall was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1959. Her first venture into music was in the Poems, an art-pun ...

and appeared on several internet sites in 2006. One of the other songs from the project called "European Boy" was recorded in 1987 by disco group Splash. The lead singer of Splash was former Tight Fit singer Steve Grant. Steinbachek and Bronski toured extensively with the new material with positive reviews, however the project was abandoned as the group was dropped by London Records. Also in 1987, Bronski Beat and Somerville performed at a reunion concert for "International AIDS Day", supported by New Order, at the

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

, London. In 1989, Jonathan Hellyer became lead singer, and the band extensively toured the U.S. and Europe with back-up vocalist Annie Conway. They achieved one minor hit with the song "Cha Cha Heels", a one-off collaboration sung by American actress and singer

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song " Santa ...

, which peaked at 32 in the UK. The song was originally written for movie and recording star

Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

, who was unable to record the song before his death in 1988. 1990–91 saw Bronski Beat release three further singles on the Zomba record label, "I'm Gonna Run Away", "One More Chance" and "What More Can I Say". The singles were produced by

Mike Thorne Mike Thorne (born 25 January 1948) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, engineer, and musician. He started playing the piano at the age of 10. After studying physics at Hertford College, Oxford, in the late 1960s he worked as a ta ...

. Foster and Bronski Beat teamed up again in 1994, and released a

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

"Tell Me Why '94" and an acoustic "Smalltown Boy '94" on the German

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

ZYX Music ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label that was founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label's name was Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The labe ...

. The album ''Rainbow Nation'' was released the following year with Hellyer returning as lead vocalist, as Foster had dropped out of the project and Ian Donaldson was brought on board to do keyboards and programming. After a few years of touring, Bronski Beat then dissolved, with Steve Bronski going on to become a producer for other artists and Ian Donaldson becoming a successful DJ (Sordid Soundz). Larry Steinbachek became the musical director for

Michael Laub Michael Laub (born 1953, in Belgium) is an avant-garde stage director and contemporary dance choreographer. His work has notably been shown at the Venice Biennale of 1984, the Festival d'Avignon of 2005, the Burgtheater in 2011, and several times ...

's theatre company, 'Remote Control Productions'.

2007–2016: Steve Bronski solo activities, new version of Bronski Beat

Jimmy Somerville Here and Now Tour 2011 301 v2

In 2007, Steve Bronski remixed the song "Stranger to None" by the UK

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band,

All Living Fear All Living Fear are an English gothic rock band from the South West of England. The band was formed in 1992 by Matthew North and the core of the band was sealed in 1994 with the arrival of vocalist Andrew Racher. The band were prolific in th ...

. Four different mixes were made, with one appearing on their retrospective album, ''Fifteen Years After''. Bronski also remixed the track "Flowers in the Morning" by Northern Irish

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band Electrobronze in 2007, changing the style of the song from classical to

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

disco. In 2015, Steve Bronski teamed up as a one-off with Jessica James (aka Barbara Bush) and said that she reminded him of Divine, because of her look and Eartha Kitt-like sound. The one-off project was to cover the track he made in 1989. In 2016, Steve Bronski again teamed up with Ian Donaldson, with the aim of bringing Bronski Beat back, enlisting a new singer, Stephen Granville. In 2017, the new Bronski Beat released a reworked version of "Age of Consent" entitled "Age of Reason". ''Out & About'', the unreleased Bronski Beat album from 1987, was released digitally via Steve Bronski's website. The album features the original tracks plus remixes by Bronski.

2017-present: Deaths of Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski

On 12 January 2017, it was revealed that Larry Steinbachek had died the previous month after a short battle with cancer, with his family and friends at his bedside. He was 56. Steve Bronski died on 7 December 2021, at the age of 61, in a Central London flat fire.

Members

The original member set of Bronski Beat was

, Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek. Following Somerville leaving to form pop group the Communards with

, he was replaced by John Foster and later by Jonathan Hellyer. The band set-up has seen a number of changes.

Former members

Original lineup: * Steve Bronski – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, percussion, acoustic guitar, vocals (1983–1995, 2016–2018; died 2021) *

– vocals (1983–1985, 1987) * Larry Steinbachek – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (1983–1995; died 2016) Later personnel: *

- saxophone, clarinet (1983–1984, 1985) * John Foster – vocals (1985–1987, 1994–1995) * Jonathan Hellyer – vocals (1989–1994, 1995) * Ian Donaldson – keyboards, synthesizers, programming (1994–1995, 2016–2018) * Stephen Granville – vocals (2016–2018) *

Manoush Manoush (born 1971) is a French actress and singer. Biography Early life Manoush was born 1972 or 1973 as Manoush Barandaj or Manoush Barandyai in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer as the third child of a mother of French Sinti origin and a German-Amer ...

– vocals (2017)

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result !! Ref. , - , rowspan=6, 1984 ,

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine '' NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding ...

, rowspan=3, Themselves , rowspan=2, Best New Act , , - , rowspan=5,

Smash Hits Poll Winners Party The Smash Hits Poll Winners Party was a British awards ceremony which ran from 1979 (as the Smash Hits Readers' Poll) to 2005. Each award winner was voted by readers of the '' Smash Hits'' magazine. It ended with the closure of the magazine in F ...

, , - , Best Group , , - , '' The Age of Consent'' , Best LP , , - , " Why?" , rowspan=2, Best Single , , - , rowspan=2, "

" , , - , rowspan="3" , 1985 , rowspan="2" ,

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, Best British Single , , - , Themselves , Best British Group , , - , rowspan=2,

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of t ...

, "

" , Top Dance Play Single , , , - , rowspan=2, 1986 , Themselves , Top Dance Club Play Artist , , , - ,

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

, "

" , The Best Film Theme or Song , , - , 2017 , Gay Music Chart Awards , "

" (

Arnaud Rebotini Arnaud Rebotini is a French musician. He is a member of the band Black Strobe, which released their debut album ''Burn Your Own Church'' in 2007. He has previously been a member of the death metal band Post Mortum, which later became Swamp. I ...

Remix) , Best Original Soundtrack , ,

Discography

;Studio albums *1984: '' The Age of Consent'' *1986: ''

'' *1987: ''Out & About'' *1995: ''Rainbow Nation'' *2017: ''The Age of Reason''

References

External links

* *
imdb entry for Larry Steinbachek
{{Authority control Bronski Beat English synth-pop groups British Hi-NRG groups British musical trios British synth-pop new wave groups Dance-pop groups English new wave musical groups English electronic music groups LGBT-themed musical groups London Records artists Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Musical groups from London 1983 establishments in England 1995 disestablishments in England