Steven William Forrest (7 February 1960 – 7 December 2021) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, best known for his time as a member of synth pop band

Bronski Beat Bronski Beat were a British synthpop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 s ...

, with

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 soul ...

and Larry Steinbachek.

Career

He was a co-founder and keyboard player of the group

, known for the singles "

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 (album), The Age of Consent'' (1984). The song was a big commercial success, reaching numbe ...

" and " Why?". He was also a

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist and was openly

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 ...

from an early age. Raised in

Castlemilk Castlemilk ( gd, Caisteal Mheilc) is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies to the far south of the city centre, adjacent to the Croftfoot and Simshill residential areas within the city to the north-west, the town of Rutherglen - neighbourhoo ...

, Glasgow, Bronski worked in his youth as a

labourer A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

. He lived in a flat 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 ce ...

, London, during the early formative period of Bronski Beat with his fellow musicians. Later on he

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

with partner and bandmate Larry Steinbachek in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

, London. Following the break up of the band he lived in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

for many years, as well as Paris, France, before returning to the United Kingdom. In 2016, Larry Steinbachek died after a short battle with cancer. Bronski had a stroke in 2018 which limited his mobility. He died from

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

in a fire at his home in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

, London, on 7 December 2021, at the age of 61.

References

1960 births 2021 deaths 20th-century LGBT people 20th-century Scottish male singers 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century Scottish male singers Accidental deaths in London british synth-pop new wave musicians Bronski Beat members Deaths by smoke inhalation Gay singers Scottish LGBT singers Musicians from Glasgow Scottish new wave musicians Scottish gay musicians {{UK-music-bio-stub