James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961)[1] is a Scottish singer who rose to prominence in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards. With Bronski Beat, Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1984 single "Smalltown Boy" which reached the top spot in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and the US Hot Dance Club Play. Additionally, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom, West Germany, Ireland and New Zealand as well as charting within the US Billboard Hot 100.[2][3][4][5][6] Bronski Beat's debut album The Age of Consent (1984) was the only release Somerville contributed to as lead vocalist before leaving the band in 1985 and joining The Communards.
The Communards, with Somerville on lead vocals, released their debut album Communards in 1986, spawning the internationally successful single "Don't Leave Me This Way". It reached the top spot in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and the US Dance Club Songs. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was the best selling single of 1986 in the United Kingdom.[7] Follow up single, "So Cold the Night", also achieved commercial success across Europe.[8][9] Their second studio album Red was released in 1987 and continued their chart success. The Communards disbanded in 1988.
Following the disbandment of The Communards, Somerville launched his solo career.[10] He is known in particular for his powerful and soulful countertenor/falsetto singing voice. Many of his songs, such as "Smalltown Boy", contain political commentary on gay-related issues.[11]
In 1983, Somerville co-founded the synth-pop group Bronski Beat,[1][15] which had several hits in the British charts. Their biggest hit was "Smalltown Boy", which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart.[1] In the music video Somerville plays the song's titular character, who leaves his hostile hometown for the friendlier city, reflecting Somerville's own experiences when he moved to London.[14]
Bronski Beat signed a recording contract with London Records in 1984 after doing only nine live gigs. The band's debut single, "Smalltown Boy", about a gay teenager leaving his family and fleeing his home town, was a hit, peaking at No 3 in the UK Singles Chart, and topping charts in Belgium and the Netherlands.[2][16][17][18] The single was accompanied by a promotional video 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 London Records.) "Smalltown Boy" reached 48 in the U.S. chart and peaked at 8 in Australia.[6]
The follow-up single, "Why?", adopted a hi-NRG sound and was more lyrically focused on anti-gay prejudice. It also achieved Top 10 status in the UK, reaching 6,[2] 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 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,[2] 36 in the U.S., and 12 in Australia.
In November 1990, Somerville's greatest-hits album The Singles Collection 1984/1990 (which featured his hits with Bronski Beat and The Communards in addition to his own material) was released; it reached number 4 on the UK Album Chart. It included a reggae cover of the Bee Gees' hit song "To Love Somebody", which also reached the UK Top 10. Also in 1990, Somerville contributed the song "From This Moment On" to the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization, the proceeds from which benefited AIDS research.
Dare to Love and other works (1991–1997)
"I don't think it's fair to tell your audience that you're gay, but that you're not going to acknowledge it in your primary form of creative expression. It's an unfortunate manipulation of honesty that collects gay dollars without an even exchange. But my intention is not to help people live in oblivion. It is to be honest. And that is far more important than gold-selling records"
—Somerville interviewed by Billboard weeks before launching Dare to Love.[20]
In 1991, Somerville provided backing vocals to a track called "Why Aren't You in Love With Me?" from the album Ripe by Communards offshoot band Banderas. The Banderas duo, Caroline Buckley and Sally Herbert, had previously been part of Somerville's backing band. After this, he disappeared from the limelight for several years. He returned in 1995 with the album Dare to Love, which included "Heartbeat" (a UK Top 30 hit and a No. 1 hit on the US dance chart), "Hurt So Good" and "By Your Side", though commercial success was now beginning to elude him and his contract with London Records to which he had been signed for over a decade came to an end.
Manage the Damage and recent activity (1997–present)
Somerville at the Skarpa club in Warsaw, Poland, June 2006
A new single, "Dark Sky", was released in 1997 and peaked at No. 66 in the UK. In the same year he provided vocals on "The Number One Song in Heaven" for the Sparks album Plagiarism with production by Tony Visconti. His third album, entitled Manage The Damage, was released in 1999 via Gut Records, but failed to chart. A companion remix album, Root Beer, came out in 2000. His dance-orientated fourth solo album, Home Again, was released in 2004, again not charting.
In May 2009, Somerville release the Suddenly Last Summer album, which contained acoustic interpretations of other people's songs. The album was initially only available as a digital download but in May 2010 was made available in a limited edition (3,000 copies) CD/DVD in the UK. In late 2010, Somerville released a dance EP called Bright Thing. 2010's EP Bright Thing was the first of a series of three, with Somerville releasing Momentum in 2011 and Solent in 2012, with long-term collaborator John Winfield.
Somerville released a disco-inspired album called Homage in 2015.[13][21] Singles were "Back to Me" followed by "Travesty". The emphasis in recording the album was on achieving the musical authenticity of original disco which Somerville grew up listening to. He stated: "I've finally made the disco album I always wanted to and never thought I could."[22]
In February 2021, Somerville teamed up with producer Sally Herbert (formerly of 1990s duo Banderas and also part of The Communards' backing band) to record a cover of "Everything Must Change" by Benard Ighner as a charity record for End Youth Homelessness, a network of projects which includes Centrepoint in London and a number of other homeless charity organisations around the UK.[24][25]
↑ R.SH Gold was an annual music show (1998 – 2000), held in Northern Germany by Radio Schleswig-Holstein, a state private station. The event that took place at the Ostseehalle in Kiel, the radio's base, awarded the most successful local artists of the past year, based on their top positions on the R.SH Nordparade chart (founded in the region in 1996). The 4th ceremony featuring Somerville was held on 16 February 1991, while broadcast the 28th via RTL Plus.[31]
↑ "Brit Awards > History > 1987". Brit Awards. BPI. 9 February 1987. brits.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2023. Best British Group (only winner published)
↑ "Musikdatenbank – Musiker Jimmy Somerville". Radio Swiss Pop (in German). SRG SSR. radioswisspop.ch. Retrieved 6 June 2023. RSH-Gold, 1991: Kategorie „Kraftrille des Jahres" – Lied: To Love Somebody (see section 'Auszeichnungen')
↑ "R.SH-Gold (Die Show der Goldpreisträger)". Fernsehserien (in German). imfernsehen GmbH & Co. KG. 28 February 1991. fernsehserien.de. Retrieved 6 June 2023. (see the 4th ceremony from 1991)
↑ Hegarty, Tasha (30 November 2014). "Idlewild and Prince among winners at Scottish Music Awards". Digital Spy. Hearst UK. digitalspy.com. Retrieved 6 June 2023. The 16th annual Scottish Music Awards took place on Saturday [...] The ceremony was held at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket, as the Tartan Clefs were handed out to some of Scotland's most celebrated acts. The Special Recognition Award was given to Bronski Beat's Jimmy Somerville for his contribution to Scottish music. (see paragraphs 1 – 3)
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