Sad news! Steve Bronski, a founding member of the trailblazing British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, has died at 61. No cause of death was given. His bandmate Jimmy Somerville (read the original OMG.BLOG Q&A with Jimmy here) described him as a “talented and 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.”
Bronski, aka Steven Forrest, formed the band alongside Somerville and Larry Steinbachek in 1983.
All three members of the band were out as gay and sought to counter what they perceived as the inoffensive nature of the era’s gay performers by embracing explicitly political themes in their music. America’s Spin magazine described them as “perhaps the first real gay group in the history of pop”.
RIP to this man who changed the way gays were received in music during the 80s and helped so many come to terms with their own experiences through his music!
rip, their music had a big impact on me growing up