Steve Bronski — co-founder and keyboardist of British synthpop band Bronski Beat — has died at 61. A cause of death has not been revealed.
Bronski, who was born Steve Forrest in Glasgow, formed the band with Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek in 1983. All three members were openly gay — a rarity at the time — and they made their live debut later that year at September in the Pink, a gay benefit concert.
They would go on to release their classic escape-from-your-hometown anthem "Smalltown Boy" before dropping their debut album The Age of Consent in 1984.
Somerville left the band in 1985, and the original lineup never recorded together again. However, Bronski and Steinbachek continued to release music as Bronski Beat and advocate for LGBTQ rights through the '90s. Steinbachek died of cancer in 2017, after which Bronski revived Bronski Beat and released a revamp of their debut titled The Age of Reason.
Upon learning of Bronski's death, his former bandmate Jimmy Somerville tweeted: "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."
See that tweet and revisit "Smalltown Boy" below.
Bronski, who was born Steve Forrest in Glasgow, formed the band with Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek in 1983. All three members were openly gay — a rarity at the time — and they made their live debut later that year at September in the Pink, a gay benefit concert.
They would go on to release their classic escape-from-your-hometown anthem "Smalltown Boy" before dropping their debut album The Age of Consent in 1984.
Somerville left the band in 1985, and the original lineup never recorded together again. However, Bronski and Steinbachek continued to release music as Bronski Beat and advocate for LGBTQ rights through the '90s. Steinbachek died of cancer in 2017, after which Bronski revived Bronski Beat and released a revamp of their debut titled The Age of Reason.
Upon learning of Bronski's death, his former bandmate Jimmy Somerville tweeted: "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."
See that tweet and revisit "Smalltown Boy" below.