Music, goodbye to Steve Bronski: he was co-founder of Bronski Beat

The British pop world says goodbye to Steve Bronski, the co-founder of the Bronski Beat trio, who passed away at the age of 61. The news of his death, reported by the English press, was confirmed by a source close to the group. The causes of death are unknown. Bronski, aka Steven Forrest, founded the band in 1983 together with singer Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek, who died of cancer in 2016. All three declared gay, the Bronsky Beat, which got their first hit in 1984 with the single ‘Smalltown Boy ‘, they started what the US magazine Spin called “possibly the first true gay group in pop history”. Bronsky, Sommerville said of him, was a “talented and very melodic” man. Speaking of ‘Smalltown Boy, Sommerville recalled that “working with him on the songs and song that changed our lives and touched so many other lives was fun and exciting. Thanks for the melody, Steve.” Bronski, recalls the Guardian by drawing a portrait of him, had grown up in Castlemilk, a district of Glasgow, in what he defined in an interview as “the largest social housing complex in Europe”. After running away from home “several times” and doing various jobs, including bassist in a country band, Bronski moved to London in 1983. The following year, in an interview with Melody Maker he spoke of his frustration with the fact that his family did not want to acknowledge his sexuality. After the success of ‘Smalltown Boy’, which reached number 3 on the singles chart in the UK, the album ‘The age of consent’ also came in 1984, which reached the fourth position of the British chart. In 1985, due to a series of disagreements within the group, Sommerville left the band and continued his career as a soloist. Bronski Beat made other records with a new frontman, but without achieving the success of their early days. After a long stay in Thailand, Bronski continued to work as a producer and publicly fight against homophobia.