World Outside The Window

Steve Bronski, co-founder and keyboard player in 1980s pop group Bronski Beat, has died at the age of 61.

BBC Entertainment & Arts

Bronski, from Glasgow, was born Steve Forrest and formed the group in 1983 with singer Jimmy Somerville and fellow-musician Larry Steinbachek.

They enjoyed UK top 10 hits with the gay anthem Smalltown Boy, Why? and a cover of Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

Somerville said: "Sad to hear Steve has died. He was a talented and a very melodic man."

The singer added: "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."

Bronski's friend Josephine Samuel told BBC News he was a "gentle, kind and talented man".

The group began when Bronski and Steinbachek met Somerville through a documentary called Framed Youth - Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, which was made for an LGBTQ arts festival.

Smalltown Boy, their debut single, was a synth-pop classic, and reached number three in the charts. It was particularly ground-breaking for many fans who related to its story of a young, gay man leaving his home town for the freedom of the big city.

The hard-hitting video showed Somerville being chased by a homophobic gang, taken home by the police and thrown out by his parents, before getting on the train to start a new life with Bronski and Steinbachek.

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