Jimmy Somerville - The Communards

After leaving the Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville formed The Communards in 1985 with multi-instrumentalist Richard Coles. They released two albums, in 1986 and 1987, both critically acclaimed, both entering the UK Top 10 and the US Top 100.

Their self-titled debut contained their biggest hit, a Hi-NRG remake of Harold Melvin's hit Don't Leave Me This Way, their version closer to Thelma Houston's version. The featured guest vocalist was the female jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris. The song made the US Top 40 and was a big No 1 in the UK (4 weeks at #1), also #1 in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, #2 in Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, #5 in Germany & Italy and #6 in France & Spain. Here it is:

In the same album there is a slower, jazzier number called Forbidden Love. Some of the lyrics:

Stand so strong so proud

Give in to prejudice

Behind closed doors we have to kiss

But I long to hold your hand in the rain

Watching accepted lovers expressing

tenderness and joy

Makes an anger stir in me for

something I can't truly have

The video:

Their 2nd & last album, Red, had another Hi-NRG remake that became a big hit: Never Can Say Goodbye was originally a hit for the Jackson Five and then for Gloria Gaynor. In the Communards' version it reached #4 in the UK and #51 in the US. Here it is:

Another hit from the same album is the song There's More to Love Than Boy Meets Girl. Some of the lyrics:

How can one man decide the fate and destiny of innocent lovers

And why is it less of a crime to take the life of another?

Through time they've always tried to hide and cast aside this love denied

In the shadows we held each other tight

There's more to love than boy meets girl

There's more to love than boy meets girl

For love is strange and uncontrolled, it can happen to anyone

Watch it here:

Another hit from the same album, For A Friend, is an emotional ballad written in the memory of Mark Ashton, a friends of Jimmy and Richard, who died of AIDS-related complications. A verse:

Summer comes, I remember how we'd march

We'd march for love and pride, together arm in arm

Tears have turned, turned to anger and contempt

I'll never let you down, a battle I have found

And all the dreams we had, I will carry on

As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away

All the memories of you come rushing back to me

As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away

All I want to do is kiss you once goodbye.

Watch it here:

The Communards split in 1988 and Somerville began a solo career the following year. He released his debut solo album Read My Lips in November 1989, which contained three UK Top 30 hits.

A Hi-NRG remake of Sylvester's You Make Me Feel:

A remake of the Serge Gainsbourg/Françoise Hardy hit Comment Te Dire Adieu (a duet with June Miles Kingston):

And finally, an original track, Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough), which is Jimmy's outrage at the way politicians handled the AIDS crisis that was then at its peak. Some of the lyrics:

Read my lips and they will tell you

Enough is enough is enough is enough

Finding cures is not the only solution

And it's not a case of sinner absolution

So we'll fight (fight!)

For love and with pride

And we'll fight (fight!)

Standing together for the

Right to live and die with dignity

Read my lips and they will tell you

Enough is enough is enough is enough

The power within

We can use it to win

So we'll shout (shout!)

As loud as we can

And we'll fight (fight!)

'Till they meet our demands

Money is what we need, not complacency

The video:

Jimmy had another big hit the following year with a remake of the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody:

After that the hits stopped coming. Still, Jimmy continued to make music. His 2nd solo album contained Dare To Love, a great song tackling a very sensitive subject:

He remembers at 14

He knew what he wanted

He wanted a man no psychiatry

Just to be held to be told it was alright

All he got was a hospital bed

And some pills to sleep at night

In his mind were images so divine

But in his life it was a hell of a time

They locked him away

Because he dared to love

A boy with a man of his own

He wonders if anyone

Has ever heard of him

They kicked in the door

Acting like there was

Some kind of murder going on

Made their love seem dirty

Called him sick called him queer

The law was against him

He was 25 his lover 16

Couldn't believe it was happening

It seemed so unreal

But a cell 12 by 8

Made it all so very real

They locked him away

Because he dared to love

A boy with a mind of his own

He loved a boy with a mind of his own

Where is the crime, where is the crime in love

He loved a boy with a mind of his own

They locked him away

Because he dared to love

A boy with a mind of his own

The video:

A couple of years ago he released the very interesting disco-inspired album called Homage. The first single off the album was Back To Me:

Travesty was the second single from the album:

Jimmy will not give up. I believe that he will continue writing and recording classy songs for many years to come.