Jimmy Somerville

Singer Jimmy Somerville lent his soaring falsetto to two of the '80s premier dance-pop outfits, Bronski Beat and the Communards, before embarking on a solo career. He co-founded Bronski Beat in 1984; from the band's debut single "Smalltown Boy" onward, Somerville's songs dealt openly with his own homosexuality, a recurring theme which met with surprisingly little commercial resistance as both the record and its follow-up, "Why?," cracked the U.K. Top Ten. Somerville left the group to form the Communards in 1986 and topped the British charts in 1986 with a rendition of Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" before opting to go solo in 1988. ~ Jason Ankeny