The Communards

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Communards were a British synth-pop duo, formed in London in 1985 by the Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and the English musician Richard Coles. Somerville had previously sung with Bronski Beat. Coles was classically trained, played mainly piano and had played the clarinet solos on Bronski Beat's hit It Ain't Necessarily So. The name refers to the revolutionaries of the Paris Commune of 1871. The bassist Dave Renwick also played with them at first.

Music and breakthrough

Somerville often sang in falsetto, as a countertenor. That contrast worked especially on the duo's biggest hit, an energetic Hi-NRG version of Don't Leave Me This Way from 1986, a soul classic by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The singer Sarah Jane Morris sang along with her deep voice, set against Somerville's high voice. The song spent four weeks at number one in England and became the best-selling single of 1986 in that country. Later that year So Cold the Night followed.

Influence

In 1987 the album Red came out, with, among other things, a cover of the Jackson 5's Never Can Say Goodbye and the songs Victims and For a Friend. That last song was about people with HIV and AIDS and was written in memory of the activist Mark Ashton. In 1988 the duo split up. Somerville began a solo career. Coles later became a journalist and in 2005 an Anglican priest.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1986Communards
• 1987Red