Pheel Somerville

Read My Lips is the 1989 debut solo album by Jimmy Somerville, former lead singer of the successful synthpop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards. The album was released through London Records. Singer Jimmy Somerville lent his soaring falsetto to two of the premier dance-pop outfits of the '80s, Bronski Beat and the Communards, before embarking on a solo career. Born in Glasgow, Scotland on June 22, 1961, 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 that met with surprisingly little commercial resistance, as both the record and its follow-up, "Why?," cracked the U.K. Top Ten.

By the end of the '80s, Jimmy Somerville's records with Bronski Beat and the Communards sounded unpleasantly dated and of their time. By 2004, when a new generation of bands were taking Bronski Beat's take on skeletal dance-pop as one of their primary influences, Somerville's Home Again sounds both entirely in keeping with his earlier work and utterly contemporary. Songs like "Under a Lover's Sky" and the lovely ballad title track wouldn't sound out of place on a circa-1984 dancefloor musically, but Somerville's voice is a richer and more complex instrument decades on.

Scottish-born singer Jimmy Somerville became a surprise success in the mid-'80s. Instead of being Duran Duran-cute, Jimmy Somerville looked like the average boy next door. Instead of belting out his musical repertoire with a self-conscious urgency to prove himself as a singer (like Rick Astley or George Michael), Somerville possessed a dramatic, piercing falsetto that made the Associates' Billy Mackenzie sound like Tom Waits. But what really made Jimmy Somerville distinctive was his openness about his sexuality. The 1980s was the decade of androgyny, with artists like Annie Lennox, Boy George, and Poison emulating the gender-bending approach of 1970s-era David Bowie. Other performers such as Morrissey and the aforementioned George Michael kept their fans guessing about their sexual orientation. Jimmy Somerville, however, already answered the "is he or isn't he" question before anyone had a chance to ask, and he did so without a trace of mascara.

Jimmy Somerville performed a unique one-off special acoustic set in the summer of 2015 at the famous Stella Polaris festival in Denmark with many of his well-known songs re-imagined. This souvenir release marks the very first time that a solo Jimmy Somerville live release has been made commercially available. The power of Jimmy's voice is evident in these inventive, all new acoustic arrangements of songs drawn from the full breadth of Jimmy's 30 year plus career including his breakthrough singles 'Smalltown Boy' and 'Why?' with Bronski Beat, his UK number one single 'Don't Leave Me This Way' with the Communards and two undisputed highlights, 'Some Wonder' and 'Back To Me' from his recent album 'Homage' - his authentic celebration of the sound of the disco era. Jimmy's vocal range and dexterity is breathtaking and his backing band and singers blend incredibly into a soulful re-working of hits and favourite tracks from his extensive songbook. All in all, Jimmy is a performer and an artist at the pinnacle of his talents and demonstrably determined to have, and to give, a good time to his legions of loyal fans.