Succes 2011: Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat and The Communards

James William "Jimmy" Somerville (born 22 June 1961, Glasgow) is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter.

He had considerable success in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a successful solo career. He is known in particular for his falsetto singing voice.

Somerville's latest album, Suddenly Last Summer was released in May 2009 as a digital download only.

In 1983, Somerville co-founded the synth pop group Bronski Beat, which proceeded to have a number of hits in the British charts. Their biggest hit was "Smalltown Boy" which reached #3 in the charts. Somerville played the song's titular character in the music video who leaves his hostile 'straight' hometown for the friendlier city.

Somerville left Bronski Beat in 1985, and formed The Communards with classically trained pianist Richard Coles (now a Church of England vicar). They had a number of hits, including a cover version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes's "Don't Leave Me This Way", which spent four weeks at #1 in the UK charts, and became the biggest-selling single of 1986 in the UK. He also sang backing vocals on Fine Young Cannibals' version of "Suspicious Minds", which was a UK Top 10 hit.

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The Communards split in 1988, and Somerville launched his solo career. He had several solo hits between 1989 and 1991, also singing on the second Band Aid project at the end of 1989.

After releasing his 1989 album Read My Lips, which included a hit cover of Sylvester's disco classic "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" as well as a cover of The Bee Gees' hit song "To Love Somebody" a year later, Somerville left the limelight and was absent from recording for a number of years. In 1990, Somerville contributed the song "From This Moment On" to the Cole Porter tribute album "Red Hot + Blue" produced by the Red Hot Organization, the proceeds from which benefited AIDS research.

Somerville returned in 1995 with the album Dare to Love, which included "Heartbeat", a #1 hit on the U.S. dance chart. Another album, entitled Manage The Damage, was released in 1999, and its companion remix album Root Beer came out a year later. His dance-oriented fourth solo album, Home Again, was released in 2005.

May 2009 saw the release of Somerville's Suddenly Last Summer album, which contained acoustic interpretations of songs Somerville chose to record that he found on his iPod. The album is only available via digital download.

Somerville has also led an acting career, appearing in Sally Potter's 1992 film of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, in Isaac Julien's 1998 Looking for Langston, and in an episode of the cult science fiction television series Lexx ("Girltown").