The Communards

This article is about the pop group. For the 19th century French political activists after which they were named, see Communards.

The Communards
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Pop, synthpop
Years active	1985–1988
Associated acts	Bronski Beat, Banderas
Past members	Jimmy Somerville Richard Coles

The Communards were a British pop duo active from 1985 to 1988. They are most famous for their cover of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' song, "Don't Leave Me This Way" as well as "Never Can Say Goodbye".

History

The Communards formed in 1985 after singer Jimmy Somerville left his earlier band Bronski Beat to team up with classically-trained musician Richard Coles. Though mainly a pianist, Coles played a number of instruments and had been seen previously performing the clarinet solos on the Bronski Beat hit "It Ain't Necessarily So". They were joined by bass player Dave Renwick who had also played with Bronski Beat. Somerville was well known for his falsetto singing style, and that he was openly gay during a period of increasing socio-political debate and conflict in the UK regarding lesbian and gay rights.

The name Communards comes from the French term for people from a commune. Somerville's left-wing politics drew regular accusations that he was a communist. Karl Marx used the word "communist" to honour the revolution in 1871 known as the Paris Commune and referred to activists of that period as communards. Somerville seems to have used the term to express his political sympathies while avoiding immediate connections to contemporary activism.

The band had their first UK Top 30 hit in 1985 with the piano-based No. 30 single "You Are My World". The following year they had their biggest hit with an energetic cover version of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' soul classic "Don't Leave Me This Way" (in a version inspired by Thelma Houston's cover) which spent four weeks at number one and became the UK's biggest selling single of 1986. It also made the US Top 40. It featured Sarah Jane Morris as co-vocalist, taking advantage of the contrast between Morris' deep and rounded contralto and Somerville's soaring falsetto. Morris performed both backing and co-lead vocals on many of the Communards' other recordings, and appeared in group photos as an unofficial third member.

Later that year The Communards had another UK Top 10 hit with the single "So Cold the Night," which reached number 8. In 1987, they released an album titled Red, which was partly produced by Stephen Hague. Red featured a cover version of the Jackson 5's hit "Never Can Say Goodbye" (in a version inspired by Gloria Gaynor's cover), which the Communards took to Number 4. Their last released single was "There's More to Love" in 1988, which reached Number 20 and was, consequently, their final Top 20 hit.

They split in 1988 and Somerville began a solo career. Coles followed his Christian leanings and, after periods as a journalist for the Times Literary Supplement and Catholic Herald, he was ordained in the Church of England, spending time as the curate of St Botolph's (The Stump) in Boston, Lincolnshire and as assistant priest at St Paul's Knightsbridge and Chaplain to the Royal College of Music. In 2011 he became Vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire. He is the regular presenter of the Saturday morning BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	UK	US
1985	Communards	7	90
1987	Red	4	93

Live album

Year	Album	UK	US
1986	Live In Italy (Picture Disc LP)	-	-
1988	Storm Paris (3x12" single set)	-	-

Compilations

Year	Album	UK	US
1993	Heaven	-	-
2001	The Very Best of Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat and The Communards	-	-
2009	For a Friend: The Best of Bronski Beat, The Communards & Jimmy Somerville	-	-

Singles

Year	Song	UK Singles	US Hot 100	US Dance	NLD	SWI	AUT	FRA	GER	ITA	Album
1985	"You Are My World"	30	-	-	-	-	-	16	-	-	Communards
1986	"Disenchanted"	29	-	-	47	-	-	-	-	-
	"Disenchanted (Remix)"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	"Don't Leave Me This Way" (Communards with Sarah Jane Morris)	1 (4)	40	-	1 (8)	2	19	6	5	5
	"Don't Leave Me This Way" (Gotham City Mix) (Communards with Sarah Jane Morris)	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	14	-
	"So Cold the Night"	8	-	25	8	10	13	17	14	-
	"So Cold the Night" (Remix) + Multimix	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1987	"You Are My World '87" (Remix)	21	-	-	23	-	-	-	59	-
	"Tomorrow"	23	-	2	31	23	-	32	25	10	Red
	"Never Can Say Goodbye"	4	51	2	3	12	-	-	6	-
	"Never Can Say Goodbye" (Remix)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	"For a Friend"/"Megamix"	28	-	-	-	-	-	-	35	-
	"There's More to Love"	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	-

Video

Year	Title	Details	Format
1986	The Video Singles	Compilation of music videos from 1985–1986	VHS
2006	Live At Full House Rock Show	Live TV concert from Hannover, Germany (10/2/87)	DVD

See also

• Jimmy Somerville discography
• Bronski Beat discography
• Banderas - Communards offshoot featuring backing musician Sally Herbert
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart