25. Kele Okereke (Bloc Party)
British musician Kele Okereke is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for the alt rock band Bloc Party. In 2005 Bloc Party released their first studio album Silent Alarm with the singles “Pioneer” “Banquet” and “Helicopter.” Produced by Paul Epworth (Florence + the Machine, Cee-Lo Green, Kate Nash), Silent Alarm reached No. 3 in the UK charts and rocketed the band to fame. Their follow-up album A Weekend in the City went on to reach the No. 2 spot in the Official UK Chart, and the first single “The Prayer” reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, the group’s highest placing to date. In 2010 Okereke released his first solo album Boxer produced by XXXchange with the lead track titled “Tenderoni.” While gearing up for his solo debut, Okereke finally came out in a March 2010 interview with Butt Magazine, a subject he a had long avoided, stating: “My parents are super-Catholic and they come from a culture in Nigeria where there weren’t any visible gay people who were out and were happy. I left home when I was 20. My parents threw me out [for being gay]. Which I knew they would. We didn’t speak for like a week. … My parents are getting older and I didn’t like the idea that they could possibly die without knowing something that is a big part of my life. It’s not easy. … We’ve been talking about it.”
Discussion about this post