Brandon Flowers

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Brandon Flowers

Brandon Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is the vocalist and keyboardist in the American synth rock band The Killers.

Biography

Flowers was born on June 21, 1981 in Las Vegas, Nevada to parents of partial Scottish and Lithuanian ancestry [1] and later raised in Nephi, Utah. In Nephi, he claims he was the only Smiths fan. Since Nephi was a little farm town of just 2,000 people, football was everything as Brandon played golf and listened to Elton John and The Cars. He grew up a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with four older sisters and an older brother. He attributes his fashion sense to his doting sisters.[2] He begged his parents to return to Las Vegas and finally did at the age of fifteen to live with his aunt and attend Cimarron High School.

While listening to the radio in his car after his very first college class, Flowers heard the song "Changes" by David Bowie. He fell in love with the piece and realized he wanted to be part of the music industry. Teaching himself keyboards, he passed on college to take a job as a caddy at a private golf course, where he encountered a fellow music fan who is also a keyboard player. Together they formed the first workings of the band that would become Blush Response, named after a Vangelis song. Brandon began writing and recording original tunes with his band. The endeavor was short-lived, however, when the band booted Flowers in 2001 because he refused to move with the rest of them to Los Angeles, California.

After being dumped by Blush Response, Brandon worked as a bellhop at Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The bellhop job paid enough for him to buy cd's, a keyboard, and a 4-track recorder. It was when he saw U2 on the band's Elevation Tour in 2001 that Brandon knew he was going to try to make it as a rock singer. He also had thoroughly relished an Oasis show. After answering a "Musicians Wanted" ad in the Las Vegas Weekly with a guitarist looking for a vocalist in order to form a band, he hit it off with his new bandmate, Dave Keuning, in late 2001. The Killers were spawned shortly thereafter. By 2002, Ronnie Vannucci became the drummer and Mark Stoermer had become the bassist.[citation needed]

They played some of their early gigs at a gay drag club, called Tramps, in Las Vegas.[3] The name "The Killers" came about when the band was watching New Order's music video for "Crystal," in which New Order was a fictitious band of perfecto called "The Killers." Flowers was inspired and felt the desire to be as perfect as (and ultimately becoming) "The Killers."

Controversies

Although an active Mormon himself, in the past Flowers has smoked cigarettes and still drinks alcohol, behavior prohibited by the LDS church's health code. However, he has said that he belongs to a "very tolerant gathering."[3] In an August 2005 interview with Rolling Stone, Flowers mentioned trying to cut back, and as of November 22, 2006, Brandon gave up smoking by using a chamomile concoction prescribed by a German doctor (Flowers says it's good for his voice).[citation needed]

The Killers, as a band, are known for suggestive homoerotic play between band members onstage, as well as for having started out playing gigs in drag clubs in Vegas. The lyrics to "Andy, You're a Star", "Where the White Boys Dance" and the hit-single "Somebody Told Me" contain a sexual ambiguity. Flowers is viewed by some as a famous example of metrosexuality, a type of personality which combines feminine and masculine characteristics. The band has a considerable gay following,[3] fueling speculation that Flowers is either gay or bisexual.[2] In response to such speculation, Flowers said that "Andy, You're a Star" was "free for people to interpret as their own," in a Genre 2005 interview. This contradicts an earlier statement made in a QLas Vegas interview during 2004, wherein he claimed it was about a crush he himself had formed on a male athlete while attending high school.[4] When asked about the male athlete in high school, he responded that he is "very aware of [his] sexuality" and that he does like women.[5]Flowers has also stated that some confusion over his sexual identity is "not a bad thing,"[2] but did say "I'm not gay." [6]. Flowers married longtime girlfriend, Tana Munblowsky, in a private ceremony in Hawaii on August 2, 2005. [7]

Flowers is known for creating feuds between The Killers and other bands, such as The Bravery, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! at the Disco, most notably suggesting that emo music was 'dangerous.' In July of 2006, however, he apologized to the bands in an interview to AOL Music, saying "I'd like to take it all back. These people are just doing what they want to do, just like I am...I'm actually a nice person and I love people. I just am opinionated, and sometimes jealous. It's not something I'm proud of." Frontmen Sam Endicott (of The Bravery) and Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) reportedly received, and accepted, telephone apologies prior to the article's publication. With regard to the criticisms levelled at Panic! at the Disco, Flowers said "I don't even know what their music's like, or if I would even like it...That made me feel even worse, to think they could have been fans of ours and I hurt their feelings. That's just stupid." [8][9]Flowers has also criticized Green Day for what he sees as their calculated anti-Americanism. Specifically, Flowers found a video of Green Day performing the song 'American Idiot' in the UK distasteful. The taping of the concert, featured on Bullet In A Bible, shows thousands of Europeans singing along to 'American Idiot.' He said, "I just thought it was really cheap. To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song - those kids aren't taking it the same way that he meant it. And he [Billie Joe Armstrong] knew it." [10] Ironically, it has been reported that Flowers and Armstrong recently engaged in a torrid homosexual affair in early 2007, causing a strain on both musicians' marriages.

Trivia

  • He won NME magazine awards in 2005 for "Best Dressed" and "Sexiest Man." [11]
  • According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, his parents have always supported his decision to become a rock singer, and were often the only people in the audience at the Killers' first performances in the band's early days.[citation needed]
  • Is a cousin of Craig Barlow who is a professional golfer on the PGA Tour.[citation needed]
  • The Cars are a major influence for him after he listened to an old album that belonged to his older brother.[citation needed]
  • Favorite song on the Hot Fuss album is "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine."[citation needed]
  • His favorite classical musician is the composer Bach.[citation needed]

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Brandon Flowers.

References

  1. ^ Interview Interview
  2. ^ a b c Timmermans, Arjan (2005). His parents made him take piano lessons, but the person responsible for Brandon's musical education was his older brother Shane, who showed him The Smiths videos and U2 Rattle and Hum movie. He mentions his older brother quite often when asked about his taste in music or things related to that."Arranging Flowers" Genre Magazine
  3. ^ a b c Arjan (2005). "Brandon Flowers Speaks about Gay Fans" ArjanWrites.com (accessed May 2, 2006) Cite error: The named reference "arjan" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ QVegas August 2004
  5. ^ Heather Adler, October 12-2006, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers tells Dose.ca he does like girls, doesn't like Rolling Stone
  6. ^ (2004). "Lethal Weapon" Q Magazine (accessed January 1, 2006)
  7. ^ VH1 (2005). "Killers Singer Brandon Flowers Marries Longtime Girlfriend" VH1.com (accessed Oct. 14, 2006)
  8. ^ http://www.aolmusicnewsblog.com/2006/07/25/killers-bury-the-hatchet-with-panic-fall-out-boy?ncid=AOLMUS00050000000034
  9. ^ http://www.buzznet.com/tags/brandon%20flowers/journals/57640
  10. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/the-killers/24702,
  11. ^ (2005). "Shockwave NME Awards - The Winners NME.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
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