Brandon Flowers

Brandon Flowers

Brandon Flowers is the vocalist and keyboardist in the American synth rock band The Killers.

Biography

Flowers was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and later raised in Nephi, Utah. He grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the youngest of six children with four older sisters and one older brother. He attributes his fashion sense to his doting sisters. He begged his parents to return to Las Vegas and finally did at the age of fifteen to live with his aunt.

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. Soon, Flowers encountered a fellow music fan at a golf course, and since they both played keyboards, they formed the first workings of the band that would become Blush Response. 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.

The Killers were spawned shortly thereafter when Flowers responded to an ad placed by guitarist David Keuning in the Las Vegas Weekly looking for a vocalist in order to form a band. By 2002, Mark Stoermer had become the bassist and Ronnie Vannucci became the drummer. They played some of their early gigs at a gay drag club, called Tramps, in Las Vegas. 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." He won NME magazine awards in 2005 for "Best Dressed" and "Sexiest Man."

Flowers married longtime girlfriend, Tana Munblowsky, on August 2, 2005, in Hawaii.

Controversies

Although reputedly an active Mormon himself, Flowers smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol, behavior prohibited by the LDS church's health code. However, he has said that he belongs to a "very tolerant gathering." In an August 2005 interview with Rolling Stone he mentioned trying to cut-back. As of September 2006, Flowers has not quit smoking or drinking.

The Killers, as a band, are known for suggestive homoerotic play between band members onstage, as well as for their gigs in a drag club in Vegas. The lyrics to "Andy, You're a Star" and in 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, fueling speculation that Flowers is either gay or bisexual. 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. Flowers has also stated that some confusion over his sexual identity is "not a bad thing," but did say "I'm not gay." .

External links

• Brandon Flowers at the Internet Movie Database
• Photos by Andrew Kendall, freelance photographer for NME
• "Former BYU's student's brother is lead singer of the Killers", interview by Erin Pierce and Dan Monson about Flowers visiting his brother at college, from The Daily Universe
• "The Music That Changed My Life: Brandon Flowers", Interview by Kyle Anderson, from Spin magazine
• Songs of Praise, Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer about resisting temptation, from The Observer