Brandon Flowers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The introduction of this article is too short. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, it should be expanded to summarize the article. This article has been tagged since May 2008. |
 |
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced or poorly sourced material about living persons must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. This article has been tagged since February 2008. |
| Brandon Flowers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Brandon Richard Flowers |
| Born | June 21, 1981 |
| Origin | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Post-punk revival, alternative rock, Indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, keyboards/piano, bass |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Associated acts | The Killers |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Clavia Nord Lead 2 microKORG |
|
Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is the American vocalist and keyboardist of the Las Vegas-based Indie rock band The Killers.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Flowers, the youngest of six children, was born on June 21, 1981 in Henderson, Nevada (outside Las Vegas) to parents of partial Scottish and Lithuanian ancestry.[1] He has one older brother and four older sisters.[2] Flowers's family lived in Henderson until he was eight and then moved to Nephi, Utah.[2] Brandon lived in Nephi until his junior year in high school, when he moved back to Las Vegas. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked for a grocery store.[2] His parents raised Brandon and the rest of the family as active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Flowers remains a devout member of the faith.[3][2] He has since attributed his fashion sense to his doting sisters.[4]
The person most responsible for Flowers's musical development is his brother Shane, 12 years his senior, who showed him Smiths videos and U2's Rattle and Hum movie.[2] His older brother also introduced him to the Cars, the Beatles, Morrissey, and the Cure.[2] Musically, Flowers identifies as an anglophile and also as a fan of the bands New Order, the Smiths, and Pet Shop Boys. He credits the latter's song "Being Boring", especially the lyrics "I never dreamt that I would get to be/The creature that I always meant to be", as a major life influence.[3] He has stated that "It was really weird because other kids were buying Tool and Nirvana and I was buying the Cars and the Psychedelic Furs. I was pretty alienated as a kid."[2] Although his home is in America, it is sometimes said his spiritual home lays in Manchester, England after listening to some of his favorite bands and after seeing Oasis in concert.
Flowers once used a Ouija board and gained a fear of the number 621, which relates to his birthday, June 21. Flowers is convinced he is going to die on that day. He said: "It's just stupid, it is not a way to live. Once I had to fly to Glastonbury on my birthday; that was a real mess."[5]
'Bling (Confession of a King)' is the victorious story of Flowers' dad forswearing - overnight - alcoholism and Catholicism to become a Mormon when Brandon was five. 'Higher and higher/We're gonna take it/Down to the wire,' sings Flowers in another arms-aloft Killers chorus. 'We're gonna make it/Out of the fire.' His grandfather also suffered from alcoholism.
More dirty family laundry is aired in 'Uncle Jonny'. It's about how his mum's brother survived a cocaine habit, a paranoid obsession with George Orwell's 1984, and the conviction that aliens were coming to steal his semen. So Uncle Jonny decided to shoot his testicles off in the bath. Happily, he missed, and shot himself in the groin instead. He's all right now. 'There's a real inspirational feeling by the end of the song, I think. You're pulling for Jonny. That's a good thing, having faith in people.'*Songs of Praise, Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer about resisting temptation, from The Observer
[edit] Career
Flowers, after dropping out of college, was a bellhop for a while at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.[citation needed] In 2001, he was abandoned by the first band that he was in, a synth pop band known as Blush Response, after he declined to move with the rest of them to Los Angeles, California.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, Flowers attended an Oasis concert, and realizing that he wanted to make the transition from a keyboard band to a true rock band, began searching for a guitarist.[citation needed] He responded to an ad that Dave Keuning had placed in the paper that listed, among other bands, The Cure and Oasis as influences. Keuning later stated that his first impression of Flowers was "I thought he had weird shoes... He had the same shoes Oasis had - Clarks!".[3] After several short-lived bassists and drummers, Flowers and Keuning were joined by bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci and they became the Killers in August 2002.[3] Vannucci later said that, even with songs like "little dwarf versions of what we have now, Brandon wasn't afraid to just get up there and just do it. You need that when you're trying to get something off the ground. As far as the drive goes, Brandon was never half-assed."[3]
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] Although primarily a vocalist and keyboardist, Flowers plays bass guitar live in concerts for the song "For Reasons Unknown".
[edit] Personal life
On August 2, 2005, Flowers married longtime girlfriend Tana Munblowsky in a private ceremony in Hawaii.[6] The two dated for approximately four years before they wed. On July 14, 2007, the Flowers' first child, a boy named Ammon Flowers, was born.[7]
Flowers is a devout Mormon.[3][2] He has described his personal faith as a "very important" part of his life. He has joked that "I don't think the make-up would go down so well at church." Flowers has also stated that he does not oppose gay rights, saying "I think everybody should have equal rights."[8]
He is also a golf fanatic and his cousin, Craig Barlow, is a professional golfer.
[edit] Controversies
Flowers was known for initiating feuds between The Killers and other bands, such as The Bravery, Fall Out Boy, and Panic at the Disco.[citation needed] On July 14, 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." Frontman Sam Endicott (of The Bravery) and bassist/frontman Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) reportedly received, and accepted, telephone apologies prior to the article's publication. With regard to the criticisms leveled 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."[9][10] Flowers has also criticized Green Day for what he sees as their calculated anti-Americanism. Specifically, Flowers found the 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."
Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright wrote a song about Flowers called "Tulsa" for his fifth album "Release The Stars". Wainwright has stated in numerous interviews that it was inspired by their first meeting in a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Wainwright, Flowers was "very flattered and somewhat bashful" about this tribute.[11]
[edit] Awards
Flowers won NME magazine awards in 2005 for "Best Dressed" and "Sexiest Man."[12]
[edit] References
- ^ Interview Interview reprinted at Live Journal fan website.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "SPIN.com: The Lady Killer: An Interview with the Killers' Brandon Flowers". Spin.com. Published November 2004. Accessed March 3, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer Brandon Flowers. The Guardian.
- ^ Timmermans, Arjan (2005). "Arranging Flowers". Genre Magazine.
- ^ Flowers' Ouija death threat[1]
- ^ No byline (2005). "Killers Singer Brandon Flowers Marries Longtime Girlfriend" VH1.com (accessed Oct. 14, 2006)
- ^ Wigney, James(July 29, 2007). "More from The Killers" Retrieved July 28, 2007.
- ^ "Interview with Brandon Flowers" ArjanWrites.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
- ^ Killers Bury Hatchet With Panic!, Fall Out Boy - PopEater Music Blog
- ^ http://www.buzznet.com/tags/brandon%20flowers/journals/57640
- ^ http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22328312-5006024,00.html News.com.au
- ^ (2005). "Shockwave NME Awards - The Winners NME.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
[edit] External links
- The Killers official site, from Island Records
- The Killers official site (U.K.), from the Vertigo label
- "The Music That Changed My Life: Brandon Flowers", Interview by Kyle Anderson, from Spin magazine
- "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
- Songs of Praise, Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer about resisting temptation, from The Observer
- [2] Indie Rock Fans Website]
|
|||||||||||||||||
