PRIDE ICON AWARD ANDY BELL
Shining light
Back in the 80s, it was common for pop stars to hide their sexuality, but Erasure legend Andy Bell blazed a trail by being unapologetically open about his gayness from the start
Words Dale Fox
Photography Sean Black
I’VE NEVER HAD a problem with being open,” says Andy Bell. “I wear my ‘I heart on my sleeve.”
It’s a simple statement, but one that has defined a career. From the moment he stepped into the spotlight with Erasure in the mid-80s, Bell made the choice to live visibly and truthfully as a gay man. That decision, made in the shadow of Section 28 and a hostile tabloid press, was quietly radical. And for thousands of fans watching on, life-changing. “From the very first interview, I said I was gay and I had a boyfriend. That was it.”
We meet in a London hotel after Bell has been doing press for his latest solo album, Ten Crowns, a dance-filled, introspective project shaped by decades of songwriting and spiritual reflection. “It’s named after a tarot reference,” he says. “The 10 crowns on the Kabbalah’s tree of life — different stages you go through. Love, hate, enlightenment.” His husband Stephen brings him a glass of white wine as we sit down, knee-to-knee, at the end of a long coffee table. Around us, guests drink their flat whites, seemingly unaware that a pop legend is holding court nearby.