Brandon Flowers
923811
225111368
2008-07-11T22:50:28Z
202.76.140.39
{{tooshort|date=May 2008}}
{{BLPsources|date=February 2008}}
{{otheruses4|the musician|the football player|Brandon Flowers (American football)}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| Name = Brandon Flowers
| Img = Brandon-Flowers-The-Killers.jpg
| Img_size =
| Landscape =
| Background = solo_singer
| Birth_name = Brandon Richard Flowers
| Born = {{birth date and age|1981|6|21}}
| Origin = [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| Real Home = [[Manchester, England]], [[United Kingdom|U.K.]]
| Instrument = [[lead vocals|Vocals]], [[keyboards]]/[[piano]], [[bass guitar|bass]]
| Genre = [[Post-punk revival]], [[Alternative rock]], [[Indie rock]]
| Occupation = [[Musician]], [[Songwriter]], [[Vocalist]]
| Years_active = 2001–present
| Associated_acts = [[The Killers (band)|The Killers]]
| URL =
| Notable_instruments = [[Clavia Nord Lead 2]]<br>[[microKORG]]
}}
'''Brandon Richard Flowers''' (born [[June 21]], [[1981]]) is the [[vocalist]] and [[keyboardist]] of the [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]-based [[indie-rock]] [[rock band|band]] [[The Killers (band)|The Killers]].
==Early life==
Brandon Flowers, the youngest of six children, was born on [[June 21]], [[1981]] in [[Henderson, Nevada]] (outside [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]) to parents of partial [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[Lithuania]]n ancestry.<ref name=Interview> Interview [http://community.livejournal.com/_killmenow_/71160.html Interview] reprinted at [[Live Journal]] fan website.</ref> He has one older brother and four older sisters.<ref name="Spin"/> Flowers' family lived in Henderson until he was eight and then moved to [[Nephi, Utah]].<ref name="Spin">[http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/2004/11/lady_killer_interview_killers_brandon_flowers/ "SPIN.com: The Lady Killer: An Interview with the Killers' Brandon Flowers"]. [http://www.spin.com/ Spin.com]. Published November 2004. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> 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]].<ref name="Spin"/> 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.<ref name="Observer"/><ref name="Spin"/> He has since attributed his [[fashion sense]] to his doting sisters.<ref name=Genre>Timmermans, Arjan (2005). [http://www.genremagazine.com/2005/6-1/magazine/content/str8dude.cfm "Arranging Flowers"]. ''Genre Magazine''.</ref>
The person most responsible for Flowers' musical development is his brother Shane, 12 years his senior, who showed him [[The Smiths|Smiths]] videos and [[U2]]'s ''[[Rattle and Hum]]'' movie.<ref name="Spin"/> His older brother also introduced him to [[the Cars]], [[the Beatles]], [[Morrissey]], and [[the Cure]].<ref name="Spin"/> 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.<ref name="Observer">[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1877578,00.html Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer Brandon Flowers]. ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> 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."<ref name="Spin"/> 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 [[Number_600#620s|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."<ref name=Ouija>Flowers' Ouija death threat[http://europe.real.com/guide/bang/1/4180.html]</ref>
==Career==
Flowers, after dropping out of [[college]], was a [[bellhop]] for a while at the [[Gold Coast Hotel and Casino]] in Las Vegas.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} 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|Los Angeles]], [[California]].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} Shortly thereafter, Flowers attended an [[Oasis (band)|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.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} 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!"<ref name="Observer"/> After several short-lived [[bassist]]s and [[drummers]], Flowers and Keuning were joined by bassist [[Mark Stoermer]] and drummer [[Ronnie Vannucci]] and they became The Killers in August 2002.<ref name="Observer"/> Vannucci later said that, even with songs like "[[brown dwarf|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."<ref name="Observer"/>
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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Although primarily a vocalist and keyboardist, Flowers plays bass guitar live in concerts for the song "[[For Reasons Unknown]]".
==Personal life==
On [[August 2]], [[2005]], Flowers married his longtime girlfriend in a private ceremony in [[Hawaii]].<ref name=vh1>No byline (2005). [http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1507029/20050805/killers_the.jhtml "Killers Singer Brandon Flowers Marries Longtime Girlfriend"] VH1.com (accessed Oct. 14, 2006)</ref> 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.<ref>Wigney, James(July 29, 2007). [http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,23739,22148918-5003421,00.html "More from The Killers"] Retrieved July 28, 2007.</ref>
Flowers is a devout [[Mormon]].<ref name="Observer"/><ref name="Spin"/> 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." <ref>[http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2005/06/interview_with_.html "Interview with Brandon Flowers"] ''ArjanWrites.com'' (accessed April 12, 2006)</ref>
[[Image:Brandon wiki.jpg|thumb|Flowers playing the piano in [[T in the park]] 2007.]]
==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]].{{Fact|date=May 2007}} 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."<ref>[http://www.aolmusicnewsblog.com/2006/07/25/killers-bury-the-hatchet-with-panic-fall-out-boy?ncid=AOLMUS00050000000034 Killers Bury Hatchet With Panic!, Fall Out Boy - PopEater Music Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>http://www.buzznet.com/tags/brandon%20flowers/journals/57640</ref> 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 (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. [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22328312-5006024,00.html]
Flowers also had a feud with [[Tom DeLonge]] of [[Angels & Airwaves]] after Tom called him a "boast biter". This remark came when Flowers was quoted saying ''[[Sam's Town]]'' would be "one of the best albums in the past twenty years." DeLonge made a similar remark before the release of his band's debut album, ''[[We Don't Need To Whisper]]''.
==Awards==
Flowers won [[NME Awards|NME magazine awards]] in 2005 for "Best Dressed" and "Sexiest Man."<ref name=sexy>(2005). [http://www.nme.com/awards/news/19257 "Shockwave NME Awards - The Winners] ''NME.com'' (accessed April 12, 2006)</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{wikiquotepar|Brandon Flowers}}
{{commonscat|Brandon Flowers}}
*[http://www.thekillersmusic.com/ The Killers official site], from [[Island Records]]
*[http://www.thekillers.co.uk/ The Killers official site (U.K.)], from the Vertigo label
*[http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/2005/11/051118_flowers/ "The Music That Changed My Life: Brandon Flowers"], Interview by Kyle Anderson, from ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' magazine''
*[http://nn.byu.edu/story.cfm/57889 "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]]''
*[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1877578,00.html Songs of Praise], Craig McLean talks to the Killers' singer about resisting temptation, from ''[[The Observer]]''
*[http://www.killershotel.com] Indie Rock Fans Website]
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{{The Killers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Brandon}}
[[Category:1981 births]]
[[Category:American keyboardists]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:American male singers]]
[[Category:American rock musicians]]
[[Category:Scottish-Americans]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Nevada musicians]]
[[Category:People from Las Vegas, Nevada]]
[[Category:The Killers members]]
[[Category:Utah musicians]]
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