Are Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles still friends? People keep asking this all the time because, let’s face it, The Communards were amazing and then they just stopped. So what happened? Are Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles still mates or did they fall out properly?
The short answer is yes, they are still friends. The long answer brings us to HIV lies, grief, becoming a vicar and them both ending up on the south coast like every other gay man over 60 does.
Two Gay Runaways In 1980s London
Jimmy Somerville wasn’t some nobody when he met Richard Coles. He’d already done Bronski Beat. What band was Jimmy Somerville in before The Communards? Bronski Beat, where he’d made his name with that impossibly high falsetto.
Smalltown Boy had made him famous. That song about a gay kid having to leave home because of who he was? Everyone knew it. Everyone felt it. If you were different in the ’80s, that song was yours.
Richard was this posh bloke from Kettering who could play the piano like nobody’s business. Classically trained. Bit of a boffin. Nothing like Jimmy, really. Jimmy was street. Council estate, Glasgow. Voice like a choirboy who’d seen some things.
After Jimmy left Bronski Beat, they founded The Communards in 1985. Truth was, members of the Communards were just them two, although they collaborated with other musicians. Sarah Jane Morris sang on their huge hit. And yet it was the band of Jimmy and Richard. Their partnership.
Don’t Leave Me This Way Changed Everything
Don’t Leave Me This Way went to number one in 1986. Four weeks at the top. Jimmy Somerville songs like this one weren’t just covers; they were statements. It was enormous. Disco, pop, completely gay, completely brilliant. Radio played it everywhere. People danced to it in clubs across Britain. A proper queer anthem disguised as a disco banger.
Their music wasn’t just catchy, though. It had politics in it. Messages about freedom and love and being yourself when the whole world was telling you not to. This was the 80s.
Section 28 was on its way, which more or less said you didn’t want schools to “promote” homosexuality. AIDS was killing people everywhere. Gay men were terrified. The Communards made music you could dance to whilst also saying, “We’re here, we’re queer, deal with it.”
Sarah Jane Morris, who sang on that track, is still in touch with them both apparently. Richard mentioned in an interview that they’ve all migrated to the south coast now. Jimmy’s in Brighton. Richard’s in East Sussex. They still catch up sometimes.
The Split That Wasn’t Just About Music
The Communards split in 1988. Bands break up. That’s normal. But there was something else at play in this separation. Richard had told Jimmy he was HIV positive. Except he wasn’t. He’d lied about it.
Can you even imagine? The ’80s were terrifying for gay men. People were dropping like flies. Friends, lovers, people you’d seen the previous week. The fear was tangible and never-ending. H.I.V. was a death sentence in those days. No treatments. Just a slow, horrible decline.
Jim was in his own dark place. He’d lost people. Watched the community get decimated. Then Richard’s like, “I lied about having HIV?” That damaged their friendship badly. Jimmy, discussing it years later with The Independent. Said it was a difficult time, which sounds like British understatement for “it was absolutely awful.”
They actually didn’t speak for ages after that. Years, probably. Life went in completely different directions.
Richard Became A Vicar
Richard Coles became Reverend Richard Coles, which nobody saw coming. Got ordained in the Church of England. A former keyboard player in a gay synth-pop duo becomes a vicar. Nobody saw that coming, did they?
Richard Coles partner David Coles, died in December 2019 from alcoholic liver disease. Richard’s been incredibly open about grieving, which takes guts. He wrote about it and talked about it on the radio, whilst also dealing with horrible people sending him letters saying David was burning in hell. Imagine getting that whilst you’re trying to grieve.
In 2023 he revealed he was seeing someone new, actor Richard Cant. Richard Coles’ net worth is estimated to be around £1.5 million from his varied career in music, broadcasting, and writing. He’s done loads of broadcasting now. I’m A Celebrity in 2024. Podcasts. Books. Moved to Friston in East Sussex in 2022 to be near friends.
His life now looks nothing like his life in the 80s. But he’s never had the luxury of pretending that part never happened. He talks about The Communards. Talks about Jimmy. Doesn’t hide from any of it.
Jimmy Somerville Now Is Still Jimmy Somerville
Where does Jimmy Somerville live now? Brighton, which makes perfect sense. Brighton’s been the gay capital of Britain for decades.
Jimmy Somerville partner details aren’t public because he keeps his private life actually private, which seems sensible given how the tabloids can be.
Jimmy Somerville kids? No public record of any. Again, he’s kept all that stuff private. Whether he has kids or not is his business, really.
Jimmy Somerville net worth gets estimated at around £5 million, though who knows if that’s accurate? These celebrity net worth sites just guess half the time. He’s had a long career, though. Bronski Beat. The Communards. Then solo stuff like You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Read My Lips. He’s toured constantly. Built a proper devoted fanbase.
His influence on LGBTQ+ music and culture is massive. That voice. That visibility. That refusal to hide who he was when being open could genuinely get you killed. He paved the way for every openly gay pop star who came after. When you see queer artists now living their truth without apology, part of that is because Jimmy did it first in the 80s when it was actually dangerous.
He’s still performing. Still an activist. Still proud. The 40th anniversary edition of The Age of Consent, Bronski Beat’s debut album, came out recently. He’s not stuck in the past but he’s not running from it either.
So Are Jimmy Somerville And Richard Coles Still Friends Then?
Right, back to the actual question. Are Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles still friends? Yeah. They are.
Richard told Retro Pop Magazine in 2022, “It’s always good to see him and I will always be very grateful for him and love him very much.” That’s not just interview politeness. That’s real.
He also said to Classic Pop Magazine, “Communards was something we went through together uniquely as equal partners. I’d love to see more of Jimmy, because reflecting on that experience is something I can only do with him.”
They’re not working together. They’re not making music or planning tours. Their lives went in completely different directions. One became a vicar and ended up on I’m A Celebrity. The other kept making music and being an icon. But the bond from those intense years in the 80s hasn’t gone away.
Richard jokes about how all gay men over 60 have moved to the south coast. It’s funny because it’s true. They live near each other now in Sussex and Brighton. They stay in touch. They’ve forgiven whatever needed forgiving. Time healed what needed healing.
Why Their Friendship Actually Matters
Look, it’s easy to be cynical about celebrity friendships. But this one matters beyond just nostalgia for 80s pop.
They were young, openly gay men making music during one of the most frightening periods for the LGBTQ+ community in modern Britain. They faced homophobia constantly. From the press. From the public. Even from inside the music industry. They watched friends die from AIDS. They made art anyway. They insisted on being visible anyway.
That shared trauma creates bonds that don’t just vanish because you stop working together or because someone lies about something serious during a terrifying time. Forgiveness happens. Growth happens. Maintaining genuine affection across decades and completely different life paths? That happens too.
Different Paths, Same Foundation
Richard’s this unlikely national treasure now. He is a vicar, broadcaster, Strictly and I’m A Celebrity contestant, writer, and podcaster. He is nothing like the 80s pop star self. But that past is what gives him depth that people find interesting.
Jimmy’s still the activist. Still the voice. He is the icon who never sold out. Never acted like anything other than a proud gay man who makes music and fights for equality. He could have gone mainstream; he toned himself down and made more money. He didn’t. He stayed himself.
Their friendship enduring everything it has survived says something hopeful, doesn’t it? Relationships can evolve. People can grow in completely divergent ways and still be connected with each other. Shared history matters. Forgiveness exists. Love, whatever form it takes, can last.
The Reality Of It
They’re not best mates that hang out every week. They are not working up new music together. They may not even be texting every day or dropping by for dinner. That’s not what their friendship is now.
But when Richard talks about Jimmy, you can hear the real affection. When they do see each other, it means something. The Communards period was theirs, and theirs alone. No one else had to go through that specific experience. No one else who made that music took that backlash or lived through that time together.
That creates a bond that lasts even when you don’t see each other much. Even when life takes you in wildly different directions. Even when one of you becomes a vicar and the other stays a pop icon.
So yes, they’re still friends. Real friends. The kind that last decades because they’re built on something that mattered, something that survived the worst of times and came out intact. Not working together anymore. Not living in each other’s pockets. But friends. Proper ones. The kind worth keeping.
