Brandon Flowers
Brandon Richard Flowers is the American front-man, keyboardist and primary lyricist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers and has launched out in solo performing.
He was born on June 21, 1981, in Henderson, Nevada. He has one brother, Shane, and four sisters. He is of Scottish and Lithuanian descent. He’s the son of working-class parents; his father worked for a grocery store, and his mother was a homemaker. The family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes casually called the Mormon Church, when Brandon was five years old. Though Brandon once wavered in following the dictates of the Church (mostly the health laws, or “Word of Wisdom),” he has said in his early 2000 interviews that his faith is becoming more and more important to him. For example, in an interview with Jonathan Ross on May 29, 2009, Flowers stated that he both grew up and chose to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He also stated that he has not used alcohol for a very long time (in accordance with Church practices). In an interview with CBS News, Flowers said, "I don't go to church because I got nothing better to do on Sundays; I really believe it! I don't know what my life would be like without it. I think I would have been a casualty of rock 'n' roll."[1]
Flowers’ family lived in Henderson until he was eight, when they moved to Nephi, Utah. The family also lived in Payson, Utah, for awhile. Flowers lived in Nephi until his junior year in Juab High School, when he moved back to Las Vegas to live with his aunt. Flowers’ brother Shane, 12 years his senior, is responsible for introducing him to a wide variety of music. Oasis and The Cure were preferred bands. He is also a huge fan of U2. The Killers are known for their originality, both in lyrics and musical style.
The Killers was formed in 2002, with Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, and drummer Ronnie Vannucci. Although primarily a vocalist and keyboardist, Flowers occasionally plays piano and plays the bass guitar live in concerts for the song "For Reasons Unknown." Keuning left the band in 2017 to pursue a solo career.
Flowers married his long-time girlfriend, Tana Brooke Munblowsky, in a small, private ceremony on August 2, 2005 in Hawaii. Tana converted to the Church of Jesus Christ shortly before the wedding. Brandon and his wife have three sons, Ammon, Gunnar, and Henry, born in 2007, 2009, and 2011, respectively. They moved to Utah after pinpointing that Las Vegas triggered Tana's complex PTSD illness. [2] They split their time between Park City, Utah, and Las Vegas.[3]
Flowers is a golf fan and his cousin, Craig Barlow, is a professional golfer. He is also a keen soccer fan and is a supporter of English based side Everton Football Club.
Flowers won NME magazine awards in 2005 for "Best Dressed" and "Sexiest Man." He also won the award for "Most Stylish Man" at the 2008 GQ awards. In the 2008 awards the Killers won "best band in America" and "best track in America" at the NME Awards. The Killers won Best International band at the NME Awards in 2009.
In August 2019, The Killers released their sixth studio album "Imploding the Mirage." Of it, Flowers said, “Most of this record is about me and my wife becoming eternal, and the question, ‘Can two become one?’ I wanted to to capture the beauty of perseverance. If ‘Wonderful Wonderful’ was about me going into some of the uglier sides of life, this one is more celebratory.”[4]
The seventh studio album, "Pressure Machine," was released in 2021. It is based on Flowers' childhood in Nephi, Utah.[5]
- Adapted from Wikipedia.org
- More at Latter-day Saint Musicians.com
- Reactions to Brandon Flowers' 2011 "I'm a Mormon" Video
- More Reactions to Brandon Flowers' "I'm a Mormon" Video
