The Communards formed in 1985 after singer Jimmy Somerville left his earlier band Bronski Beat to team up with classically trained musician Richard Coles. Somerville often used a falsetto singing style. Coles, though mainly a pianist, played a number of instruments and had been seen previously performing the clarinet solos on the Bronski Beat hit "It Ain't Necessarily So". They were joined by bass player Dave Renwick who had also played with Bronski Beat.

 

The name Communards refers to the revolutionaries of the 1871 Paris Commune. The name seems to have been used to express political sympathies while avoiding immediate connections to contemporary activism.

 

The band had their first UK Top 30 hit in 1985 with the piano-based number 30 single "You Are My World". The following year, they had their biggest hit with an energetic Hi-NRG cover version of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' soul classic "Don't Leave Me This Way"