Steve Bronski, keyboardist and co-founder of UK synthpop trio Bronski beat, has died. According to The Guardian, a source close to Bronski Beat has confirmed Bronski’s death. No cause of death has been given. Bronski was 61.

Steve Bronski was born Steven Forrest in Glasgow, where he grew up in public housing. He was openly gay, and he moved to London in 1983. Later on, Bronski claimed that he made the move because of his family’s refusal to accept his sexuality. That same year, Bronski founded Bronski Beat with singer Jimmy Somerville, another Glaswegian, and fellow keyboardist Larry Steinbachek. All three members of the band were gay, and they were clear and open about supporting other gay people in their music and their public statements.

Bronski Beat signed with London Record, and their 1984 debut single “Smalltown Boy” told the story about a gay kid who moves to London after facing oppression at home. The video was a mini-movie about a kid who’s beaten up and forced out of his home for being gay. “Smalltown Boy” was a worldwide hit, peaking at #3 in the UK. In the US, “Smalltown Boy” became Bronski Beat’s only charting single, and it peaked at #48. Bronski Beat released their debut album The Age Of Consent at the end of 1984, and its liner notes included the legal age of consent for gay sex in different countries around the world. The LP went platinum in the UK.

Bronski Beat’s sound was shimmering, blippy dance-pop, driven by Jimmy Somerville’s high and unearthly voice. After “Smalltown Boy,” the group scored more hits in the UK, including a version of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” that they recorded with Soft Cell leader Marc Almond. Jimmy Somerville left the group in 1985, going on to form a new band called the Communards, and Bronski Beat went on with a succession of different singers. The group went on to release two more albums and to land a few more UK hits before breaking up in 1995.

Steve Bronski kept producing and working with different artists, and he spent much of the ’00s living in Thailand. In 2016, the year that his former Bronski Beat bandmate Larry Steinbachek died of cancer, Bronski put together a new version of Bronski Beat. A year later, he released a revamped version of The Age Of Consent called The Age Of Reason.

Below, check out some of Bronski Beat’s work.