Brandon Flowers Biography

Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, best known as the frontman, vocalist, and keyboardist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. He announced his solo career on April 29, 2010 on The Killers official website.

Flowers, the youngest of six children, was born on June 21, 1981 in Henderson, Nevada (near Las Vegas) to parents of partial Scottish and Lithuanian ancestry. Growing up, his mother was homemaker and his father worked for a grocery store. His father joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Flowers was five years old. They lived in Henderson until Flowers was eight, when they moved to Nephi, Utah. Flowers lived in Nephi until his junior year in Juab High School, when he moved back to Las Vegas to live with his aunt.

Brandon's brother, Shane, 12 years his senior (born July 4, 1969 and sung about in The Killers song "Sam's Town") is said to be most responsible for Flowers' musical development; he showed him Smiths videos and U2's Rattle and Hum movie. His older brother also introduced him to The Cars, Morrissey, and The Cure. Musically, Flowers is an anglophile and a fan of English bands New Order, The Smiths, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and Oasis. He credits the Pet Shop Boys 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. 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." He states that seeing an Oasis concert, particularly their performance on Don't Look Back In Anger, made him decide to pursue a career in music.

Brandon Flowers, after dropping out of college, was a bellhop for a short while at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 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. Shortly thereafter, Flowers attended an 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. 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 that he was wearing the same shoes Oasis had. After several short-lived bassists and drummers, Flowers and Keuning were joined by bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci and became the Killers in August 2002. Vannucci later said that, even with songs like "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."
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' early performances.

Flowers' debut solo album Flamingo was announced on April 29, 2010 following a three-day countdown on The Killers' official website. An instrumental clip of a song, presumably from the album, was posted along with options to sign up to a mailing list to "hear the latest on Brandon's solo record" and to join the band's official fan club to receive possible additional benefits when Flowers tours with the album. Flowers has yet to reveal if he will be touring for this record. In an interview with NME, Flowers revealed the titles of two tracks; "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" and "Hard Enough", a duet with Jenny Lewis. Flowers also stated the album would include a gospel song.
The first single from Flamingo, "Crossfire", was released on 21 June (Flowers' birthday). The album is set to be released September 14.