Andy Bell on new solo album ‘Ten Crowns’, working with Debbie Harry, and Brighton Pride 2025 performance
The icon will be filling Sunday's Icon slot at Brighton Pride: Pride On The Park 2025 on Sunday 3 August with a full band and a set packed with new tracks and Erasure classics
By Dale Fox
“I said to Boy George, ‘Don’t worry about it – it’s fantastic that you’re doing it, and it’s really brave,’” says Andy Bell, remembering a late-night 1980s moment in legendary London club Heaven as George was emotional over the lack of support for his anti-section 28 anthem ‘No Clause 28’. “We’ve been pals since then.”
It’s a reminder that the dancefloor is where queer people have always gathered, grieved, and resisted. That spirit lives on through Ten Crowns, Bell’s new solo album, a record that arrives at a time when queer joy feels quietly radical again. Though the album has been over a decade in the making, its timing couldn’t feel more apt.
We meet in a hotel lobby near the Tower of London, with Bell arriving fresh from a TV appearance to discuss his upcoming Brighton Pride performance. His husband Stephen – also his manager – brings over a glass of white wine as we sit practically knee-to-knee at the end of a long coffee table. Around us, guests enjoy flat whites and tap on laptops, likely unaware a pop icon is sitting just metres away.
Ten Crowns is the result of a long-time collaboration with Nashville-based producer Dave Audé, Bell tells me. “We started writing together years ago – we’d meet up whenever we could, sometimes in LA, sometimes in Nashville – and before we knew it we had a body of work that needed finishing,” he explains between sips.
The record is packed with references and nods to the artists who’ve inspired him. “There’s a track called ‘Lies So Deep‘ that I wrote thinking, ‘What if Whitney Houston made a comeback record?’ And then the chorus is a bit Fleetwood Mac. That’s how I write – I always imagine who else might be singing it.”
“She’s got filthy stories” – Andy Bell on Debbie Harry
A highlight of the album is a duet with Debbie Harry on ‘Heart’s A Liar’, also released as a single. “Luciana Caporaso and her husband wrote it – she’s a huge Debbie fan – and I reworked the verse and bridge in a way I thought Debbie would sing them. She cried when she heard it.” Bell and Debbie’s friendship goes way back, including vodka-fuelled nights out and long chats on Cyndia Lauper’s True Colors tour. “She’s got filthy stories,” he grins. “But I can’t tell you any of them.”
Despite the fun, Ten Crowns also has spiritual roots. “It’s named after a tarot reference – the ten crowns on the Kabbalah’s tree of life. It felt symbolic of a life or career, moving through stages of love, hate, enlightenment.”
Andy Bell’s been in the business for over 40 years now, something he puts down to “not taking the industry too seriously” and always keeping a solid group of friends around him. “The music business isn’t forgiving. You get one or two shots now – there’s no artist development anymore. You’ve got to have people who are with you whether you’re up or down.”
“Brighton’s still got soul” – Andy Bell on Brighton Pride
This summer, he’ll be filling Sunday’s Icon slot at Brighton Pride: Pride On The Park 2025 on Sunday 3 August with a full band and a set packed with new tracks and Erasure classics. “Brighton Pride just gets the balance right,” he says. “Pride used to feel free. Now you get corporate stuff and those wristbands feel like handcuffs. But Brighton’s still got soul.”
Tickets for Brighton Pride: Pride On The Park 2025 are available now from the event’s website.
Ten Crowns by Andy Bell is out on 2 May and is available to pre-order through Andy Bell’s website.