English singer-songwriter Andy Bell was BOTD in 1964. Born and raised in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough to a working-class family, he was bullied as a child for his perceived effeminacy and was sexually active by his early teens. After leaving school, he worked in a shoe store. In 1985, he answered a newspaper advertisement placed by musician Vince Clark (formerly of synth-pop bands Depeche Mode and Yazoo), who was looking for a singer for a new band. Bell and Clark formed the band Erasure, releasing their first album in 1986. They hit international success with their 1987 album The Circus, showcasing Bell’s impassioned torch-song vocals, heavily inspired by Alison Moyet and Judy Garland. Their 1988 album The Innocents reached No 1 in the UK and successfully broke into the US market, with two Billboard Hot 100 hit singles. Erasure went on to become one of the most successful British bands of the decade, releasing four further UK No 1 albums. Their 1992 EP ABBA-esque, a series of covers of ABBA songs with music videos of Bell in drag, helped launch the ABBA revival of the 1990s. Bell continued making albums with Erasure throughout the 2000s, alongside a solo career, collaborating with Cyndi Lauper, k. d. lang, Melissa Etheridge, Boy George and Jake Shears. He bravely came out as gay in 1985, at the height of AIDS-related homophobia, speaking openly about his sexuality in interviews, dressing outrageously in concerts and supporting gay and HIV/AIDS charities. In 1990, he and Vance contributed a cover of Cole Porter‘s song Too Darn Hot to the Red Hot + Blue album to raise money for AIDS release. Ahead of an international tour in 2004, Bell publicly disclosed that he had been living with HIV for six years. Bell was in a long-term relationship with his manager Paul Hickey until Hickey’s death in 2012. He married his partner Stephen Moss in 2013, and lives in London and Miami.