1. Kele Okereke is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the indie rock band Bloc Party.
23 Facts About Kele Okereke
1. 2.
Kele Okereke is of Igbo descent and was raised Catholic in Edinburgh and London.
3.
Kele Okereke knew fellow East London guitarist Russell Lissack through friends, and the pair established Bloc Party in 1999 at the Reading Festival.
4.
Kele Okereke did not reveal to his parents that he was a musician until Bloc Party were signed; he then quit university.
5.
Kele Okereke reflected in 2007 that the album's lyrics were too abstract, and that he had been inspired by the Smiths to write more direct lyrics.
6.
Kele Okereke responded critically to comments made by Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis in early 2007.
7.
Kele Okereke replied by calling Oasis "the most overrated and pernicious band of all time" and that "They have made stupidity hip".
8.
Kele Okereke opined that despite Oasis' love of the Beatles, they did not evolve like their heroes and were "repetitive Luddites".
9.
When Oasis cancelled their headlining set at the Rock en Seine festival in August 2009 and eventually broke up, Kele Okereke broke the news to the crowd and referred to the Gallaghers as "those inbred twins".
10.
In 2011, Kele Okereke reunited with Bloc Party to record the band's fourth album, Four, which was released in August 2012.
11.
The album was released under the name Kele Okereke, dropping his surname.
12.
On 13 September 2011, NME and Wichita Recordings announced that Kele Okereke would be releasing a follow-up to The Boxer; an EP titled The Hunter.
13.
On 23 July 2014, Kele Okereke announced his second solo album, entitled Trick, to be released on his own label Lilac Records via Kobalt Label Services on 13 October 2014.
14.
The album was released under the name Kele Okereke, again dropping his surname.
15.
In May 2021, Kele Okereke released his fifth studio album entitled The Waves Pt.
16.
In March 2023, Kele Okereke released his sixth studio album following on from The Waves entitled The Flames Pt.
17.
Kele Okereke wrote in 2011 that he felt a subtext in interviews mentioning his race, namely that he was being told that British rock music was not for black people.
18.
In October 2008, Kele Okereke moved to Berlin to seize the city's music oriented spirit.
19.
Kele Okereke then moved to New York City until 2011, and said that the experience made him "radicalised as a black man" as he noted segregation in the United States; he said that the situation was better in the UK as his music was appreciated by largely white audiences.
20.
In March 2010, Kele Okereke came out as gay in a BUTT magazine article.
21.
Kele Okereke then gave an interview and appeared on the June 2010 cover of Attitude magazine.
22.
Kele Okereke endorsed Labour's Jeremy Corbyn in a 2017 webchat with The Guardian.
23.
In 2022, Kele Okereke gave his opinion that apart from some artists such as Slowthai, Idles and Billy Bragg, few were standing up to racism in the United Kingdom.