About Kele Okereke
Rowland Kelechukwu "Kele" Okereke // ⓘ , also known mononymously as Kele, is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the indie rock band Bloc Party. Additionally, he has released six studio albums as a solo artist.
Okereke was born in Liverpool on 13 October 1981, the son of Nigerian immigrant parents. He is of Igbo descent and was raised Catholic in Edinburgh and London. From 2001 to 2003, he studied English literature at King's College London.
In 2005, Bloc Party released their first studio album, titled Silent Alarm. The album reached number three in the UK Albums Chart, and propelled the band to fame. Despite this, Okereke continued to study English literature at university. Until the release of Silent Alarm, he had kept his musical activities secret from his parents.
The band released their second album A Weekend in the City on 5 February 2007 in the UK and 6 February in the US. The album debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 with 48,000 copies sold, and reached the No. 2 spot in the UK Albums Chart. For the album, Okereke chose more personal and political subjects for songs. A family friend, Christopher Alaneme, had been murdered in a racist attack, while London bartender David Morley was beaten to death in a possibly homophobic "happy slapping" incident. Okereke has claimed that these events, combined with the 7 July London bombings, "galvanised mindset" and prompted him to make the lyrics "dark, bigger and quite abrasive".
It became available via the UK's iTunes Store a day ahead of schedule, on 4 February. The first single, "The Prayer", was released on 29 January, having been made available on Myspace on 22 November 2006. It reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, still the group's highest placing. The next single, "I Still Remember," was the album's first in the US. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee.
In the build-up to the release of the album, Zane Lowe aired a live set from the BBC studios at Maida Vale featuring a mix of old songs and new ones on his evening radio show on BBC Radio 1 on 30 January 2007. The band also scheduled their first gig with the second album at Reading Hexagon to coincide with the UK release date. On 1 February 2007, A Weekend in the City was made available to listen to for free through the band's official Myspace website.
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