Kele

Kele Okereke first gained recognition as Bloc Party's vocalist, primary songwriter, and guitarist, yet he simultaneously carved out a separate path through solo releases that ranged across electronic experimentation and reflective, folk-leaning singer-songwriter material. His initial foray arrived with the 2010 album The Boxer. A subsequent move toward glossy dance textures defined 2014's Trick. An introspective, landscape-oriented turn shaped 2017's Fatherland, marking another reinvention. Closing the decade, he synthesized these threads with added soul elements on the politically charged 2042.

Born in Liverpool, England, to Nigerian parents, Okereke relocated with his family to London during secondary school. It was in that setting that he first met Russell Lissack, later Bloc Party's guitarist. While at university the pair launched the Angel Range, which soon expanded to include bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong. In 2003 the group adopted the name Bloc Party and built its reputation on a run of post-punk-inflected recordings that began with the singles "Banquet" and "She's Hearing Voices," followed by the albums Silent Alarm in 2005, A Weekend in the City in 2007, and Intimacy in 2008.

Late in 2008 Okereke settled in Berlin and started writing personal material that leaned more heavily on electronics than his band's already angular style. He also guested on Tiësto's "It's Not the Things You Say" in 2009, the same year Bloc Party entered a hiatus. The next year he issued his first solo single, "Tenderoni," and the XXXChange-produced debut album The Boxer, whose songs drew from the concentration and stamina of prizefighters. The companion Hunter EP appeared in 2011. Later that year he rejoined Bloc Party for their hard-rocking fourth album, Four, released in 2012.

Okereke spent the balance of the 2010s alternating between Bloc Party commitments and solo work. After teaming with British DJ Sub Focus on the 2013 track "Turn It Around," he released the house- and dub-inflected Heartbreaker EP. Another EP, Candy Flip, preceded the sleek second solo album Trick, which merged electronic textures with pop-focused songwriting and appeared on his own Lilac Records imprint. Bloc Party's fifth album, Hymns, incorporating gospel and R&B into ethereal electronica, arrived in 2016. Okereke's wide-ranging third solo album, Fatherland, drew from his new role as a father, his African heritage, and artists such as Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Al Green. Recorded in Portland, Oregon, and featuring contributions from Corinne Bailey Rae and Years & Years' Olly Alexander, the album surfaced in October 2017.

After pausing solo activity for a 2019 anniversary tour of Silent Alarm with Bloc Party, he resumed personal projects with the fourth album 2042. Addressing social topics with greater urgency than Fatherland, Okereke confronted racism and politics on tracks including the Afrobeat-driven single "Jungle Bunny." That same year his musical Leave to Remain premiered in London, echoing the concerns foregrounded on 2042.