Blue singer Simon Webbe has seen first-hand the battle for acceptance within the LGBTQ+ community, with his daughter and bandmate Duncan James both openly gay. The All Rise hitmakers are back on the scene with their first new album in seven years, Heart & Soul, set for release in September, brand new single Haven’t Found You Yet, and a UK tour to follow in November.
It will also mark the delayed 20th anniversary celebrations of their debut, which fell in 2021 but, y’know, Covid happened.Blue have certainly seen and done it all over two decades, with all the pop success they could want, raucous parties, dream collaborations and even a Eurovision stint.
However, they’ve also had their challenges which, for Duncan, was the attention surrounding his sexuality. The 44-year-old announced he was bisexual in 2009 before later coming out as gay.
Recalling that time in his life, Duncan told Metro.co.uk: ‘There was a time in 2006 when we disbanded, I was really frightened about coming out because of my sexuality and the thought of doing anything with Blue scared me. ‘I wanted to be in the background and didn’t want that level of attention… it was so intense. ‘At that point Lee wanted to do his solo album and I was happy for the band to go their separate ways, and when I look back now, I really regret that because what a shame.