The singer of the British pop group Erasure has said he is HIV-positive.
Following a news report printed in Finland on Wednesday, Andy Bell made a statement on the band’s website revealing he has known for more than four years that he has the disease, which causes Aids.
”I found out I was HIV-positive in June 1998 when I had a bout of pneumonia in Mallorca. Since then I have been taking combination therapy and I am feeling fine; in fact, I have never felt better,” he said in the statement.
”Being HIV[-positive] does not mean that you have Aids. My life expectancy should be the same as anyone else’s, so there is no need to panic,” he said.
Bell (40) is one of the few British celebrities to admit being HIV-positive. He follows Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Holly Johnson, who revealed his illness in 1993 and continues to live in London.
Freddie Mercury, the famed frontman for the British group Queen, died of Aids in 1991, only days after admitting to suffering from the disease.
Bell formed Erasure with band member Vincent Clarke in 1985, turning out a signature sound heavy on synthesiser and catchy dance beats.
Top singles including A Little Respect, Sometimes and Oh L’Amour helped push five of their albums into Britain’s number-one slot.
A new Erasure album, Nightbird, will be released in January ahead of a European tour the following month.
Bell’s partner of the past 20 years, Paul Hickey, will discuss the singer’s HIV condition in a book he is writing, due out next year.
Bell also said he has recently had a double hip replacement but said he is ”in better shape now than he has been for some time”. — Sapa-AFP