His band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ruled the charts in the 1980s with their libidinous, unapologetically queer songs. Then he was told he had months to live. As a new exhibition celebrates Johnson’s art and influence, he tells the hidden story
It’s a pop fact that four of the top 10 bestselling singles ever in Britain were written and performed by gay men: George Michael (at No 9 with Wham’s Last Christmas); Freddie Mercury (No 3 with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody); Elton John (No 1 with Candle in the Wind). The fourth is Holly Johnson, leather-clad singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, whose libidinous banger Relax sold over two million copies, and is still the sixth biggest UK single ever.
“I feel quite humble that I’m among such illustrious company,” Johnson says, his scouse accent undiminished by decades down south. He’s in the function room of a posh pub near his house in west London, dressed in black, with a swept-back white quiff and clunky clear Perspex glasses by the fashion brand Jacquemus. “I used to see Freddie in clubs but I was much too shy to approach him. Elton John once took me to dinner and George Michael was there, but we didn’t click. They were such megastars – I never felt in their league.”
