Will Rev revive the band?

DESPITE leaving his pop-star career in the Eighties to become a priest, Rev Richard Coles, who formed chart-topping The Communards with singer Jimmy Somerville, admits that they never officially parted ways.

‘We still haven’t split up,’ he says. ‘It’s a bit like an aristocratic marriage where you live separate lives, you haven’t seen each other for 30 years, but you never actually got divorced. The last time I saw Jimmy was a few years ago, we bumped into each other at the BBC.

‘It was lovely to see him, I love him and respect him enormously.

‘We saw the worst of each other and the best of each other.’

And he admits: ‘I can understand why a return to what we were doing in the Eighties might not be something he or anyone would think would be wise.’