Brandon Flowers (The Killers)

Brandon Flowers, frontman of The Killers, joins Vernon to choose ten songs from his life, including tracks by The Cure, The Smiths, Frank Sinatra and Tom Petty.

Brandon tells Vernon about how his early musical discoveries often came from his brothers, as well as a love of country music from his dad. He describes a life-changing moment when he got to see Oasis in Las Vegas, then how the UK played a key role for the band with their very first release. Brandon also discusses some of the moments when he has got to meet and perform with his heroes, like The Cars, Pet Shop Boys and Bruce Springsteen.

Brandon Flowers grew up in Las Vegas, then Utah, moving back to Vegas in his teens and forming his band, The Killers. After being turned down by many labels, they got their first single released on an English label, with the song Mr Brightside, which soon became a hit here and global attention soon followed. Debut album Hot Fuss topped the charts in 2004, as have all seven of the band's records to date. Mr Brightside has spent over 500 weeks in the UK top 100 and is now the third biggest song in the UK of all time. Brandon's new solo album is called Thrasher and was recorded in Nashville. He describes the country-influence on the record as having found "my way back to my father's music." He will be back in the UK in October for a solo tour.

You can watch this episode of Tracks Of My Years and more with guests such as Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and The Rolling Stones on BBC iPlayer and Radio 2's YouTube channel, just search for 'Tracks Of My Years'.

A BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 2.