Simply Red Concerts Setlist

Simply Red is an English soul-pop band. They were formed in 1985 in Manchester, United Kingdom. The founding members were vocalist Mick Hucknall (born in 1960 in Manchester, UK), bassist Tony Bowers (1952, Culcheth, UK), keyboardist Fritz McIntyre (1958, Birmingham, UK), brass instrumentalist Tim Kellett (1964, Knaresborough, UK), drummer Chris Joyce (1957, Manchester, UK), and guitarist David Fryman.

Hucknall originally played for a punk band called "The Frantic Elevators". However, that band dismantled in 1984 due to their limited commercial success. After the break-up, Hucknall sought the advice of music manager Elliot Rashman. Hucknall, with the help of Rashman, assembled a line-up of a brand new soul-pop band: you can read the names in the original line-up above. Initially, they went by a number of different names before settling on "Simply Red", which both refers to frontman Hucknall's hair color and the color of their town's biggest soccer club, Manchester United.

In 1985, they signed with the major American record label Elektra Records. The same year, they put out their debut single, "Red Box". After its release, the original guitarist Fryman left and was replaced by Sylvan Richardson. Their debut album, "Picture Book”, was released in October 1985. It became a massive hit, peaking at #2 on the charts in their home country of the UK, while also reaching the #16 spot on the famous Billboard 200 chart over in the US. They also got to go on an international Simply Red concert tour, the “Picture Book Tour” the next year, in 1986.

The band went on to release 9 more studio albums between 1987 and 2007. In 2010, however, frontman Hucknall announced the band’s official dismantlement after a farewell tour. He wanted to focus on his solo career, more geared toward British audiences. The band’s hiatus lasted until November 2014, when they announced a reunion Simply Red concert tour across Europe for the fall of 2015. Since then, the Manchester-based pop band also put out two more studio albums, thus they have 12 in total. The best selling one among them is “Stars” from September 1991, which sold around 9 million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, the latest new Simply Red album came out in November 2019, with the title “Blue Eyed Soul”.

The biggest Simply Red hits to date are “Holding Back the Years” (1985), “If You Don't Know Me by Now” (1989), “Stars” (1991, same title as their album), and “Sunrise” (2003). After many changes, the band’s current line-up is made up of the sole founding member still on board, lead singer Mick Hucknall, saxophonist Ian Kirkham, bassist Steve Lewinson, guitarist Kenji Suzuki, trumpeter Kevin Robinson, keyboardist Dave Clayton, and drummer Roman Roth.