Simply Red

It is hard to believe, but art college student Mick Hucknall decided to become a band soloist at the concert of the legendary punks Sex Pistols. His first band played punk as well and had the name of The Frantic Elevators. It did not get wide popularity and was disbanded after seven years of existence, catching the attention only by their last single Holding Back The Years. Hucknall got acquainted to manager Elliot Rashman and started the search for session musicians in order to record the first album. In 1984, the band acquired the name Simply Red – after Mick's nickname Red, pointing at his red hair. The debut album of the collective called Picture Book was released in 1985, generating two major hits - Holding Back The Years in pop arrangement and the cover for The Valentine Brothers's famous song Money's Too Tight (To Mention). After this release, the appearance of Simply Red became the biggest musical event of 1986.

The second album Men and Women, released in 1987, manifested the image change of the collective. At the time of Picture Book the members of Simply Red looked like the underground representatives, while by the time of the second attempt they wore classical suits and bowler hats, better fitting for the soul with funk influence performers. The third disc of this band, A New Flame, was ready in 1989, changing the course of Simply Red to high-quality pop-music. The elegant cover for Harold Melvin's pop-hit If You Don't Know Me By Now became the first step on this path. By that moment, the Simply Red leader became a world famous star, which caused controversies in the collective. In 1991, in order to prevent any misunderstanding, Hucknell announced that since that moment Simply Red should be seen as "essentially a solo project". In 90s, the band saw the decline in its popularity, especially in the USA. However, albums, released in that decade – the jazzy Stars, dance-oriented Life, Blue and Love and The Russian Winter were no disappointment for the devoted fans of Simply Red.

In 2003, the band saw the new breath of popularity due to the release of the disc Home, featuring both brilliantly fulfilled covers and brand new things. It should be noticed that this work became the first record to be done at the independent Hucknall's label Simplyred.com. The Simplified album, issued in 2005, brought a new life to the classical hits of the band, giving their "simplified" versions. In March 2007, the full-length titled Stay, which cheered the listeners by the amusing Hucknall's vocals and above-average material. The disc was decorated with such catchy melodies as the title track Stay, fiery Oh! What A Girl and the blues-rocky Money TV, in which the soloist criticized the culture's growing orientation to the profit. In 2009, the band headed of to a tour, which was called the last one, citing Hucknall. He said that 25 years are a lot of time, and would like to finish the Simply Red's story at the Stay album. In 2009 the compilation album 25: The Greatest Hits was issued. It includes the best songs, created by Simply Red. The release of another compilation album titled Songs Of Love that proved to be as interesting as its predecessor took place in 2010. During the whole career the musicians managed to create a great number of hits, and for many music lovers these compilation albums will become a real present, because the choice of the compositions is excellent indeed.