SIMPLY RED
(UK, seven Top 40 hits, three Top 40 albums)

Childhood rooF-lead thief and Mancunian soulster Mick Hucknall started his long road to superstardom back in '85, but even by the end of the decade, he still had a long way to go before he would gain the notorious playboy-cum-maestro which he holds firmly as we live and type. Simply Red (his ginger barnet-inspired nickname helped him choose the band's moniker) flopped several times in '85 before a desperate re-working of the Valentine Brothers funk dole-queue classic "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" ("I can't get an unemployment extension") got to No.13, and introduced the goggleboxer to a gawky, zitty and unstarry looking redhead with a voice to die for. That has always been Hucknall's saving grace - for all his shenanigans and tantrums, his killer vocals will always have you pleading for more. Yet the breakthrough needed more work - three more singles failed to do anything, and only in '86 did the band (Hucknall's dominance rendered the rest totally invisible) re-emerge as a potential stayer, when the re-issued "Holding Back The Years"  ("strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater, gets to me sooner or later") shot to No.2, aided in no uncertain terms by Hucknall's insistence on singing it live on TOTP and forcing many a disgruntled parent to admit that, for once, here was a pop star who could really sing. His performance was astonishing, with every high note pitched perfect, every emotion achieved, every tendon going into that performance. The song was, and still is, a beautiful, poignant, weepy, acoustic masterpiece, and a star had made it. Or so we thought.

 HAUNTING

While a sizeable minority was now worshipping the waste product Hucknall left in his water closet, many more needed convincing that he wasn't a one off in terms of writing prowess. Six releases from '86 to '89 would fail to hit the Top 10, although a brace of them reached No.11, to wit - "The Right Thing" ("I, oh I, oh I am gonna do the right thing") and a shimmering, whispery jazz rendition of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye ("I wonder why a little"). Only when another respectful cover shaved the shelves did the upper echelons beckon again, when Hucknall's haunting screeches wrapped themselves around "If You Don't Know Me By Now" ("you will never never never know me") which peaked at No.2, stopped only by the Bangles. The last hit of the decade was the title track to the third album "A New Flame" ("they just turned me round, a new flame has come") which was his strongest drum- inclusive performance of the decade, yet the bum note with which the next release thumped as it stalled at No.46 (it was "You've Got It") forced a re-think for the incumbent 90s. And what a re-think it was. "Stars" is regarded, ludicrously, as one of the ten greatest albums ever made, when in truth it was probably the best album of that year, and the best by Simply Red, but no more. It sold by the planeload, topped all-time polls, spawned a collection of hits which proved Hucknall had got it spot on, but its pedestalisation was quite absurd. Yet from that album onwards, Hucknall has never looked back.

OPINIONATED

His 90s and Millennium escapades have included Labour Party donations, reunification with the mother who dumped him as a baby (he was brought up solely by his hairdresser dad), duetting with spaced-out reggae idiots, paying for sparkly gold teeth to be inserted into his mouth, meeting royalty, making more cover versions, getting to No.1 at last (the exquisite Goodmen-sampled "Fairground" was the first in '95), growing dreadlocks, and having them cut off again after a sozzled Martine McCutcheon chucked up on his head at an Oasis post-concert jamboree. And of course, he has shamelessly knobbed some of the world's most beautiful women, before dumping them on the reasonable grounds that they were gold-diggers or clingers. Or better still, because they were women. Still opinionated and bluff, and still in possession of a truly stunning voice, he is now in a position to do whatever the hell he likes and sod the rest. Ladies like him because he's hugely rich, talented and, by all accounts, a bit of a goer in the sack. Blokes like him because he tells women to piss off while they're still in the process of re-donning their knickers. And those who want to concentrate purely on the music can do just that.

Biggest Hit: "Holding Back The Years", "If You Don't Know Me By Now", both No.2, 1986 and 1989.
Defining Moment: "Well IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII've wasted all my tears..."

Matt