Simply Red

One of the most popular U.K. bands of the 1980s, the soulful English pop group Simply Red formed in 1984 around singer Mick "Red" Hucknall, who formed a backing band out of the rhythm section of Durutti Column along with guitarist Sylvan Richardson and a keyboard player. Their 1985 debut, Picture Book, contained the group's biggest U.S. hit, "Holding Back the Years," which made them temporarily popular in America. Their 1987 follow-up Men and Women contained only one minor U.S. single but was quite popular in Britain; not long after Men and Women came out Richardson quit the band, setting the stage for a series of lineup changes over the next few years. By 1990 Simply Red faded from public consciousness in the United States, but remained immensely successful in Britain, where their No. 1 album Stars was the biggest-selling release of 1991, selling nearly nine million copies worldwide. 1995's Life spawned the No. 1 U.K. single "Fairground." A "greatest hits" compilation was released in 1996.

Simply Red's latest effort, Love & the Russian Winter, was released in November 1999 on Elektra.

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