Biography
Scottish rock band Simple Minds have been on an extraordinary journey – from humble beginnings in post-punk 1970s Glasgow to becoming one of the UK’s most successful and pioneering bands – selling over 60 million records, achieving six number one albums, topping the American chart with ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’, and playing sold-out stadiums across the globe.
2022 saw the release of their eighteenth studio album, ‘Direction Of The Heart’, which reached #4 in the UK charts.
Simple Minds have achieved five No.1 albums as well hitting the top spot in countless other territories including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is that people say to me what Simple Minds are you talking about? The avant-garde, the art-rock, the pop, the ambient, the instrumental group, the political, the folk, the stadium band? We’ve been on one hell of a journey. To play all those different styles but at the same time be quintessentially Simple Minds is an amazing thing.” Jim Kerr.
Simple Minds have been musical pioneers for 40 glittering years. Catching the mood of the post-punk era, when the angry sounds of 1977 were splintering into a thousand different shapes. They went on to become one of the great bands of their generation, deploying rousing choruses and booming atmospherics to provide a soundtrack that has endured.
Topping the American chart with Don’t You (Forget About Me) and in the UK with Belfast Child and selling over 60 million records, they have seen three of their 20 studio albums reach number one in the UK – Sparkle In The Rain, Once Upon A Time and Street Fighting Years – a chart-topping feat equalled by their live album Live In The City Of Light and the compilation Glittering Prize. A spellbinding touring band, they have graced the world’s biggest stadiums, starring at Live Aid and playing three momentous London shows in honour of Nelson Mandela.
2022 saw the release of their eighteenth studio album, ‘Direction Of The Heart’, hitting #4 in the UK charts.
Social Feed
The presale is now live for the Simple Minds V Tour 2027 dates in Australia and New Zealand, featuring very special guest @garynuman.
If you've already signed up, your presale access is now available.
General sale starts Friday 19 June at 9am local time.
The presale is now live for the Simple Minds V Tour 2027 dates in Australia and New Zealand, featuring very special guest @numanofficial.
If you've already signed up, your presale access is now available.
General sale starts Friday 19 June at 9am local time.
CANADA O CANADA
It was exactly one year ago today that Simple Minds made the day’s drive from Providence to Quebec. Montreal and Toronto eagerly waiting, both supporting the band since their earliest days and could always be counted on for a warm welcome.
Still, no one was prepared for ...the electric atmosphere and overwhelming response at the shows that followed. Simple Minds can’t wait to return to Canada — hopefully soon!
CANADA O CANADA
It was exactly one year ago today that Simple Minds made the day’s drive from Providence to Quebec. Montreal and Toronto eagerly waiting, both supporting the band since their earliest days and could always be counted on for a warm welcome.
Still, no one was prepared for ...the electric atmosphere and overwhelming response at the shows that followed. Simple Minds can’t wait to return to Canada — hopefully soon!
The Doors originally released 'Riders on the Storm' in June 1971. #SimpleMinds #TheDoors
@thedoors originally released ‘Riders on the Storm’ in June 1971. This live cover was captured during Simple Minds’ 2015 Big Music Tour in Edinburgh. In 2023, Jim Kerr spoke about the impact the band’s late frontman, Jim Morrison, had on his own life. Visiting Morrison’s grave for a ...second time, he approaches the iconic poet/singer’s life with a changed perspective.
You can listen to the full documentary on @bbcsounds.
The Doors originally released 'Riders on the Storm' in June 1971. This live cover was captured during Simple Minds' 2015 Big Music Tour in Edinburgh. In 2023, Jim Kerr spoke about the impact the band's late frontman, Jim Morrison, had on his own life. Visiting Morrison's ...grave for a second time, he approaches the iconic poet/singer's life with a changed perspective.
You can listen to the full documentary on BBC Sounds here: https://found.ee/JimArchive4
.@TheDoors originally released 'Riders on the Storm' in June 1971. This live cover was captured during Simple Minds' 2015 Big Music Tour in Edinburgh.
ON WORDS AND MUSIC
My passion, my gig, it's what I'm paid to do.
Singing and writing have defined my life, yet I’m luckier still: after more than two hundred and fifty sets of lyrics completed, writing continues to feel natural, although never easy.
A solitary ...activity, a sort of meditation where I see the tune as the skeleton; with the lyrics as skin and clothing. There is no need for truck-loads of equipment. Likewise, no studio, or rehearsal room necessary. A fountain pen and some paper is good enough for me to write lyrics, as long as all else around me is quiet.
The world is full of people who can play an instrument. But I ain't one of them. Guitar, piano, drums. All involve learnable skills; and with enough dedication most people can reach a competent enough level.
Lyric writing doesn’t work that way however. You can’t teach someone to find the unexpected angle on a universal truth. Where a musician might be able to hide behind the sound of an instrument, great lyricists bare their thoughts and their souls.
It takes both in equal measure to make a song, and while music opens doors, it’s the lyrics of a song that turn it into a world people can enter.
That is why at live concerts you'll hear audiences singing along with 'the words.'
Sure. A melody can stay with you forever. But it’s the words that speak to our collective dreams, fears, joys, and sorrows.
Jim Kerr: Villa Angela. Taormina. Sicily.
Pic. Fiona Sutherland.
@fsutherlandart
The presale is now live for the Simple Minds V Tour 2027 dates in Australia and New Zealand, featuring very special guest @garynuman.
If you've already signed up, your presale access is... now available.
General sale starts Friday 19 June at 9am local time.
CANADA O CANADA
It was exactly one year ago today that Simple Minds made the day’s drive from Providence to Quebec. Montreal and Toronto eagerly waiting, both supporting the band since their ...earliest days and could always be counted on for a warm welcome.
Still, no one was prepared for the electric atmosphere and overwhelming response at the shows that followed. Simple Minds can’t wait to return to Canada — hopefully soon!
@thedoors originally released ‘Riders on the Storm’ in June 1971. This live cover was captured during Simple Minds’ 2015 Big Music Tour in Edinburgh. In 2023, Jim Kerr spoke about the impact ...the band’s late frontman, Jim Morrison, had on his own life. Visiting Morrison’s grave for a second time, he approaches the iconic poet/singer’s life with a changed perspective.
You can listen to the full documentary on @bbcsounds.
ON WORDS AND MUSIC
My passion, my gig, it's what I'm paid to do.
Singing and writing have defined my life, yet I’m luckier still: after more than two hundred and fifty sets of ...lyrics completed, writing continues to feel natural, although never easy.
A solitary activity, a sort of meditation where I see the tune as the skeleton; with the lyrics as skin and clothing. There is no need for truck-loads of equipment. Likewise, no studio, or rehearsal room necessary. A fountain pen and some paper is good enough for me to write lyrics, as long as all else around me is quiet.
The world is full of people who can play an instrument. But I ain't one of them. Guitar, piano, drums. All involve learnable skills; and with enough dedication most people can reach a competent enough level.
Lyric writing doesn’t work that way however. You can’t teach someone to find the unexpected angle on a universal truth. Where a musician might be able to hide behind the sound of an instrument, great lyricists bare their thoughts and their souls.
It takes both in equal measure to make a song, and while music opens doors, it’s the lyrics of a song that turn it into a world people can enter.
That is why at live concerts you'll hear audiences singing along with 'the words.'
Sure. A melody can stay with you forever. But it’s the words that speak to our collective dreams, fears, joys, and sorrows.
Jim Kerr: Villa Angela. Taormina. Sicily.
Pic. Fiona Sutherland.
@fsutherlandart
Simple Minds return to Australia and New Zealand for their V Tour 2027 to celebrate five decades of music, with very special guest @garynuman.
Sign up now for presale access at the link in ...bio.
Presale access begins Thursday 18 June at 9am local time. General sale starts Friday 19 June at 9am local time.
13 Feb – Perth RAC Arena
16 Feb – Adelaide AEC Arena
18 Feb – Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
20 Feb – Sydney Qudos Bank Arena
21 Feb – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
25 Feb – Auckland Spark Arena
27 Feb – Wellington TSB Arena
01 Mar – Christchurch Wolfbrook Arena
FAMILIAR FACES
1984 and I was having problems with my voice on stage.
Simple Minds were touring and recording continuously, a bigger level of success was approaching and with it came ...the demand for more and more interviews. Exciting times, but I was using my voice all day, every day. Inevitably there was a price to be paid and it is how I found myself paying close attention to a 'laryngologist's' words of wisdom.
"Just as any athlete needs recovery days, singers need vocal rest to stay healthy throughout a tour. Rest will protect your voice and extend your career. Unless absolutely necessary, don't talk before and after gigs. Keep it all for being on stage. Keep it for the audience. Silence is your best medicine."
Advice I took to heart and to this day those words have never left me.
On tour it means I don't get to chat with fans. However, during summer months whenever not on tour and out and about in Taormina — I'll come across people who introduce themselves as followers of Simple Minds, many familiar faces among them.
In those moments it feels right to engage in a bit of chit-chat. Eyes light up as favourite gigs get discussed, favourite songs and albums too. Guaranteed the question is always asked. "So when are you going to tour again?"
I never tire of hearing how much Simple Minds means to them, as it does to all of us involved.
Jim Kerr: Villa Angela, Taormina, Sicily.
image: Fiona Sutherland Artist @fsutherlandart
This is who we are and what we do…the prism through which we try to make sense of the world - JK
ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
"It was summer. It was light. And it was so unmistakable, with the Pasadena audience surrendering themselves to the music.
40,000 people, lost in something ...together, simply and completely alive in the moment. Then during Cherisse's solo, I slipped away to the back of the stage and stood still for a minute or so.
I had entered one of those rare suspended moments, when time loosens its grip, when reality quietly overflows its own edges, and I was suddenly struck, almost physically, by a rush of gratitude.
Gratitude for that moment, and for all those moments like it, that Simple Minds audiences have given over the years. Each and every one, a gift."
Jim Kerr
“Step in, step out of the rain.”
Waterfront - Live at Isle of Wight Festival, 2024.
“We have a strange relationship with a few of our biggest successes, ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ being the most obvious example. A song achieves everything you ever wished for, yet you feel... conflicted because it didn’t happen in exactly the way that you had hoped or imagined. It’s an irony that I appreciate a little more the older I get.” - Jim
Released in May 1987, Live in the City of Light captures the energy of the Once Upon a Time world tour, documenting a special era for the band and going straight to No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. ...Those original recordings went on to inspire a trilogy of live albums, followed decades later by Live in the City of Angels (2019) and Live in the City of Diamonds (2025).
Listen to the Simple Minds Live playlist on Spotify.
SIMPLE MINDS No1 IN AMERICA. Thanks to Jo-Ann Graham who posts: 18th of May. On this day in 1985 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' knocked Madonna off the top spot and put Simple Minds at ...the top of the Billboard chart. Cementing a place in pop music history, the tune is both a live favourite and still loved by fans the world over to this day
The UK’s new Labour government needs to dust off the ISC’s 2020 Russia Report classified annex with a view to sanitising and publishing it. The British people should know why Boris Johnson ...suppressed the report and just how far Putin and his cronies have corrupted our democracy.
The challenge for political broadcasting is enormous, and rather satisfying to watch. After years of personality-driven and chaotic, shallow politics coverage across much of the media, which was ...largely about instability, gossip and leadership crises we now have a govt with
There are a handful of BBC journalists who present themselves as neutral. They are to be admired. As for the Tory shills, GBNEWS awaits.
Only 1 month left until the special edition release of 'Home' on vinyl!
Newly mastered from the original production tapes, it includes a beautifully designed gatefold sleeve with ...lyrics, credits, and a previously unseen photo.
Pre-order your copy here: https://simplyred.tmstor.es/
The Doors originally released 'Riders on the Storm' in June 1971. #SimpleMinds #TheDoors
This is who we are and what we do…the prism through which we try to make sense of the world - JK
This is Don’t You (Forget About Me) #SimpleMinds #BreakfastClub #80s
What books have had the biggest impact on you? #SimpleMinds
Cherisse and Sarah talk backstage in Glasgow during the 2022 tour 📹
Back in 1985 this week, ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ broke into the UK Top 10 at No.7. #SimpleMinds
Like a glittering prize, I saw you up on a clear day #SimpleMinds #Acoustic
Simple Minds released their debut album Life in a Day this week in 1979. #SimpleMinds #70s
"Wherever you are that night, this is the only night on Earth." #SimpleMinds
See The Lights - Top Of The Pops, 1991 #SimpleMinds #LiveMusic
"Anywhere you go, you know I'll still be waiting." #SimpleMinds
