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.
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Join the Simple Minds mailing list to be the first to know what’s coming in 2025! Plus watch the video diary by @cherissedrums, with a behind the scenes look at the 2024 Global Tour and interviews with the band.
Sign up through the link in bio.
Join the Simple Minds mailing list to be the first to know what’s coming in 2025! Plus watch the video diary by Cherisse Osei, with a behind the scenes look at the 2024 Global Tour and interviews with the band.
Sign up here: https://simpleminds.os.fan/exclusive-simple-minds-content
Join the Simple Minds mailing list to be the first to know what’s coming in 2025! Link in bio.
'Don't You (Forget About Me)' has surpassed 1 billion streams on @Spotify!
Simple Minds are happy to announce that 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify! Thank you to everyone for a great year of streaming in 2024.
‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ turns 40 in 2025, so look out for more news and announcements ...coming soon!
Simple Minds are happy to announce that ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ has surpassed 1 billion streams on @spotify! Thank you to everyone for a great year of streaming in 2024.
‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ turns 40 in 2025, so look out for more news and announcements coming ...soon!
SIMPLE MINDS: NEW SUNSHINE MORNING: TAORMINA, SICILY.
"I was in a bad way. Creative confidence shattered, increasingly I felt spiritually broken and beyond repair.
But almost as soon as I began setting up home in Taormina, I began to feel re-energised in every way. Reborn ...even!
Looking back on it all now, I realise that I owe so much to Sicily "
Jim Kerr
Simple Minds, New Sunshine Morning on Youtube
*Simple Minds perform two shows on 26/27 July 2025 @ Teatro Di Antico, Taormina, Sicily. Tickets are on sale now via link in bio.
SIMPLE MINDS: NEW SUNSHINE MORNING: TAORMINA, SICILY.
"I was in a bad way. Creative confidence shattered, increasingly I felt spiritually broken and beyond repair.
But almost as soon as I began setting up home in Taormina, I began to feel re-energised in every way. Reborn ...even!
Looking back on it all now, I realise that I owe so much to Sicily "
Jim Kerr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbDb1crnuOo
*Simple Minds perform two shows on 26/27 July 2025 @ Teatro Di Antico, Taormina, Sicily,
Tickets are on sale now: https://simpleminds.com/tour/
Charlie Burchill with fingers in full flight as he solo's during Simple Minds' Summer Tour 2024.
Look out for more from Charlie next year when Simple Minds get busy with yet more touring.
In the meantime what is your favourite Charlie Burchill guitar solo?
Pic Ian Wilson.
Join the Simple Minds mailing list to be the first to know what’s coming in 2025! Plus watch the video diary by @cherissedrums, with a behind the scenes look at the 2024 Global Tour and interviews ...with the band.
Sign up through the link in bio.
Simple Minds are happy to announce that ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ has surpassed 1 billion streams on @spotify! Thank you to everyone for a great year of streaming in 2024.
...‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ turns 40 in 2025, so look out for more news and announcements coming soon!
SIMPLE MINDS: NEW SUNSHINE MORNING: TAORMINA, SICILY.
"I was in a bad way. Creative confidence shattered, increasingly I felt spiritually broken and beyond repair.
But almost ...as soon as I began setting up home in Taormina, I began to feel re-energised in every way. Reborn even!
Looking back on it all now, I realise that I owe so much to Sicily "
Jim Kerr
Simple Minds, New Sunshine Morning on Youtube
*Simple Minds perform two shows on 26/27 July 2025 @ Teatro Di Antico, Taormina, Sicily. Tickets are on sale now via link in bio.
Charlie Burchill with fingers in full flight as he solo's during Simple Minds' Summer Tour 2024.
Look out for more from Charlie next year when Simple Minds get busy with yet more ...touring.
In the meantime what is your favourite Charlie Burchill guitar solo?
Pic Ian Wilson.
NEW GENERATION!
Simple Minds tribute band City Of Light - A Tribute to Simple Minds posts:
"A new GENERATION of fans is coming! I promise, that's not our own kids, nor those of ...friends. It's a real new generation of fans who know all the Simple Minds albums, songs, lyrics.
It was a blast for us to play for them at our "Sparkle In The Rain/New Gold Dream" tribute gig."
‘VIRGIN MARY’
We'd love it, if you liked it!
And you might well like it?
Or perhaps, you might not?
I'm talking about 'YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS' - Simple ...Minds latest song release.
Maybe you’ll like it less at first, but begin liking more some months or even years later.
Alternately, you might like it immensely straight off, only to find you soon can’t bear to hear it a while later.
That you neither like nor dislike, feeling it’s all just a bit ‘OK’.
I’m talking about 'YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS' - Simple Minds latest song release.
Additionally, there is always a possibility you’ve had enough ‘Minds’ in a lifetime already - and have no desire to even listen!
Or perhaps the type who mutters.
“What’s so special? I could DO THAT myself. “
As I increasingly do whenever I ‘eat out.’
Despite the fact that deep down, I know I couldn’t.
Because if I could, then what the f*ck is stopping me?
More positive though, since you are reading this?
Evidently you do still have a little space in your life for Simple Minds.
So, thanks a ton for that!
Because where would we be without people still willing to listen to our music, paying attention to all we do?
The answer?
At this time of year, most likely be on some faraway beach, watching both the sunrise and the sunset. Raising a toast - strawberry daiquiri maybe?
And if you believe that?
You have no idea who we are?
For it would be Macallan for one, a ‘Virgin Mary’ for the other.
To be sipped slowly while listening repeatedly to Scotland’s greatest ever band - The Associates.
But who are we anyway?
We are Simple Minds of course, and we’ve been Simple Minds for a very longtime.
And just this last week, in case I haven’t mentioned it, so far, we released our latest single. ‘YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS’
One of literally hundreds of songs we have released to date, and one in about twenty or more new Simple Minds songs written and demoed over this past year or two.
Some of those new songs you might also soon get to love.
Others, well maybe not so much?
And that’s just the way it is when you are in Simple Minds. We wouldn’t want to have it any other way!
Cheers!
Jim Kerr
THE STARS AND STRIPES!
Man wearing white shoes with green stripes, dressed in a black coat with a fake fur collar, walks into a jeweller's shop in Taormina, Sicily.
Words are ...whispered, money is exchanged.
Minutes later, as the town clock strikes 6 and the church bells begin ringing out 'Ave Maria' - the same man exits with Pinocchio's head in his hands.
Laughing to himself, he calls out to no one in particular. "Che bella settimana è stata!"
(What a great week it's been!)
Then walks briskly along Corso Umberto, gradually disappearing into the surrounding starry night.
The significance of this story?
It's the opening gambit of a much bigger story and nothing that I would want to share here.
Another time, another place maybe.
Hotel Villa Angela perhaps?
Should we ever have the pleasure of meeting?
Meanwhile, I can tell you that unlike the little marionette from Carlo Collodi's novel.
I was not being deceitful earlier this year while at the 'Cruel World' in Pasadena, California.
Those who were there might recall that my last sentiment before leaving the stage - was that Simple Minds would be returning to North America with a view to touring extensively in 2025.
Well, a promise is a promise and 2025 feels like it is now right around the corner!
So keep the faith.
And I'll keep the head!
More info coming soon.
Real soon!
Jim Kerr
Pic Antonio Lo Turco
Instagram: @antonioloturco1
Hotel Villa Angela Taormina
Simple Minds The Jeweller Part 2 on Youtube
DON'T FORGET TOMORROW NIGHT...LISTEN IN TO BILLY SLOAN ON BBC RADIO SCOTLAND, SATURDAY 14th DECEMBER 10 pm (UK)
Billy writes "My special guest on this week's show is Jim Kerr of ...Simple Minds.
We got together to look back at the band's incredible success in 2024 ... and preview their forthcoming open-air show at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow next summer with special guests Future Islands and KT Tunstall .
In a wide-ranging interview Jim discusses the new single 'YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS' recalling also the sessions for their 1985 album, Once Upon A Time ... the biggest selling record of their career.
He talks frankly about his lifelong friendship with music partner Charlie Burchill.
And he has some surprising things to say about what the future holds for the Scottish supergroup.
So join me Billy Sloan - in conversation with Jim Kerr - on BBC Radio Scotland this Saturday at 10pm."
Pic : Margaret Nikolovena
"Brilliantly entertaining and searingly honest, ONE LOVE, ONE LIFE is an incredible insight into the music industry, the stars we love and an unmissable backstage pass for music fans everywhere."
Available on Amazon
LISTEN IN TO BILLY SLOAN ON BBC RADIO SCOTLAND, SATURDAY 14th DECEMBER 10 pm (UK)
Billy writes "My special guest on this week's show is Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.
We got ...together to look back at the band's incredible success in 2024 ... and preview their forthcoming open-air show at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow next summer with special guests Future Islands and KT Tunstall .
In a wide-ranging interview Jim discusses the new single 'YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS' recalling also the sessions for their 1985 album, Once Upon A Time ... the biggest selling record of their career.
He talks frankly about his lifelong friendship with music partner Charlie Burchill.
And he has some surprising things to say about what the future holds for the Scottish supergroup.
So join me Billy Sloan - in conversation with Jim Kerr - on BBC Radio Scotland this Saturday at 10pm."
The critically acclaimed documentary ‘Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible’ will be available on @bbciplayer in the UK from 10pm GMT tonight, coinciding with its special broadcast on ...@bbcscotland.
Directed by @josscrowley, the film chronicles the remarkable journey of Simple Minds—from their punk-inspired beginnings in 1970s Glasgow to their stratospheric rise in the 1980s and beyond.
The documentary features interviews with band members, as well as fellow musicians Bob Geldof, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri, Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, writer Irvine Welsh, actress Molly Ringwald, and album producers John Leckie, Pete Walsh, Steve Hillage, Trevor Horn, and Jimmy Iovine.
Listen to the new single ‘Your Name in Lights’, which is featured in the documentary through the link in bio.
Simple Minds today release a brand new single ‘Your Name in Lights’!
The track is featured on the soundtrack of their critically acclaimed documentary ‘Everything Is Possible’, and ...is available to stream and download now.
We’re pleased to announce that this Tuesday, Simple Minds’ career-spanning documentary ‘Everything Is Possible’ arrives on @bbciplayer and airs on @bbcscotland at 10pm GMT.
Plus, ...tune in to @zoetheball on @bbcradio2 tomorrow from 9am GMT for a little surprise. You won’t want to miss this!
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The critically acclaimed documentary 'Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible' will be available on @BBCiPlayer in the UK from 10pm GMT tonight, coinciding with its special broadcast on ...@BBCScotland.
We’re pleased to announce that this Tuesday, Simple Minds' career-spanning documentary 'Everything Is Possible' arrives on @BBCiPlayer and airs on @BBCScotland at 10pm GMT.
Simple Minds will bring their Global Tour to the Guitare en Scène Festival in Saint Julien en Genevoix on Wednesday 16 July.
Tickets are on sale now: ...https://www.guitare-en-scene.com/billetterie
Waterfront - Live on Top of the Pops, 1983.
#SparkleInTheRain40
Simple Minds will be joined on various dates of their UK summer tour next year by special guests @AlisonMoyet, @ChinaCrisisUK and @KTTunstall.
Tickets on sale now: ...https://www.simpleminds.com/tour/
Just announced, Simple Minds will be performing at @bospop festival in Weert on Saturday 12th July 2025.
Tickets are available from Friday December 6 at 11am CET via ...https://bospopfestival.nl/tickets/
Italy 🇮🇹 Simple Minds will be performing a second show at Teatro Antico di Taormina next year on July 26th.
Tickets are on sale now: https://www.simpleminds.com/tour/
Enjoy up to 50% off selected items in the official Simple Minds stores during their #BlackFriday sale, running from Friday 29 November at 00:01 to Monday 2 December.
Music: ...https://store.simpleminds.com/
Tour Merch: https://tourstore.simpleminds.com/collections/black-friday-up-to-50-off
Simple Minds are set to perform at two festivals in Spain and France next summer.
The band will take the stage at @MurciaOnFest on Saturday 19 July, followed by Le Son by Toulon on Wednesday... 23 July.
Tickets for Murcia are on sale now: https://bit.ly/MurciaSM
Out now – Simple Minds' 1984 album 'Sparkle In The Rain' is now available as a 4CD box set to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary: https://simpleminds.lnk.to/SITR
Tickets for Simple Minds' 2025 show at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires are now on sale: https://www.simpleminds.com/tour/
Available as a 4CD box set, transparent blue vinyl, and new Dolby Atmos mixes available digitally.
Buy and stream the album now, and shop exclusive 'Sparkle In The Rain' t-shirt ...designs here:
Listen to content by Simple Minds.
simpleminds.lnk.toJoin the Simple Minds mailing list to be the first to know what’s coming in 2025! Link in bio.
'Don't You (Forget About Me)' has surpassed 1 billion streams on @Spotify!
Simple Minds today release a brand new single 'Your Name in Lights'! #SimpleMinds #NewMusic
Simple Minds - Your Name In Lights (Official Audio)
Waterfront - Live on Top of the Pops, 1983. #SimpleMinds
Celebrate 40 years of 'Sparkle In The Rain' with new anniversary products released today!
Waterfront - Live at the @isleofwightfest, 2024. #SimpleMinds
Tickets on sale now. #SimpleMinds #Glasgow #LiveMusic
Simple Minds released 'Alive and Kicking' this week in 1985. #SimpleMinds #AliveAndKicking
This month in 2005 saw the release of 'Black & White 050505', Simple Minds' fourteenth studio album.
The Breakfast Club director John Hughes talks about using ‘Don't You (Forget About Me)' 🍿 #80s
Big Music - Live in Edinburgh, 2015. #SimpleMinds #LiveMusic