About Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You " , which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Other commercially successful singles include "Promised You a Miracle" , "Glittering Prize" , "Someone Somewhere in Summertime" , "Waterfront" , "Alive and Kicking" , "Sanctify Yourself" , "Let There Be Love" , "See the Lights" , and the UK number one single "Belfast Child" .
Simple Minds have achieved 24 top 40 singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 23 top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart, including five number one albums: Sparkle in the Rain , Once Upon a Time , Live in the City of Light , Street Fighting Years , and Glittering Prize 81/92 . They have sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, and were the most commercially successful Scottish band of the 1980s. Simple Minds have had chart success in the United States, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy and New Zealand. Despite various personnel changes, they continue to record and tour.
In 2014, Simple Minds were awarded the Q Inspiration Award for their contribution to the music industry and an Ivor Novello Award in 2016 for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors . Other notable recognitions include nominations for both the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction and MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction for "Don't You " in 1985, nomination for the Brit Award for British Group in 1986 and for the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group in 1987. "Belfast Child" was nominated for the Song of the Year at the Brit Awards 1990.
Singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill are the two members who have been with the band throughout its whole history. The other current band members are bassist Ged Grimes, drummer Cherisse Osei, backing singer Sarah Brown, guitarist and keyboardist Gordy Goudie and keyboardist Erik Ljunggren. Notable former members include keyboardist Mick MacNeil, bassists Derek Forbes and John Giblin and drummers Brian McGee and Mel Gaynor.
The roots of Simple Minds are in the short-lived punk band Johnny & The Self-Abusers, founded on the South Side of Glasgow in early 1977. The band was conceived by would-be Glasgow scene-maker Alan Cairnduff, although he left the job of organising the band to his friend John Milarky. At Cairnduff's suggestion, Milarky teamed up with two musicians he had never worked with before – budding singer and lyricist Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill. Kerr and Burchill had known each other since the age of eight. After joining Johnny & The Self-Abusers, they brought in two of their school friends, Brian McGee on drums and Tony Donald on bass With Milarky established as singer, guitarist and saxophonist, the line-up was completed by his friend Allan McNeill as third guitarist. Kerr and Burchill also doubled on keyboards and violin respectively. In common with the early punk bands, various members took on stage names—Milarky became "Johnnie Plague", Kerr became "Pripton Weird", McNeill chose "Sid Syphilis" and Burchill chose "Charlie Argue".
Johnny & The Self-Abusers played their first gig on Easter Monday, 11 April 1977, at the Doune Castle pub in Glasgow. The band played support to rising punk stars Generation X in Edinburgh two weeks later. The band went on to play a summer of concerts in Glasgow, but soon split into two factions, with Milarky and McNeill on one side and Kerr, Donald, Burchill and McGee on the other: at the same time, Milarky's compositions were being edged out in favour of those of Kerr and Burchill. In November 1977, Johnny & The Self-Abusers released its only single, "Saints and Sinners", on Chiswick Records . The band split on the same day that the single was released, with Milarky and McNeill going on to form The Cuban Heels. Ditching the stage names and the overt punkiness, the remaining members continued together as Simple Minds making their very first performance at Glasgow's Satellite City on 17 January 1978.
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