Simply Red, Lisa Stansfield, and Soul II Soul

Before lead singer Mike Hucknall formed Simply Red he was in a punk band called the Frantic Elevators. This project was largely spawned as a reaction to the inspirational 1976 Manchester Sex Pistol’s concert of which members of the Fall, the Smiths, and Joy Division were also in attendance. The group had a 7 year career, but never broke into the mainstream; however, their final single “Holding Back the Years” was a critical sensation and was revived by Hucknall’s new group Simply Red.

Simply Red was assembled by both Hucknall and manager Elliot Rashman. Hucknall acted as the key creative figure behind the project acting in conjunction with a variety of session and touring musicians. The harsher textures and barren structures of Hucknall’s punk group seemed to be flipped inside out with Simply Red. The sound typified by this project was lushly produced and exhibited a certain smoothness heard from artists like Barry White, The Temptations, and even crooners like Tom Jones.

In addition to Hucknall, the lineup was initially comprised of keyboardist Fritz McIntyre and ex-The Drutti Column band mates: bassist Tony Bowers, brass player Tim Kellett, and drummer Chris Joyce.

The band signed a record deal with Elektra and released two singles “Red Box” and The Valentine Brother’s cover “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)”. The latter single was a worldwide commercial success and entered the UK and Irish Top 20. It also appeared on the band’s studio debut “Picture Book” along with the Talking Head’s cover “Heaven” and a revamping of “Holding Back the Years”, which went on to top the Irish charts and place at No. 2 on the UK charts.

Simply Red’s 2nd studio album saw release in 1987 and adopted a cleaner, sophisticated soul sound. The standout single “The Right Thing” was another boost in the band’s career, reaching #11 on the UK and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band’s shift towards sophisticated pop was becoming even more evident with their cover of Cole Porter’s jazz-pop standard “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”.

By the time the group released their third album “A New Flame”, it seemed that they were striving to take the charts by storm even if that meant risking artistic experimentation. Their leap into the homogeny of adult-contemporary seemed to be an advantageous career move. They scored another No.1 hit with their cover of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and established themselves as one of the biggest pop acts in the UK.

When Simply Red’s next album “Stars” was released in 1991 the band didn’t necessarily identify as a band. Rather Simply Red was perceived as the music project of Hucknall. At this point most of the original members of the group had left including Bowers and Joyce who were replaced with Shaun Ward and Gota Yashiki. Despite the major reconstruction in the line up “Stars” proved to be the most commercially successful album of Simply Red’s career, becoming the best selling album in Europe for 2 years and producing a whopping 5 Top 40 singles in the UK.

Simply Red saw their first UK No. 1 single with “Fairground”, which spearheaded the release of their 1995 studio album “Life”. This record became a massive hit as well and was documented as the 4th best selling album in the UK at the time. A greatest hits collection followed in 1996, featuring the Aretha Franklin cover “Angel” on which the neo-soul group the Fugees made an appearance. The trend of releasing covers clearly seemed to work for the group and in 1998 they put out the album “Blue”, which contained revisions of Neil Young, Albert Hammond, and Gregory Isaacs tracks.

The album “Love and Russian Winter” followed a year later, but did not produce any significant hits (at least comparative to their prior releases). Though the group continued to tour they delayed album production for a while (which can possibly be attributed to their expulsion from East West Records).

Simply Red’s next studio album “Home” came out in 2003 and went Platinum twice over in the UK and reached Gold status in many other countries. 2005’s “Simplified” consisted primarily of re-workings of the group’s older material, but also contained 4 newly written songs as well as a cover of Leon Russell’s “My Perfect Love”. “Stay” came out 2 years later, reaching gold status in the UK, Poland, and Italy. One year later the band offered another retrospect of their career, releasing their second greatest hits album “Simply Red 25: The Greatest Hits”.

Though Stansfield’s breakthrough in the mainstream was not until 1989, she got her start in the music industry in 1980. During this year she won a singing competition for the program “Search for a Star”. This accomplishment led to a series of appearances in television shows and several single releases. In 1984 she entered in the pop group Blue Zone consisting of her fellow school mates Ian Devaney and Andy Morris. The band put out several singles which would breach their way into the UK top 100 starts as well as America’s “Billboard Hot 100”. Even some of the group’s B-sides such as “Big Thing” became a favorite on radio stations and dance clubs. The group only released one album before Stansfield broke out into her own solo career following the success of the Coldcut single“People Hold On”, which she was featured on.

Almost immediately after the release of this song Arista records signed Stansfield on as a solo artist and in 1989 she put out her first solo full length “Affection”. This album would prove to be the most successful release of her career and one of the most successful releases in soul pop history. The album has gone on to sell 5 million copies around the world and has been certified as 3x platinum in the UK. During its release it topped charts around the world, landing at #1 in Austria and Italy and #2 in Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, Spain and Germany. The album housed her biggest single “All Around the World” . This track peaked to the very top of charts in many countries and scored the #3 position on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was also a critical success and got her two nominations at the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Riding of the hype of this album Stansfield became involved in several charity organizations such as raising money for anti-poverty efforts in Ethiopia and raising awareness for AIDS. She also put out a Christmas single “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, which claimed #1 on the UK Singles Chart for 3 weeks.

Her second full length effort “Real Love” was produced and partially written by her previous Blue Zone bandmates Devaney and Morris.This release was yet another critical and commercial sensation entering the top ten charts across the world and strongly securing a name in both the R&B and hip-hop world. Stansfield followed this up by recording a few singles for movies. In 1992 her song “Someday (I’m Coming Back)” was included in the “The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album” and in the following year her song “In All the Right Places” became the theme song for the dramatic film “Indecent Proposal”.

Stansfield’s involvement in the film industry continued to grow with time and after the release of her third self-titled album she made her film debut in the 1999 movie “Swing”. She also contributed many jazz and swing inspired songs for the soundtrack and even did a duet with one of her music hero’s “Barry White”. Stansfield’s next two albums “Face Up” and “The Movement”, while not as commercially viable as her previous releases, did mark a stylistic change and received positive reviews from the critics. Stansfield ventured into electronic dance and disco music with these releases and was lauded for her more experimental approach. It would be a decade before Stansfield released her long awaited follow up “Seven”. During this music hiatus she was performing in theatre productions and television series such as “The Edge of Love”. Her comeback album was received with near unanimous praise amongst critics and was welcomed in the charts at #13 in UK and Germany, #25 in Austria, #32 in the Czech Republic, and #42 in Switzerland.

Founded by Jazzie B in 1988, Soul II Soul began as a sound system playing records at house and street parties. Featuring a rotating cast of members including Nellee Hooper, Simon Law, Phillip “Daddae” Harvey, and Caron Wheeler, the band's debut release was the dubplate “FairPlay” in 1988, which secured them a deal with Virgin Records. Following the subsequent release of a few un-charting singles in 1988, the group rose to recognition with in 1989 with the release of “Keep on Moving”. The same year Soul II Soul issued the single “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)”, which went on to top the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks. Featuring Wheeler on vocals the single paved the way for the group’s debut album “Club Classics Vol. One” which also found the top spot of the UK Albums Chart.

Soul II Soul also enjoyed moderate success in the U.S. at this time with the single “Back to Life” reaching the Billboard 200’s Top 10. The band’s debut also secured the group two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group for “Back to Life” and Best R&B Instrumental for “African Dance”. The group’s sophomore album “Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade” followed in May 1990 once again rising to the top of the UK Albums Chart. Led by the singles “Get a Life”, “A Dream’s Dream”, and “Missing You”, the album was recorded without Caron Wheeler, however earned the group three Soul Train Awards. A third album, “Vol. III: Just Right” arrived in 1992, which spawned the group’s last Top 10 hit, “Joy”.

The following year Soul II Soul released the greatest hits album “Vol. IV: The Singles 88-93”, which rose to No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart. Marked by a decline in sales, the band’s fourth full-length “Vol. V: Believe” was released in August 1995 peaking at No. 13, and was followed by “Time for Change” in 1997.