54. Pogues Singer’s Trading Legacy: Shane Macgowan’s Timeless Wisdom – From Manchester boy to soul pop sensation, the rise of Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall is a true rags-to-riches story.
As Simply Red’s frontman, Mick Hucknall has had a very consistent career as an R&B/soul artist. Hucknall, whose voice is like honey and flashes a pleasant edge, covers a wide range of genres such as jazz, funk, soul and even reggae, and has worked hard to go beyond his beginnings as a poor Manchester youth and become one of the greatest blues. musician. soul singer of all time.
54. Pogues Singer’s Trading Legacy: Shane Macgowan’s Timeless Wisdom
Hucknall is known to have a difficult upbringing, tormented by separation from his family. Less obvious, however, he started out as a punk-inspired front man who wanted to bring the love of 70s soul to the world. Finding his true voice in the 1980s as the silky lover of Simply Red, Hucknall revitalized British music and proved that white artists could combine smooth, sophisticated black R&B roots with mainstream pop sensibilities. Here’s how he used soul-inspired mistakes to argue his way to stardom…
Redef Original: And The Songbirds Keep Singing: Music Deaths 2022
Born in Manchester on 8 June 1960, Mick Hucknall grew up in the working-class area of Denton, the son of Reg and Maureen, a hairdresser. After his mother abandoned the family when he was a child, young Hucknall was left behind by his father. Living at home with a single parent, Mick is a bright and charismatic boy with fiery hair, though his lack of maternal influence eventually ignites his creative fire.
Hucknall’s interest in music grew out of this family trauma and began at a young age when he joined The Beatles at the age of six and sang I Want To Hold Your Hand at a family party. Singing shows all the characteristics of a soprano voice and has given Mick an outlet to channel his emotional pain. “I was clearly born,” Hucknall said later. “I was guided to sing. It’s incredible, but there it is.
At the age of 11, as a student at Mick Audenshaw Grammar School, he was further beaten by boys who bullied him because of his appearance. “I was very introverted,” Hucknall recalls. “I feel ugly, I have no self-confidence, I am the target of bullying. And red hair too, oh my! It multiplies by ten. Perhaps because of that, his own behavior in school began to decline and soon Mick fell to the bottom of the class.
Already in his early teens, Hucknall had developed a reputation as a troublemaker. Mick, a teenager remembered by his classmates for fighting, lights a cigarette and blows smoke into the gray sky of Manchester with a gang of bums and tramps. In a world of bingo and working-class clubs with sticky floors, there may be no future. Luckily for Mick, he’s not the only one who thinks so…
I Had To Do Dramatic Things To Get Attention’: Sax Player Lakecia Benjamin On Crashing Prince Gigs And Charming Stevie Wonder
The punk rock revolution changed Mick Hucknall’s world with the now-legendary Sex Pistols show at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976. As a 16-year-old art student, Hucknall was the perfect age for a rebellious punk. . to call to arms. “The person I’m in touch with is John Lydon,” he said. “The whole thing screams at parental authority, against my school experience.”
Miku’s musical interests were bubbling long before punk hit the scene. He was very fond of Trojan reggae, Northern soul and various Motown and Stax records, but he also liked Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. However, Punk is more fun and inspires Mick with DIY tutorials.
Together with friend and guitarist Neil Moss, Hucknall embraced the punk amateur credo. In time, the boys formed the noisy indie guitar band The Frantic Elevators and were inspired by Bolton punks the Buzzcocks, independently releasing their debut single Voice In The Dark in 1979. The band even began to support post-punk. pioneer and favorite John Peel The Fall. In fact, Peel himself liked The Elevators so much that he often played their single Searching For The Only One when it was released in 1981.
However, unlike the punk-inspired frontmen, Hucknall’s singing ability is definitely a cut above the rest. Mick Hucknell’s ambitions soared as he honed his soulful voice in dingy pubs while on benefits. His musical preferences also evolved through the discovery of jazz legends such as Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. The singer quickly realized that The Frantic Elevators weren’t the best foundation for long-term success, with several flop singles under his belt – including an early version of Simply Red’s 1982 classic, Holding Back The Years.
Taste With The Tōji Project
After meeting future manager Elliot Rashman, Hucknall called time on the band. As the curtain closed on his punk adventure, he felt that the DIY ethic had given him confidence. “I always have an attitude and I’m glad I have it,” he said. “That’s what helps me survive. Nobody beats me and I know what I am and I know what I’m doing.
Believing in the great potential of Mick Hucknall’s golden voice, Rashman gathered a group of session musicians to support him, although it took time to establish a permanent line-up. By the mid-’80s, pop music had become softer and better, Hucknall’s voice wanted to embrace it, but it was also embellished with a punk attitude and a love of ’70s soul and R&B. Hucknall wanted to establish himself as the blue premier. -the wide-eyed soul singer from England and wisely predicted: “I want to do three things. I want to support James Brown. I want to perform on the Old Trafford cricket ground. And I want to be number one in America.
Along with keyboardist Fritz McIntyre, drummer Chris Joyce, bassist Tony Bowers, guitarist Sylvan Richardson and trumpeter Tim Kellett, Hucknall originally used the moniker “Red” to baptize the group Red And The Dancing Dead before changing it to Just Red, and then finally. only red. The band’s debut single Money’s Too Tight (To Mention) was released in March 1985 and found Hucknall reworking The Valentine Brothers’ 1982 R&B as a powerful attack on the mass unemployment that plagued Britain in the 80s.
Mick Hucknall appeared in the music video as a raucous color urchin with curly red hair in a flat cap and made an immediate impression as a pop star, combining leftist lyrics with a soul boy attitude. Within two months of Money’s Too Tight (Too Tight) becoming a Top 20 hit in England, Hucknall’s first prediction came true: the band was invited to support James Brown at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in May 1985. They appeared on the same stage as the ‘Godfather’ Of Soul’, supporting Simply Red’s release of debut album Picture Book in October, features Hucknall’s fresh soul music.
Matthew Perry: A Lasting Legacy Beyond ‘friends’
The album’s biggest highlight is a re-recording of The Frantic Elevators’ single Holding Back The Years, a song Hucknall originally wrote in 1977 when he was 17. A heartfelt ballad reflecting on the absence of his mother, it took time for the single to find success; However, after it was reissued in 1986, it climbed the charts, reaching No. 2 in the UK and No. Today, this indisputable sophistry-pop classic ranks among Simply Red’s best tracks.
As Simply Red received critical acclaim on both sides of the pond, Mick Hucknall credited Neil Moss with writing the song, which led to his former friend Frantic Elevator receiving his fair share of royalties as a gesture “to celebrate and remember the times. we’ve had.” As for Mick, Simply Red’s almost overnight success was all he wanted.
Has gone platinum in the US and UK, leaving little doubt that Hucknall has hit the big time. “This is where I do it,” he said proudly. “I’m just doing what I do on this planet. It’s that simple.”
The possibility of topping the US charts fulfilled Mick Hucknall’s wildest dreams. When he met his hero Miles Davis, the jazz icon walked up to him and said, “I know you. Just red… right? Hey man I like this album… keep it up. Mick must have planned it. Because
Amazon.com: No Depression (legacy Edition): Cds & Vinyl
‘s follow-up, Men And Women, found Hucknall working with Lamont Dozier, one-half of Motown’s iconic songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, in Infidelity and Suffering, and even wrote a song for Diana Ross (Shine) . ).
Hucknall also had the last laugh on the kids who bullied him at school. Now considered a sex symbol, he seduced women left, right and center on tour, channeling sweet desire into his new music. Exciting investigation, red blood
