Mick Hucknall

Michael James Hucknall born 8 June 1960 is an English singer and songwriter Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soulinfluenced pop band Simply Red with whom he enjoyed a 25year career and sold over 50 million albums Hucknall was described by Australian music magazine Rhythms as one of the truly great blueeyed soul singers while Q credited him with the most prodigious voice this side of Motown Hucknall born at Saint Marys Hospital Manchester on 8 June 1960 was an only child His mother abandoned the family when he was three the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write Holding Back the Years which would become one of Simply Reds biggest and bestknown hits He was brought up in Denton by his father Reginald 19352009 a barber in Stockport According to Hucknall he had a happy childhood until the age of 10 when he began to clash with his father because there was no woman to act as referee He attended Audenshaw School before continuing his education at Tameside College and Manchester Polytechnics School of Art where he was a fine art student whilst at art school he lived in Hulme It would not be until the mid1990s that he would reconnect with his mother Maureen who was by then living in the US city of Dallas As of a 2008 interview he had only seen her twice since she left He is of Irish ancestry from his mother whose father was from County Offaly along with his paternal grandmother His maternal grandmother was Jewish Hucknall was among the people present at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in June 1976 where the Sex Pistols were playing His interest in the music scene led to the launch of his career in the late 1970s when he was part of the band Frantic Elevators The Frantic Elevators released four singles including a version of Holding Back the Years which he later recorded with Simply Red As lead singer and core member of Simply Red he became the identifiable face of the band His face and long curly red hair were featured prominently on album artwork and in videos In 1997 Hucknall won an Outstanding Achievement award from the Music of Black Origin Awards MOBO Awards despite being white Hucknall is also one of the founders and financial backers of the reggae label Blood and Fire He also manages the record label simplyredcom In October 2007 on David Jensens show on the Gold network he announced Simply Red would split in 2009 In 2008 he released his first solo album Tribute to Bobby a tribute to the blues musician Bobby Blue Bland In October 2009 Hucknall appeared at a charity performance as vocalist for a reformed version of Faces replacing Rod Stewart In October 2011 he was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award in recognition of his contribution to music In October 2012 he released American Soul a collection of his favourite music rerecorded with his vocals Source Article Mick Hucknall from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30