The British soul-pop band Simply Red was formed in 1984. The group released Picture Book (October 1985), which featured “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)” and “Holding Back the Years,” a Mick Hucknall original that topped the U.S. charts. Men and Women (March 1987), generated the Top 40 hit “The Right Thing.” Their third album, A New Flame (February 1989), went gold due to the cover of the 1972 Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes hit “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” which hit number one and became a gold single. Their fourth album, Stars, was a major success, especially in the U.K., where it was the best-selling album of 1991, topping the charts for 19 weeks. Worldwide, it sold eight-and-a-half million copies by the second quarter of 1993. Simply Red’s fifth album, Life (October 1995), topped charts all over Europe, as did its lead-off single, “Fairground.” Blue followed in 1998, and a year later, Simply Red issued Love and the Russian Winter. After establishing their simplyred.com label, Home was released in 2003. Two years later, the band released Simplified, a collection of old tracks and new songs. The band’s tenth studio album, Stay, was released in 2007. More recently, in 2015, they released Big Love. Simply Red continues to tour the world.
