Kevin Simm | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kevin Ian Simm |
| Born | 5 September 1980 Chorley, Lancashire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instrument(s) |
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| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels |
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| Member of | Wet Wet Wet |
| Formerly of | Liberty X |
| Spouse(s) |
Laura Simm (m. 2008) |
Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as former member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and current vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won The Voice UK in 2016.
Simm was born on 5 September 1980 in Chorley, Lancashire, England. He attended St Anne's Primary School then St. Mary's Catholic Technology College in Leyland between 1991 and 1996, where performed Elton John's "Daniel" in the school's annual show. Simm decided to concentrate on music and formed the indie-pop band called AnAlien in 1996. In 1999, he applied to go on the ITV talent show, Stars in Their Eyes, where he appeared as Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene. In 2000 he sang in the pop band Force 5 with James Fox.
In 2001, Simm auditioned for the ITV reality television music competition Popstars, a show intended to form a new group from individual contestants, becoming one of the finalist. While the five winning contestants formed Hear'Say, the five runner-up contestants – Simm, Tony Lundon, Jessica Taylor, Kelli Young and Michelle Heaton – formed the group Liberty X and signed a multimillion-pound record contract with Richard Branson and V2 Records. Liberty X released three studio albums and enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005: Their biggest hit, "Just a Little", reached number one in May 2002; "Thinking It Over", "Got to Have Your Love", "Song 4 Lovers", and "Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart. They split up in 2007 after selling over 3 million records worldwide.
During this time, Simm appeared on The Games, in 2005, winning a silver medal.[1][2][3][4]
In 2007 Simm signed with the independent label Jamdown Records and started recording his first solo work.[5] On 3 October 2008 he relesead his debut studio album, Brand New, first only in Japan and two years later in Europe.[6] The title song was released as the lead single and had a music video directed by Fatty Soprano.[7] From 2009 to 2012 Simm performed live at festivals and pubs.[8]
In 2013 Simm reunited with Liberty X for ITV2's reality show The Big Reunion, along with other pop groups of their time – B*Witched, Honeyz, 911, Five and Atomic Kitten – to solve past problems and do a live performance at the London Hammersmith Apollo on 26 February.[9][10] Due to the success, Liberty X returned for a full tour between 2013 and 2014.[11] In 2017, Heaton, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young reformed Liberty X again, but as a three-piece girl group, without Kevin and Tony.[12]
In 2016, Simm auditioned for the fifth series of The Voice UK singing a soulful version of Sia's "Chandelier".[13] All four coaches – will.i.am, Ricky Wilson, Boy George and Paloma Faith – turned their chairs for him and he chose to join Faith's team.[13] Simm lost against Faith Nelson in the battle rounds and was nearly eliminated from the competition, but was stolen by Wilson, joining his team for the knockout rounds. He won the season of The Voice UK on 9 April.[14]
| Performed | Song | Original artist | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blind Audition | "Chandelier" | Sia | All judges turned, joined team Paloma |
| Battle Rounds | "Spotlight" (against Faith Nelson) | Jennifer Hudson | Lost, joined team Ricky |
| Knockout rounds | "Wings" | Birdy | Fast pass |
| Quarter-final | "I'm Kissing You" | Des'ree | Fast pass |
| Semi-final | "The Power of Love" (as part of Team Ricky) | Huey Lewis and the News | Safe |
| "Rolling in the Deep" | Adele | ||
| Live final | "Stay" | Rihanna | Winner |
| "Mr. Brightside" (with Ricky Wilson) | The Killers | ||
| "All You Good Friends" | Original song |
In the same month, Simm signed with Universal and released his new single as The Voice winner, "All You Good Friends"; the song peaked at number 24 in UK and 3 in Scotland.[15][16] On 28 October 2016 it was released his second studio album, Recover, the first by Universal, and chosen "Wildfire" as single.[17]
On 25 September 2018, it was announced that Simm would join Scottish band Wet Wet Wet as the new lead singer, replacing original member Marti Pellow.[18] He debuted with the band in November.[19] On 5 November 2021 they released their first album with Simm as vocalist, The Journey, peaking at number 29 in UK.[20]
Simm married Laura Simm in June 2008, after 7 years dating. They have two children: Charlie, born in October 2011, and Oliver, born in November 2013.
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| UK[citation needed] | ||
| Brand New |
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— |
| Recover |
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114 |
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Love & Pain[21] |
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| Unplugged Acoustic[22] |
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| Snow & Flakes[23] |
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| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [15] |
SCO [16] | |||||||||||||
| "Brand New" | 2008 | — | — | Brand New | ||||||||||
| "All You Good Friends" | 2016 | 24 | 3 | non-album single | ||||||||||
| "Wildfire"[24] | — | — | Recover | |||||||||||
| "Strangers"[25] | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Tennessee Whiskey"[26] (Amber Leigh Irish featuring Kevin Simm) |
2020 | non-album single |
| "Stay Another Day"[27] (Matt Johnson featuring Kevin Simm e John Adams) | ||
| "Freedom"[28] (Paul Canning featuring Kevin Simm) |
2022 |
| Title | Year | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| "U" | 2006 | Super Junior |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Stars in Their Eyes | Contestant | Series 10 |
| 2001 | Popstars | Contestant | Series 1 |
| 2005 | The Games | Contestant | Series 3 |
| 2013 | The Big Reunion | Himself | |
| 2016 | The Voice UK | Contestant | Series 5 |
