Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English pop singer. He won ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original '' The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...

'' on 9 April 2016. Simm was in the group

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show '' Popstar ...

from 2001 until their split in 2007, and is currently the lead singer of the group

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish soft rock band formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits in the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. They are best known for their 1994 cover of The Troggs' 1960s hit " Love Is All Around", which ...

Early life

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 he showed promise as a junior

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. In his last year in secondary school, he performed Elton John's " Daniel" in the school's annual show. Simm decided to concentrate on music and joined a local

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band called AnAlien where he began writing his own

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

. He applied to go on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

talent show, ''

Stars in Their Eyes ''Stars in Their Eyes'' is a British television talent series, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format ''Soundmixshow''. It featured a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars. The show premiered on 21 July 1 ...

'', where he appeared as

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is an English singer and acoustic guitarist, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwr ...

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to dat ...

. After a few years of writing and performing on the northern

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and clubs circuit, as well as spending a summer season in a band called Force 5 with

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', '' The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performan ...

, Simm auditioned for the

reality TV show, ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

''.

History

2001–07: ''Popstars'' and Liberty X

While the five winning contestants of ''Popstars'' formed Hear'Say, the five runner-up contestants formed the group Liberty. The name Liberty was chosen to reflect the freedom the members experienced following their participation in ''Popstars''. Amidst pejorative media commentary (including the term "Flopstars"), the act proceeded to sign a multimillion-pound record contract with Richard Branson's independent record label

V2 records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

. Shortly after forming, Liberty received a legal challenge in the

UK High Court The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

from a funk R&B band, also called "Liberty", who achieved success in the 1990s, including being awarded Capital Radio Band of the Year, playing Wembley Arena, European tours and the release of albums in the US, Europe and UK. The original Liberty claimed that the newly formed Liberty was taking advantage of the goodwill that had been created by the former's success (known in English law as the "

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

passing off Passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation. The law of passing off prevents one trader from misrepresenting go ...

"). The final judgment was in favour of the funk R&B band and the ex-''Popstars'' then asked readers of UK tabloid newspaper, '' The Sun'' to suggest a new name. The winning name was "X Liberty", but the group used the entry as the basis for the official title, "Liberty X". Liberty X enjoyed seven Top 10 singles from 2001 to 2005. Their biggest hit, "Just a Little", reached Number 1 in May 2002. "Thinking It Over", "Got to Have Your Love", "Being Nobody", "Song 4 Lovers" and "Holding on for You" all reached the top 5 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Their debut album, ''Thinking It Over'', reached Number 3 in June 2002. Liberty X released another 2 albums, ''Being Somebody'' and ''X'', which reached Numbers 12 and 27, respectively. Liberty X won the

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best British Single. The group split in 2007 following disappointing album and singles sales from their third studio album. In 2005, Simm appeared on '' The Games'', winning a silver medal and featuring with convicted ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

cheat Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate cr ...

Charles Ingram Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is an English novelist and former British Army major who gained notoriety for his appearance on the ITV television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. In episodes recorded in September 200 ...

, among other celebrities.

2007–15: Solo career and reformation of Liberty X

Simm, focusing on his solo career, created his own Myspace music profile, uploading demo tracks for his fans to hear his progress as a solo artist. In a March 2008 interview with Gordon McCully, he stated, "I've been very busy in the studio recording new solo tracks which I'll hopefully be able to share with people very soon." Simm was signed to JamDown Music, where his track "Brand New" is featured on their official website's music player. On 3 October 2008, Simm's debut album, titled ''Brand New'', was released in Japan. The album has since appeared for purchase on iTunes. In October 2012, it was confirmed that the group would reform for a one-off appearance at the Hammersmith Apollo and ITV2 series

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

which aired from 31 January 2013. On 1 February 2014, Liberty X posted on their Facebook page that "We have an announcement coming tomorrow... ...but before that we've got some business at

G-A-Y G-A-Y is a long-running gay nightclub, based at Heaven in Charing Cross, London. It started in 1976, and for many years was based at the London Astoria. History G-A-Y started in 1976 in the Sundown club in the basement of the London Astoria (l ...

to attend to tonight, if you're coming we'll see you later!" The next day, following the performance at G-A-Y, they announced that they had signed to 365 Artists Management "for our future creative and business affairs." The group subsequently performed at a series of sporadic gigs during the spring and summer of 2014. In 2015, during his audition for ''

'', Simm revealed that he left Liberty X as he felt the group were officially over.

2016: ''The Voice UK''

In 2016, Simm auditioned for the fifth series of ''

'' singing a soulful version of

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

's " Chandelier". All four coaches;

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

, Ricky Wilson,

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...

and

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, '' Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sin ...

, turned their chairs for him and he chose to join Faith's team. 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 knockouts and won the final of ''The Voice UK'' on 9 April. Simm released his UK debut single "All You Good Friends" shortly afterwards.

Performances

On 28 May 2016 Simm rejoined Liberty X performing at Birmingham Gay Pride performing hits "

Got to Have Your Love "Got to Have Your Love" is a song by American hip hop and electro funk group Mantronix, featuring vocals from American recording artist Wondress. It was released by Capitol Records in December 1989 as the lead single from Mantronix's fourth ...

", " Holding on for You", "

Being Nobody "Ain't Nobody" is a song by American funk band Rufus and American singer Chaka Khan. It was released on November 4, 1983, as one of four studio tracks included on their live album, ''Stompin' at the Savoy'' (1983). "Ain't Nobody" quickly gat ...

Song 4 Lovers "Song 4 Lovers" is a song by English-Irish pop band Liberty X, released as the lead single from their third studio album, '' X'' (2005). The song features uncredited vocals from Rev Run of Run-D.M.C. and was produced by Liberty X member Tony Lu ...

and " Just a Little and the winner single "All You Good Friends".

2018–present

On 25 September 2018, it was announced that Simm would join Scottish band

as the new lead singer, replacing former member Marti Pellow. He started singing with the band at 2 shows, St Lukes in

Calton, Glasgow Calton ( gd, A' Challtainn, lit=the hazel wood, sco, Caltoun), known locally as The Calton, is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre. Calton's most famous ...

and The Venue in London in November 2018. Following on from their sold-out shows, they then started a nationwide 18 date tour.

Personal life

Simm married his long-term girlfriend Laura in June 2008 in his hometown Chorley. They have two sons – Charles, born in April 2012, and Oliver, born in November 2013.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Filmography

References

External links

Official website

Kevin Simm – Brand New , Amazon Japan

Kevin Simm – Brand New , HMV Japan

JamDown Music

Kevin Simm Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simm, Kevin English male singers English pop singers English soul singers English songwriters Musicians from Lancashire People from Chorley 1980 births Living people Liberty X The Voice (franchise) winners The Voice UK contestants English Roman Catholics Wet Wet Wet members