Kim Maiden Simmonds (5 December 1947 – 13 December 2022) was a Welsh musician who was the founder, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

band

Savoy Brown Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were an English blues rock band formed in Battersea, south west London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they ...

. Simmonds has led Savoy Brown since its inception in 1965 to its peak and multi-sales. He has appeared on every Savoy Brown release.

Career

When still a young teenager, Simmonds learned to play from listening to his brother's

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

records. Considered one of the architects of

British blues British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric gui ...

, he started the Savoy Brown Blues Band in October 1965, who began playing gigs at the Nags Head in 1966 in London. Early gigs included performing with

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

at Klooks Kleek and accompanying

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

. Live performances led to Savoy Brown signing with

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

. But it was 1969 before its classic line-up gelled around Simmonds, rhythm guitarist Lonesome Dave Peverett, and the monocle and bowler hat-wearing vocalist

Chris Youlden Christopher Thomas Youlden (born 1 January 1943, Dagenham, England) is an English blues singer. He worked with the British blues band Savoy Brown from 1967 until 1970. He has since released several solo albums. His albums with Savoy Brown are "G ...

. That year's '' Blue Matter'' and ''

A Step Further ''A Step Further'' is the fourth album by the band Savoy Brown. It was released by Decca in the U.K. and by Parrot in the U.S. in September 1969. This is the last album recorded with long time pianist Bob Hall. The album track "Made Up My Mind" ...

'' albums conjured up at least three classics heard on ''The Best of Savoy Brown (20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection)'': "Train To Nowhere", the live show-stopper "Louisiana Blues" (a Muddy Waters number), and "I'm Tired". Since its first US visit, Savoy Brown has criss-crossed the country, and "I'm Tired" became the group's first hit single across the ocean. The band would find a greater following in America than in its native England throughout its career. 1970's ''Raw Sienna'' followed, featuring "A Hard Way To Go" and "Stay While The Night Is Still Young". When Youlden then departed for a solo career, Lonesome Dave took over the lead vocals. ''Looking In'', also in 1970, featured not only "Poor Girl" and "Money Can't Save Your Soul" but one of the era's memorable LP covers, a troglodyte-like savage staring into an eye socket of a monstrous skull. Later, Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl left to form the successful but decidedly rock band

Foghat Foghat are an English rock band formed in London in 1971. The band is known for the use of electric slide guitar in its music. The band has achieved eight gold records, one platinum and one double platinum record, and despite several line-up c ...

. Simmonds soldiered on, recruiting from blues band

Chicken Shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine Perfect (later McVie) (vocals and keyboards) in 1967. ...

keyboardist Paul Raymond, bassist

Andy Silvester Andrew Frederick Silvester (born 16 June 1947, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England) is a British bassist and multi-instrumentalist. Silvester has played in various bands during his career, most notably as co-founder of both Chicken Shack and ...

and drummer Dave Bidwell, and from the Birmingham club circuit the vocalist

Dave Walker David Walker (born 25 January 1945) is a British singer and guitarist who has been front-man for a number of bands; most notably The Idle Race, Savoy Brown and Humble Pie, he also served briefly with Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath. History ...

. The new line-up was a hit. On stage in America, the group was supported by

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

and the

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

. On the album ''Street Corner Talking'' (1971) and ''Hellbound Train'' (1972) launched favourites "Tell Mama", "Street Corner Talking", a cover of the

Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 1 ...

' Motown standard "I Can't Get Next To You" and the nine-minute epic "Hellbound Train" (decades later Love and Rockets adapted it as "Bound For Hell"). Walker then quit to join Fleetwood Mac, pre-

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...

Nicks Nix (or Nicks) is a surname of English origin, which initially indicated that the person so named was the child of a person named Nicholas, traditionally shortened to "Nick". It is therefore closely related to Nixon and Nickson, which are derived f ...

. In 1997, Simmonds released his first solo acoustic album, entitled ''Solitaire''. He toured worldwide with various configurations of

. The 2004 live set ''You Should Have Been There'', recorded in early 2003 in Vancouver with Simmonds handling lead vocals – and also as a solo acoustic act. In 2011 he celebrated 45 years of touring with the Savoy Brown album ''Voodoo Moon''. In 2017, his album with Savoy Brown, ''Witchy Feeling'', reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' blues charts. As a soloist and leader of Savoy Brown, Simmonds released over 47 albums through 2016. He was also a painter; the cover of his 2008 solo release, ''Out of the Blue'', featured his original art. In 2008, Simmonds appeared in the Rockumentary "American Music: OFF THE RECORD", Dir. by Benjamin Meade of Cosmic Cowboy Studio in Fayetteville, Arkansas, alongside Jackson Browne, Noam Chomsky, Douglas Rushkoff, Les Paul, Johnny and Edgar Winter and countless other musicians and musical acts.

Health and death

On 15 August 2022, Simmonds announced via the Savoy Brown website that he had been receiving

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

for stage four

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

. Due to the side effects of his treatment, all scheduled performances were cancelled. Simmonds died of the disease on 13 December 2022 in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, at age 75. The news was announced via the Savoy Brown fanpage on 15 December.Savoy Brown’s Kim Simmonds Dies at 75, After Battling Stage 4 Cancer
''Best Classic Bands''. Retrieved December 17, 2022.

Discography

with Savoy Brown

* '' Shake Down'' (1967) * '' Getting to the Point'' (1968) * '' Blue Matter'' (1969) * ''

'' (1969) * '' Raw Sienna'' (1970) * ''

Looking In ''Looking In'' is the sixth album by the British blues band Savoy Brown. The album featured "Lonesome" Dave Peverett on vocals after Chris Youlden left the band the previous spring. Leader/guitarist Kim Simmonds would be the only band member to ...

'' (1970) * ''

Street Corner Talking ''Street Corner Talking'' is the seventh studio album by the English blues rock band Savoy Brown. Released by Parrot Records in 1971 (PAS 71047), it was the first album released after the departure of guitarist Lonesome Dave, drummer Roger ...

'' (1971) * '' Hellbound Train'' (1972) * ''Lion's Share'' (1972) * ''Jack the Toad'' (1973) * ''Boogie Brothers'' (1974) * ''Wire Fire'' (1975) * ''Skin 'n' Bone'' (1976) * ''Savage Return'' (1978) * ''Rock 'n' Roll Warriors'' (1981) * ''Slow Train'' (1986) * ''Make Me Sweat'' (1988) * ''Kings of Boogie'' (1989) * ''Let It Ride'' (1992) * ''Bring It Home'' (1994) * ''The Blues Keep Me Holding On'' (1999) * ''Strange Dreams'' (2003) * ''You Should Have Been There!'' (2004) * ''Steel'' (2007) * ''Train to Nowhere'' (2010) * ''Voodoo Moon'' (2011) * ''Songs From The Road'' (2013) * ''Goin' to the Delta'' (2014) * ''The Devil to Pay'' (2015) * ''Still Live After 50 Years – Volume 1'' (2015) * ''Still Live After 50 Years – Volume 2'' (2017) * ''Witchy Feelin´'' (2017) * ''City Night'' (2019) * ''Ain't Done Yet'' (2020) * ''Taking the Blues Back Home'' (2020) * ''Witchy Feelin'' (2022) * ''Goin to the Delta (2019)'' (2022) * ''Devil to Pay (2015)'' (2022)

Solo

* ''Solitaire'' (1997) * ''Blues Like Midnight'' (2001) * ''Struck by Lightning'' (2004) * ''Out of the Blue'' (2008) * ''Jazzin' on the Blues'' (2015)

References

External links

Savoy Brown website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Kim 1947 births 2022 deaths Deaths from colorectal cancer 20th-century Welsh male singers 21st-century Welsh male singers Welsh rock singers British blues singers Welsh rock guitarists British blues guitarists Welsh record producers Welsh singer-songwriters Welsh rock musicians Blues singer-songwriters Electric blues musicians Blues rock musicians British blues (genre) musicians British rhythm and blues boom musicians Lead guitarists People from Newbridge, Caerphilly People from Rhyl Decca Records artists Deram Records artists 20th-century British guitarists 21st-century British guitarists Savoy Brown members British male singer-songwriters Welsh expatriates in the United States