Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born 28 July 1949) is an English rock drummer best known as a member of Free and

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell. Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, a ...

. He has been the only continuous member of Bad Company since their inception.

Life and career

Kirke was born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

, the son of Olive May ( Pollard) and Vivian Percy Kirke, who married in 1948. Simon's father was from a junior branch of a family of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

landed gentry, and descended on his mother's side from the Gibson-Craig baronets. Kirke spent his early years living in the countryside of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Leaving school at 17, he returned to London and set about finding a drumming job in the booming

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 ...

scene. After a fruitless 22 months he was resigned to returning to the country when he met

Paul Kossoff Paul Francis Kossoff (14 September 1950 – 19 March 1976) was an English guitarist, mainly known as the co-founder and guitarist for the rock band Free. He was ranked number 51 in ''Rolling Stone''s list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All ...

who was playing in a band called

Black Cat Bones Black Cat Bones were a British heavy blues rock band that existed with various lineups from 1966 to 1971. The band had English musicians Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke in its lineup, both of whom later helped form Free in 1968 with Paul Rodge ...

. Kirke was offered the drumming position in the band, and played with Black Cat Bones for six months. Kirke and Paul Kossoff left the band and with

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...

and

Andy Fraser Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was a British musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist and co-composer for the rock band Free, which he helped found in 1968 when he was 15. He also founded the rock band Sharks ...

formed Free. Their biggest hit, "

All Right Now "All Right Now" is a song by English rock band Free. It originally appeared on the band's third album '' Fire and Water'' (1970), which Free recorded on the Island Records label, formed by Chris Blackwell. Released as the album's second single ...

", was a number one in more than 20

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and was acknowledged by

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 as having received more than 1,000,000 radio plays in the US by late 1989. In 2000, an award was given to

by the British music industry when "

" passed 2,000,000 radio plays in the UK. By April 1972, Free had reformed with Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers making peace, and Kossoff appeared to pull it together if only briefly. Kossoff resumed taking drugs during the US tour to support the last album by the original quartet '' Free at Last''. On the eve of their Japanese tour Fraser fought with Rodgers and once again left the band, to be replaced by

Tetsu Yamauchi is a Japanese retired bass guitarist. In the 1970s, he was a member of several popular hard rock bands, including Free, where he replaced former bassist Andy Fraser before the band's final album '' Heartbreaker'', and the Faces, where he replac ...

. Rodgers and Kirke elected to fill in the band bringing

John "Rabbit" Bundrick John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick (born November 21, 1948 in Houston, Texas) is an American–English rock keyboardist. He is best known for his work with The Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Rog ...

on board as a member of Free for the tour and the last Free album, ''

Heartbreaker Heartbreaker(s) or The Heart Breaker(s) may refer to: Film and television *''The Heart Breakers'', a 1916 film starring Andrew Arbuckle *''The Heart Breaker'', a 1925 film directed by Benjamin Stoloff * ''Heartbreaker'' (1983 film), an American f ...

''. After the disbanding of Free in 1973, Kirke and Rodgers again teamed up to form

. They were joined by guitarist Mick Ralphs (

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fail ...

) and bassist

Boz Burrell Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for his singing with King Crimson (1971–1972) and bass playing in Bad Company (1973–1982, 1998� ...

(

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

). After Bad Company disbanded in 1982, Kirke joined a band called Wildlife. They toured in support of the

Michael Schenker Group The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) are a guitar-oriented hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenke ...

around this time in the UK. Wildlife's self-titled album was mostly written by Steve and Chris Overland, produced by former Bad Company bandmate Ralphs, and featured Kirke as their drummer (and saxophonist on his self-written song "Charity"). Despite being signed to Led Zeppelin's label, Swan Song Records, and Kirke's high-profile involvement, the album failed to sell. Wildlife's core members, brothers Chris and Steve Overland went on to greater success with the band FM. Kirke returned to Bad Company when the band reformed in 1986. As well as touring with Ringo Starr's All Star Band on three occasions, he is an accomplished songwriter, releasing ''Seven Rays of Hope'' in 2005. He toured with Bad Company in 2009. He has been playing with New York City rock band Zeta Vang as a side project. A governor on the board of

NARAS The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

(the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

Committee), Kirke is on the board of Road Recovery, which helps teenagers recover from addiction. He lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, with his wife, Maria Angelica Kirke, and has three children :

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...

, Jemima, and

Lola Kirke Lola Clementine Kirke (born 27 September 1990) is a British-American actress and singer-songwriter. She starred in the 2015 film ''Mistress America'' and the Amazon Studios television series ''Mozart in the Jungle.'' She appeared in '' Gone Girl ...

. He had a son by Marissa Creager, Simon St George Creager, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy, died in 2017 at age 19.

Discography

Free

*''

Tons of Sobs ''Tons of Sobs'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band Free, released in the UK on 14 March 1969. While the album failed to chart in the UK, it reached number 197 in the US. Free are cited as one of the definitive bands of the Bri ...

'' (1969) *'' Free'' (1969) *'' Fire and Water'' (1970) *''

Highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

'' (1970) *''

Free Live! ''Free Live!'' is the first live album by English rock band Free. It was rush-released by Island Records to commemorate the band, who had broken up in April 1971. Possibly because of the publicity caused by their breakup (which had also earne ...

'' (1971) (live) *'' Free at Last'' (1972) *''

'' (1973)

Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit

*''

Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit ''Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit'' is an album by guitarist Paul Kossoff, drummer Simon Kirke, bassist Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboard player John "Rabbit" Bundrick. The album was released in 1972. Background Recorded after Free disbanded, drummer Ki ...

'' (1971)

Bad Company

*''

'' (1974) *'' Straight Shooter'' (1975) *''

Run With the Pack ''Run with the Pack'' is the third studio album by English supergroup Bad Company. It was released on February 21, 1976, by Island Records. The album was recorded in France using the Rolling Stones Mobile Truck in September 1975 with engineer ...

'' (1976) *''

Burnin' Sky ''Burnin' Sky'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Bad Company. It was released on 3 March 1977. ''Burnin' Sky'' was recorded in France at Château d'Hérouville in July and August 1976 with future The Rolling Stones engineer ...

'' (1977) *'' Desolation Angels'' (1979) *'' Rough Diamonds'' (1982) *''

10 from 6 ''10 from 6'' (also known as ''10/6'') is a compilation album released by English supergroup Bad Company in December 1985 on Atlantic Records label. All the songs on the album were previously released on Swan Song Records, a record label beg ...

'' (1985) (compilation) *'' Fame and Fortune'' (1986) *''

Dangerous Age ''Dangerous Age'' is the eighth studio album by hard rock band Bad Company. The album was released on August 23, 1988. It was their second album with Brian Howe as lead vocalist and first with Steve Price credited as bass guitarist. It was p ...

'' (1988) *''

Holy Water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

'' (1990) *'' Here Comes Trouble'' (1992) *'' What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company'' (1993) (live) *'' Company of Strangers'' (1995) *'' Stories Told & Untold'' (1996) *'' The 'Original' Bad Co. Anthology'' (1999) (compilation CD) *'' In Concert: Merchants of Cool'' (2002) *''

Live in Albuquerque 1976 ''Live in Albuquerque 1976'' is a live album by the English hard rock band Bad Company featuring all four original members. The recordings were made by Mick Ralphs, who regularly taped the group's shows in the 1970s, so the band could use t ...

'' (2006) *''

Hard Rock Live The Hard Rock Live is an indoor amphitheater at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The theater opened on October 25, 2019, as part of a $1.5 billion property-wide expansion, which also included a new 450-foot guitar ...

'' (2010) *'' Live at Wembley'' (2011) *''

Live in Concert 1977 & 1979 ''Live in Concert 1977 & 1979'' is a double live album by the English hard rock band Bad Company, released on CD and as an mp3 download in 2016. It is an archival album with recordings taken from two concerts from their tours in 1977 and 1979. ...

'' (2016)

Wildlife

*''Wildlife'' (1983)

Lonerider

*''Attitude'' (2019)

Solo

*''Seven Rays of Hope'' (2005) *''Filling the Void'' (2011) *''All Because of You'' (2017)

References

External links

Official website
accessed 11 April 2022
Profile
wacbiz.com; accessed 24 February 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirke, Simon 1949 births Living people English rock drummers Bad Company members Free (band) members Musicians from London People from Lambeth People from Westminster English expatriates in the United States Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members