Free's Fire And Water, with Simon
Kirke at far right
Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born July 28, 1949, but according to
the Associated Press, he was born 27 August 1949) is an English rock
drummer best known as a member of Free and Bad
Company.
Born in Lambeth
Hospital,
Lambeth,
South East London, England, Kirke
spent his early years living in the borderlands of Wales. Leaving
school at the age of 17, he returned to London and set about finding a
drumming job in the booming blues scene. After a fruitless 18 months he
was resigned to returning to the country when he met Paul
Kossoff who was playing in a band called Black
Cat Bones. Simon was offered the drumming position in the band for
which he played for 6 months. Amongst other manufacturers, Simon played
Hayman
drums.
Simon and Paul Kossoff left the band and together with Paul
Rodgers and Andy Fraser formed Free. In
the four years Free were together they had an enormous influence on
many bands on both sides of the Atlantic. Their biggest hit "All
Right Now", a # 1 hit in over 20 territories and
recognised by ASCAP(American
Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 for garnering
1,000,000 plus radio plays in the US by late 1989, and in 2000 an Award was
given to Paul Rodgers by the British
Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 plus
radio plays in the UK.
After the disbanding of Free in 1973, Simon and Paul
Rodgers once again teamed up to form Bad
Company. They were joined by guitarist Mick
Ralphs (Mott the Hoople) and
bassist Boz Burrell (King
Crimson). Bad Company became one of the
biggest and best live acts which have sold approximately 60 million
singles and albums to date.
As well as touring with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band on
three separate occasions, Simon is an accomplished songwriter releasing
Seven Rays of Hope in 2005. He has also worked on
projects with Wilson Pickett, Bo
Diddley, Ray
Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith
Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Eric
Clapton.
In 1980 Kirke played drums alongside Led
Zeppelin for one song in Munich during one of their last
concerts ever.
A governor on the board of NARAS (the Grammy Committee), Simon now lives in Manhattan
with his wife, Lorraine, and his four children.
Simon Kirke teaches you how to play his greatest hits from Bad
Company and Free on a DVD titled Lessons from a Legend: Simon
Kirke. The DVD is produced by Rockstarz, Inc. and was
released in 2006.
He is also a big fan of Aretha Franklin and states he has
most of her albums.
Simon Kirke is a recurring counselor at "Rock 'n Roll Fantasy
Camp." He will return as a counselor at the New York City camp labor
day weekend 2007.
|
Contents
- 1 Discography
- 1.1 Free
- 1.2 Kossoff
Kirke Tetsu Rabbit
- 1.3 Bad
Company
- 1.4 Solo
- 2 External
links
|
Discography
Free
- Tons of Sobs
(1968)
- Free (1969)
- Fire and Water
(1970)
- Highway
(1970)
- Free Live! (1971)
(live)
- Free at Last
(1972)
- Heartbreaker
(1973)
Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit
- Kossoff Kirke Tetsu
Rabbit (1971)
Bad Company
- Bad Company
(1974)
- Straight Shooter
(1975)
- Run With the Pack
(1976)
- Burnin' Sky
(1977)
- Desolation Angels
(1979)
- Rough Diamonds
(1982)
- 10 from 6 (1985)
(compilation)
- Fame and Fortune
(1986)
- Dangerous Age
(1988)
- Holy Water (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
Company Anthology (1999) (compilation CD)
- Merchants of Cool
(2002)
Solo
- Seven Rays of Hope (2005)
External links
| v • d • e Free |
| Paul Rodgers • Paul
Kossoff • Andy
Fraser • Simon
Kirke |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Tons
of Sobs • Free
• Fire and Water
• Highway • Free at Last
• Heartbreaker |
| Live albums: Free Live! |
| Compilation albums: The
Free Story • The Best of Free • Free
And Easy, Rough And Ready • Completely Free
• The Best of Free:
All Right Now • Molten Gold: The
Anthology • Free: All Right Now • Songs
of Yesterday • Chronicles • |
| v • d • e Bad Company |
| Paul Rodgers • Mick
Ralphs • Boz
Burrell • Simon
Kirke |
| Brian Howe • Robert
Hart • Steve Price • Felix Krish • Rick Wills • Dave Colwell • Jaz
Lochrie • Mark Wolfe |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Bad
Company • Straight Shooter
• Run With the Pack
• Burnin' Sky • Desolation
Angels • Rough
Diamonds • Fame
and Fortune • Dangerous
Age • Holy Water
• Here Comes Trouble
• Company of Strangers
• Stories Told & Untold
• Merchants of Cool |
| Live albums: What
You Hear Is What You Get • Live in Albuquerque 1976 |
| Films and videos: Merchants
of Cool • Inside Bad Company
1974-1982 |
| Compilation albums: 10 from 6
• The Original Bad
Company Anthology • Merchants
of Cool |
