Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.

Biography

Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwriter/session musician, Climie found himself scoring early hits by the mid-1980s with compositions recorded by

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

(" I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)") and

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...

(" Invincible"). He also wrote songs appearing on albums by such artists as

Frida Frida, Frieda, or Freida may refer to: People and fictional characters *Frida (given name), any of several people or characters ** *Frieda (surname), any of several people or characters *Afroditi Frida (born 1964), Greek singer *Frida (singer) ...

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

, and

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

during this time. Then, on the fringes of session work, he did the Fairlight programming for

Scritti Politti Scritti Politti are a British band formed in 1977 in Leeds by singer-songwriter Green Gartside, who is the sole remaining member of the original band. Initially formed as a punk culture, punk-aligned underground act influenced by leftist poli ...

's album ''Cupid & Psyche''. Later in the 1980s, he formed Climie Fisher together with Rob Fisher, whom he had met when they were both session musicians at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

. With Climie fronting the group, Climie Fisher had hits in many territories, with the singles " Love Changes (Everything)", which won an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

, " Rise to the Occasion", "This Is Me" and more. Concurrent with his time in Climie Fisher, Climie continued with songwriting, landing another big hit in 1988 with

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

's recording of " My Heart Can't Tell You No". After leaving

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

and the final Climie Fisher album ''Coming in for the Kill'', Climie signed to

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's Columbia

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

as a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, releasing an album called ''Soul Inspiration'' in 1992. In the mid-1990s Climie expanded to production, while continuing his

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

career, producing and writing

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s for a number of artists, including MN8, Eternal,

Louise Redknapp Louise Elizabeth Redknapp (née Nurding; born 4 November 1974), professionally known as Louise, is an English singer, dancer and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-pla ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

, and Zucchero Fornaciari. As the 90s progressed, Climie began a long-time collaboration with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

beginning with his albums ''

Pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

'', ''

Reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

'', '' Riding with the King'', ''Me And Mr. Johnson'', ''Back Home'' and '' The Road to Escondido''. In addition, he embarked on a similar musical partnership with Michael McDonald, producing McDonald's ''

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

'', '' Motown II'' and '' Soul Speak'' albums. The third of these featured collaborations with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

and

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won seven ...

, while the Grammy-nominated ''Motown'' spawned the US hit cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Climie's songwriting success continued into the 2010s, with

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboar ...

cracking the American country music charts for more than six months with her cover of "My Heart Can't Tell You No", while Chris Medina – who had already reached number one in a number of territories around the world with his first single – collaborated with Climie on his second single, "One More Time", and several songs on the album ''What Are Words''. Together with U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., Climie co-wrote the film score and theme for '' Man on the Train'' (2011 TriBeCa Productions film) in which Mullen stars with

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

. In 2013, he worked on production and mixing of Eric Clapton's album '' Old Sock'', which shot to number one in the American Billboard Independent Chart in March 2013 after hitting number seven in the Billboard 200 In 2014, Climie was co-producer again with Eric Clapton of the album '' The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale'', a tribute to Clapton's long time friend, the late singer/songwriter J.J. Cale. In 2016, Climie was the co-producer with Clapton on the album '' Live in San Diego'' which was recorded during the "Doyle & Derek World Tour" in 2007. As a producer, Climie has won two Grammys for the albums '' Riding with the King'' in 2000 and '' The Road to Escondido'' in 2007. He received another Grammy nomination for ''

'' in 1998.

Personal life

Climie is the son of David Climie, co-writer of the 1960s and 1970s television comedy series, '' Oh, Brother!'', which starred

Derek Nimmo Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 1930 – 24 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles, including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom ...

. as well as ''

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

's Back in Town'', the comedy series '' Bootsie and Snudge'', '' Backs to the Land'', '' Wodehouse Playhouse'', ''

That Was The Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

'', ''

The Army Game ''The Army Game'' is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 19 June 1957 to 20 June 1961. It was the first ITV sitcom and was made by Granada, and created by Sid Colin. It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group of ...

'', the sci-fi series ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were dramatisations of s ...

'', the radio version of '' Whack-O!'' and the comedy film '' Desert Mice''.

Discography

Includes songs and albums Climie has written, performed and/or produced.

Albums

* ''

Everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing, is all that exists; it is an antithesis of ''nothing'', or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to . The uni ...

'' (as part of Climie Fisher, 1987) * '' Coming In for the Kill'' (as part of Climie Fisher, 1989) * ''Soul Inspiration'' (solo, 1992) * ''Retail Therapy'' – T.D.F. (production and writing) * ''

'' – Eric Clapton (1998, production and writing) * '' Riding with the King'' – B. B. King and Eric Clapton (2000, production) * ''Motown I'' – Michael McDonald (production) * ''

'' – Eric Clapton (2001, production and writing) * '' One More Car, One More Rider'' – Eric Clapton (2002, production and writing) * ''Motown II'' – Michael McDonald (production) * '' Me and Mr. Johnson'' – Eric Clapton (2004, production) * '' Back Home'' – Eric Clapton (2005, production and writing) * ''Soul Speak'' – Michael McDonald (production and writing) * ''TLFM'' – Lara Fabian * ''What Are Words'' – Chris Medina * '' Live in San Diego'' – Eric Clapton (2016, production)

Singles

– " Invincible" (US Top Ten) * Maxine – 1984 *

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

– "

World of Our Own ''World of Our Own'' is the third studio album recorded by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released through RCA Records on 12 November 2001. It reached number one in the United Kingdom and includes the singles " Queen of My Heart" (which was a ...

" * Climie Fisher – " Love Changes (Everything)" * Climie Fisher – "Rise to the Occasion" * Climie Fisher – "This Is Me" *

– " My Father's Eyes" (won

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

in 1999) * Eric Clapton – " (I) Get Lost" *

and

– " I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (co-writer) * Michael McDonald – " Ain't No Mountain High Enough" * Eternal – " Someday" * Zucchero Fornaciari – "

Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" is a 1980 single written by James Warren and first performed by British pop band the Korgis, with Warren as the lead singer. It has subsequently been covered by numerous other artists. Background "Everybody' ...

" * "Soul Inspiration" * "Does Your Heart Still Break" * " Oh How the Years Go By" *

– " My Heart Can't Tell You No" * Chris Medina – "One More Time"

T.D.F.

T.D.F. was a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

act project featuring Climie and Eric Clapton, with Clapton working under the name of x-sample. "TDF" is an acronym for Totally Dysfunctional Family. The project released one album called ''Retail Therapy'' on the

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

record label. The

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

supposedly alludes to Clapton's "addiction" to buying clothes. Eric Clapton states in his autobiography that he persuaded Giorgio Armani, a friend of Clapton's, to let them do the music for one of his fashion shows. The track "Seven" from the album contains a sample of B. B. King's " How Blue Can You Get".

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Simon Climie Songs Latest News

Simon Climie Songs Playlist

{{DEFAULTSORT:Climie, Simon 1957 births Living people English keyboardists English record producers English male guitarists English male singers English male songwriters Grammy Award winners Musicians from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham People from Fulham Singers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Climie Fisher members