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 Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came ...

, 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, rugb ...

. In his last year in secondary school, he performed

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's "

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

" in the school's annual show. Simm decided to concentrate on music and joined a local indie 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 talent show, '' Stars in Their Eyes'', 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 ITV reality TV show, '' Popstars''.

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 Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

's independent record label V2 records. 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 (England ...

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 English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, b ...

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 ...

"). 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 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?'' cheat Charles Ingram, 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 The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

and

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

series The Big Reunion 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 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's "

Chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent ...

". All four coaches; will.i.am, 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 singe ...

and Paloma Faith, 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", " Holding on for You", " Being Nobody", Song 4 Lovers 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 Marti Pellow (born Mark McLachlan; 23 March 1965) is a Scottish singer. He was the lead singer of the Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet for 28 years: from their formation in 1982 until their split in 1997, and again from their reformation in 200 ...

. He started singing with the band at 2 shows, St Lukes in Calton, Glasgow 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

. 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