Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born 28 July 1949) is an English musician who was the co-founder, drummer, and only continuous member of the rock supergroup

Bad Company Bad Company were an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both ex- Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex- Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson). Kirke was the only m ...

. Prior to forming Bad Company he was the drummer and co-founder of Free.

Life and career

Kirke was born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater 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, Lon ...

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

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

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

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. 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 that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

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, best known as the co-founder and guitarist of the rock band Free (band), Free. In 2010, he was ranked number 51 in ''Rolling Stone''s list of the "100 Greatest ...

, who was playing in a band called Black Cat Bones. 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 Bernard Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is an English-Canadian singer. He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free (band), Free, Bad Company, The Firm (rock band), the Firm and The Law (English band), the L ...

and

Andy Fraser Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was an English 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 af ...

formed Free. Their biggest hit, "

All Right Now "All Right Now" is a song by English rock band Free, released on their third studio album, '' Fire and Water'' (1970). It was released by Island Records, a record label founded by Chris Blackwell. Released as the album's second single, "All R ...

", was a number one in more than 20

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

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, broadc ...

(American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 as having received more than one million radio plays in the US by late 1989. In 2000, an award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British music industry when "All Right Now" passed two million 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 retired Japanese musician. In the 1970s, he was a member of several popular rock bands, including Free, where he replaced original bassist Andy Fraser before the band's final album '' Heartbreaker'', and Faces, where he replaced Ronnie ...

. Rodgers and Kirke elected to fill in the band bringing

John "Rabbit" Bundrick John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick (born November 21, 1948) is an American keyboardist and vocalist. He is best known for his work with The Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roger Waters, Free and ...

on board as a member of Free for the tour and the last Free album, '' Heartbreaker''. After the disbanding of Free in 1973, Kirke and Rodgers again teamed up to form

. They were joined by guitarist

Mick Ralphs Michael Geoffrey Ralphs (born 31 March 1944) is an English retired guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, who was a founding member of rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Though not a constant member, he appeared on every studio album b ...

( Mott the Hoople) 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 being the vocalist and bassist of King Crimson from 1971 to 1972 and the original bassist of B ...

(

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

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) is an English hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. After the release of their second live album, 1984's '' Rock Will Never Die'', ...

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 Swan Song Records was a record label that was launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974; however, its first record releases (in UK and US, respectively) were '' Silk Torpedo'', by another English rock band, the Pretty Thin ...

, 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 National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

(the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

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

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

with his wife Maria Angelica Kirke and has three children:

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. 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 called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...

, Jemima, and Lola Kirke.

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 includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

'' (1970) *'' Free Live!'' (1971) (live) *'' Free at Last'' (1972) *'' Heartbreaker'' (1973)

Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit

*'' Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit'' (1971)

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 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'' (2006) *''

Hard Rock Live Hard Rock Live is a concert hall at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The venue originally opened on July 12, 2005, as a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena. In March 2018, it went through renovations, including an upgr ...

'' (2010) *'' Live at Wembley'' (2011) *'' Live in Concert 1977 & 1979'' (2016)

Wildlife

*''Wildlife'' (1983)

Lonerider

*''Attitude'' (2019) *''Sundown'' (2022)

Solo

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirke, Simon 1949 births Living people English rock drummers Bad Company members Free (band) members Musicians from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Lambeth Musicians from the City of Westminster English expatriate musicians in the United States Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members Dellal family People from Westminster