Simply Red bring Mick Hucknall’s catalogue to Gunnersbury Park for an open-air summer night, with Lisa Stansfield and Soul II Soul on the bill.
Simply Red, the Mick Hucknall band behind “Holding Back the Years” and “Stars”, play an open-air show at Gunnersbury Park in Acton on Friday 13 August 2027. Lisa Stansfield and Soul II Soul are also on the bill.
Hucknall started in the Manchester punk group the Frantic Elevators, whose last single in 1984 was “Holding Back the Years”. He formed Simply Red in Manchester in 1985, naming the band after his nickname, Red.
All 13 of their studio albums, from Picture Book in 1985 to Time in 2023, reached the UK top ten. Stars is one of the best-selling albums in British chart history. “Holding Back the Years” and “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” both topped the American chart, and “Fairground” topped the British one.
The band won Best British Group at the Brit Awards in 1992 and 1993 and have sold more than 50 million albums.
Lisa Stansfield, also from Manchester, broke through in 1989 with “All Around the World”, a number one around the world. Soul II Soul began as Jazzie B’s London sound system at the Africa Centre, and “Back to Life” gave them a UK number one.