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Kim Maiden Simmonds (5 December 1947 – 13 December 2022) was a Welsh musician. He was the founder, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole constant member of the blues rock band Savoy Brown, which he formed in 1965. Simmonds had led Savoy Brown since its inception, appearing on every Savoy Brown release.
Live performances led to Savoy Brown signing with Decca Records. But it was 1969 before its classic line-up gelled around Simmonds, rhythm guitarist Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, drummer Roger Earl, and the monocle- and bowler-wearing vocalist Chris Youlden. That year's Blue Matter and A Step Further albums conjured up at least three classics heard on The Best of Savoy Brown (20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection): "Train To Nowhere", the live show-stopper "Louisiana Blues" (a Muddy Waters number), and "I'm Tired".
Since its first US visit, Savoy Brown has criss-crossed the country, and "I'm Tired" became the group's first hit single across the ocean. The band would find a greater following in America than in its native England throughout its career.
1970's Raw Sienna followed, featuring "A Hard Way To Go" and "Stay While The Night Is Still Young". When Youlden then departed for a solo career, Lonesome Dave took over the lead vocals. Looking In, also in 1970, featured not only "Poor Girl" and "Money Can't Save Your Soul" but one of the era's memorable LP covers, a troglodyte-like savage staring into an eye socket of a monstrous skull. Later, Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl left to form the successful but decidedly rock band Foghat. Simmonds soldiered on, recruiting from blues band Chicken Shack keyboardist Paul Raymond, bassist Andy Silvester and drummer Dave Bidwell, and from the Birmingham club circuit the vocalist Dave Walker.
The new line-up was a hit. On stage in America, the group was supported by Rod Stewart and the Faces. On the album Street Corner Talking (1971) and Hellbound Train (1972) launched favourites "Tell Mama", "Street Corner Talking", a cover of the Temptations' Motown standard "I Can't Get Next To You" and the nine-minute epic "Hellbound Train" (decades later Love and Rockets adapted it as "Bound For Hell"). Walker then quit to join Fleetwood Mac, pre-Buckingham/Stevie Nicks.
In 1997, Simmonds released his first solo acoustic album, entitled Solitaire. He toured worldwide with various configurations of Savoy Brown. The 2004 live set You Should Have Been There, recorded in early 2003 in Vancouver with Simmonds handling lead vocals – and also as a solo acoustic act. In 2011 he celebrated 45 years of touring with the Savoy Brown album Voodoo Moon.
In 2017, his album with Savoy Brown, Witchy Feeling, reached number one on the Billboard blues charts.
As a soloist and leader of Savoy Brown, Simmonds released over 47 albums through 2016. He was also a painter; the cover of his 2008 solo release, Out of the Blue, featured his original art. In 2008, Simmonds appeared in the documentary film directed by Benjamin Meade, alongside Jackson Browne, Noam Chomsky, Douglas Rushkoff, Les Paul, Johnny and Edgar Winter and countless other musicians and musical acts.
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