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Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he had a 25-year career and sold over 50 million albums. Hucknall was described by the Australian Rhythms Magazine as "one of the truly great blue-eyed soul singers", while Q credited him with "the most prodigious voice this side of Motown".
Hucknall attended Audenshaw School, before continuing his education at Tameside College and Manchester Polytechnic's School of Art, where he was a fine art student: whilst at art school he lived in Hulme, including a period living in the Hulme Crescents estate, where crime was so common that Hucknall slept with an axe by his bed for protection. It would not be until the mid-1990s that he would reconnect with his mother, Maureen, who was by then living in the US city of Dallas. As of a 2008 interview, he had only seen her twice since she left. He is of Irish ancestry from his mother, whose father was from County Offaly, along with his paternal grandmother. His maternal grandmother was Jewish.
As lead singer and core member of Simply Red, he became the identifiable face of the band. His face and long curly red hair were featured prominently on album artwork and in videos.
In 1997, Hucknall won an Outstanding Achievement award from the MOBO Awards (MOBO Awards) despite being white.
Hucknall is one of the founders of the reggae label Blood and Fire.
In October 2007, on David Jensen's show on the Gold network, he announced Simply Red would split in 2009. In 2008, he released his first solo album Tribute to Bobby, a tribute to the blues musician Bobby Bland.
In October 2009, Hucknall appeared at a charity performance as vocalist for a re-formed version of Faces, replacing Rod Stewart. In October 2011, he was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award in recognition of his contribution to music./
In October 2012, he released American Soul, a collection of his favourite music re-recorded with his vocals.
Hucknall has been strongly critical of more recent Labour leaders: after the 2015 general election, he said that Ed Miliband "veer(ed) close to Marxism" and that the electorate had acted "with collective wisdom" by defeating Labour in favour of electing a Conservative government, which he described as "the inheritor of the Blairite mantle". The following year he described Jeremy Corbyn as a "shabby, spineless coward" for what he regarded as an insufficiently strong commitment to the Remain campaign for the 2016 Brexit referendum. Hucknall publicly declared he would not vote for Labour ahead of the 2017 general election and 2019 general election, and that he had ended his longstanding support for the party, citing Corbyn's stance on antisemitism. In 2019, he described himself as "politically homeless."
Hucknall has said that derogatory references to his red hair are a form of bigotry.Richard Jinman, 5 July 2003, "Taking the Mick" , Sydney Morning Herald,
Hucknall was a guest on the panel for the BBC's political discussion series Question Time, broadcast on 27 March 2014, and declared his support for same-sex marriage.
Hucknall spends a considerable amount of time in Ireland, where he purchased the Glenmore Estate near the village of Cloghan, County Donegal, with bandmate Chris De Margary. Hucknall and De Margary are keen fishermen. They operate a fishing and hunting tourism business from the estate. In March 2014, Hucknall settled a hunting and fishing rights lawsuit, ongoing for five years, with a neighbour in Ireland. As the case opened in 2009, Judge O'Hagan had instructed both sides to go away and talk about reaching an agreement or else it would drag on for years.
Hucknall co-owns Ask Property Development, a company that constructs city squares and public buildings.
Hucknall spends time in Catania, Sicily, where he produces wines under the label "Il Cantante" (The Singer).
| 2008 | Tribute to Bobby
| 18 | 39 | 37 | 25 | 23 | 29 | |
| 2012 | American Soul
| 6 | 11 | 12 | 22 | 15 | 18 | Gold (BPI) |
| 2008 | "Poverty" | — | Tribute to Bobby |
| "Farther Up the Road" | — | ||
| 2011 | "Happy This Christmas" | — | Non-album single |
| 2012 | "That's How Strong My Love Is" | 118 | American Soul |
| 1999 | "Ain't That a Lot of Love" | Reload (with Simply Red and Tom Jones) |
| 2002 | "T-Bone Shuffle" | Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues |
| 2012 | "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" | Jools Holland – The Golden Age Of Song |
| 1997 | "Someday in my Life" | Leggera (Mina Mazzini) |
| 2012 | "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" | |
| 2015 | "Streets of Arklow" |
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