- Mickey Simmonds
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Mickey Simmonds Background information Birth name Michael Simmonds Born 31 January 1959
Chesterfield, Derbyshire, EnglandDied Template:20/12/2012 Genres Neo-progressive rock Occupations Keyboardist, composer Instruments keyboard Years active ?–present Associated acts Camel
Fish
Mike Oldfield
Renaissance
The Mods[1]Website mickeysimmonds.com Mickey Simmonds (born 31 January 1959, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England) is an English session keyboardist, arranger and composer. He is best known for his work with progressive rock acts, Mike Oldfield, Renaissance, Camel and Fish. He has also worked with Joan Armatrading, Paul Young, The Rutles, Art Garfunkel, Kiki Dee, John Coghlan's Diesel Band, Elkie Brooks, Judie Tzuke, Imagination, Bucks Fizz, Jennifer Rush, The Mods, 4 Bills & a Ben, and, most recently The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Simmonds has a long standing relationship with Neil Innes, hence The Rutles (including all the arrangements on Archaeology 1996) and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, whose studio album Pour l'Amour des Chiens was co-produced by Simmonds & Innes.
Simmonds has released two solo albums, The Shape of Rain (1996) and The Seven Colours of Emptiness (2009).[2] As influences, he cites progressive rock acts such as early Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd.[citation needed]Contents
Work with Mike Oldfield
Simmonds played on three albums; The Complete Mike Oldfield (1985), Islands (1987), and Heaven's Open (1991), as well as on tour 1983 -1993.
Work with Fish
Simmonds was the dominant writer on Fish's 1990 solo debut Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors, also co-wrote all tracks on the follow-up album Internal Exile and performed on the tours promoting these albums. Fish described him as the musical director of his early solo years. He resigned in 1992 to be replaced by Foster Patterson, but later returned for the tour promoting Sunsets on Empire (1997) and co-wrote two and performed on three tracks on Raingods with Zippos (1999).
Work with Camel
Simmonds toured with Camel during the tour following the Dust and Dreams album release in 1992 (which had featured Ton Scherpenzeel on keyboards), performances of which appeared on the Camel live album Never Let Go (1993); he also played on the subsequent studio album Harbour of Tears (1996). Foster Patterson, his successor in Fish's solo band, would later take his place in Camel as well.
Work with Renaissance
Simmonds appeared on Tuscany (2001) and the live album In the Land of the Rising Sun: Live in Japan 2002.
Work with XII Alfonso
Simmonds worked with a French band from Bordeaux called XII Alfonso on The Lost Frontier (1996), Odyssées (1999), Claude Monet vol.2 1889–1904 (2005), Charles Darwin (Fall 2011).
References
- ^ http://www.themodsband.com/ The Mods official site
- ^ Mickeysimmonds.com
External links
Camel Andrew Latimer · Colin Bass · Denis Clement · Ton Scherpenzeel
Doug Ferguson · Peter Bardens · Andy Ward · Richard Sinclair · Mel Collins · Jan Schelhaas · Kit Watkins · Paul Burgess · Dave Stewart · Guy LeBlancStudio albums Live albums Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall · A Live Record · Pressure Points · On the Road 1972 · Never Let Go · On the Road 1982 · On the Road 1981 · Coming of Age · Gods of Light '73-'75 · The Paris CollectionCompilations Chameleon - The Best Of Camel · The Collection · A Compact Compilation · Landscapes · Echoes: The Retrospective · Camel - Master Series · Lunar SeaSingles Fish Solo studio albums Studio albums with Marillion Compilations Singles "Shortcut to Somewhere" • "State of Mind" • "Big Wedge" • "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" • "The Company" • "Internal Exile" • "Credo" • "Something in the Air" • "Lady Let It Lie" • "Fortunes of War" • "Brother 52" • "Change of Heart" • "Incomplete" • "Arc of the Curve" • "Zoe 25"Contributors Tony Banks • Robin Boult • Sam Brown • Mark Brzezicki • Steve Brzezicki • James Cassidy • Mark Daghorn • Janick Gers • Hal Lindes • Calum Malcolm • Chris Kimsey • Jon Kelly • Elliot Ness • Foster Paterson • David Paton • Mickey Simmonds • Dave Stewart • Elizabeth Troy Antwi • Tony Turrell • Frank Usher • Steve Vantsis • Bruce Watson • John Wesley • Kevin Wilkinson • Mark Wilkinson • Steven Wilson • John YoungLabels EMI • Polydor • Dick Brothers Record Company • Roadrunner Records • Chocolate Frog Records • Snapper MusicOther Renaissance Annie Haslam · Jon Camp · Michael Dunford · John Tout · Terence Sullivan
Keith Relf · Jim McCarty · Jane Relf · John Hawken · Louis CennamoStudio albums Renaissance · Illusion · Prologue · Ashes Are Burning · Turn of the Cards · Scheherazade and Other Stories · Novella · A Song for All Seasons · Azure d'Or · Camera Camera · Time-Line · TuscanyLive albums Live at Carnegie Hall · In the Land of the Rising Sun: Live in Japan 2001 · Mother Russia · Live and Direct · In the Land of the Rising Sun: Live in Concert · British Tour '76 · Dreams & Omens: "Live" at the Tower TheatreCategories:- 1959 births
- Living people
- English keyboardists
- People from Chesterfield
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