| Simon Climie | |
|---|---|
Simon Climie (right) with Rob Fisher at the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland 1988. |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1957 in London, England |
| Genres | Pop, rock, soul, R&B, country, dance, techno |
| Occupations | Musician, singer, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, keyboards, vocals |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | EMI, Columbia |
| Associated acts | Climie Fisher, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, TDF, Chris Medina, Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2 |
| Website | Simon Climie Songs |
Simon Climie (born 1957 in London) is a songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK pop duo Climie Fisher, who had hits in more than 35 territories – and number ones in some – with "Love Changes (Everything)", which won an Ivor Novello Award [1] [2] , "Rise To The Occasion", "This Is Me" and many other songs.
In Simon's first couple of years as a songwriter, he had songs recorded by George Michael and Aretha Franklin, Pat Benatar, Smokey Robinson and Jeff Beck, which established him as a world-class international talent. Then, on the fringes of session work, he did the Fairlight programming for Scritti Politti's legendary album Cupid & Psyche.
George Michael and Aretha Franklin's single "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" reached number one worldwide, including in the UK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot 100 in America. Following this, Simon continued to have success with his songs, including "You're Not Alone", which featured on Amy Grant's Heart In Motion, which sold more than five million copies worldwide – the biggest-selling Christian album of all tme.
Simon is also known for his Grammy Award-winning work as a collaborator with Eric Clapton on many Platinum albums, including Pilgrim, Reptile, Riding with the King, Me And Mr Johnson, Back Home and The Road to Escondido.
During this time he produced Platinum albums for other artistes, including Michael McDonald's renowned Motown, Motown II and Soul Speak. The latter featured collaborations with Stevie Wonder and Tony Braxton, while the Grammy-nominated Motown spawned the huge US hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
In 2011 the success continues with Simon's songs. Sara Evans has been in the American country music charts for more than six months with "My Heart Can't Tell You No", and Chris Medina – who has already reached number one in a number of territories round the world with his first single – has collaborated with Simon on his second single, "One More Time", and several songs on the album What Are Words.
Together with U2 founder member Larry Mullen, Jr., Simon has co-written the movie score and theme for Man On The Train (2011 TriBeCa Productions film) in which Larry stars with Donald Sutherland [3]
Simon is the son of David Climie, co-writer of the popular 1960s and 1970s television comedy series, Oh, Brother!, which starred Derek Nimmo.[4] as well as Lulu's Back in Town (see Lulu), the comedy series Bootsie and Snudge, Backs to the Land, Wodehouse Playhouse, That Was The Week That Was, The Army Game, the sci-fi series Out of the Unknown, the radio version of Whack-O! and the comedy film Desert Mice. (See David Climie in IMDB)
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After leaving EMI and the final Climie Fisher album Coming In For The Kill, Climie signed to Sony's Columbia label as a solo artist, releasing an album called Soul Inspiration in 1992. [5]
From the mid-90s Climie expanded to production, producing and writing songs for a number of artistes, including Eternal, Louise Redknapp, B.B. King, Michael McDonald and Zucchero Fornaciari.
He went on to work with Eric Clapton and produce a number of Grammy Award-winning albums for Eric Clapton, acting as producer and co-writer. Climie also contributed keyboards and programming to Clapton's Pilgrim.
His most recent work with Clapton is on Clapton and J.J. Cale's album The Road to Escondido, released in 2006. Apart from Clapton, he also worked with former Doobie Brothers member Michael McDonald on his Motown albums, and the other artistes listed above.
Includes songs and albums Simon has written, performed and/or produced.
TDF was a dance act project featuring Climie and Eric Clapton, with Clapton working under the name of x-sample. "TDF" is an acronym for Totally Dysfunctional Family.[6] The project released one album called Retail Therapy on the Reprise record label. The title supposedly alludes to Clapton's "addiction" to buying clothes. Eric Clapton states in his autobiography that he persuaded Giorgio Armani, a friend of Clapton's, to let them do the music for one of his fashion shows.[7]
Retail Therapy track listing: