Mickey Simmonds

Mickey Simmonds
Background information
Birth name	Michael Simmonds
Born	31 January 1959 (1959-01-31) Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Died	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
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). As influences, he cites progressive rock acts such as early Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd.^{[citation needed]}

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).

External links

• Official page
• MySpace Page