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Simon Climie

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Simon Climie
Simon Climie (right) with Rob Fisher at the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland 1988.
Simon Climie (right) with Rob Fisher at the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland 1988.
Background information
GenresPop, rock, soul, R&B, country, dance, techno
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active1987–present
LabelsEMI, Columbia
WebsiteSimon Climie Songs

Simon Climie (born in London) is a songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK pop duo Climie Fisher, who had hits with "Love Changes (Everything)" and "Rise to the Occasion".

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 85.

George Michael and Aretha Franklin's single "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" reached number one in both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot 100 in America.

Simon is also known for his Grammy Award-winning work as a collaborator with Eric Clapton on Platinum albums such as Pilgrim, Reptile and Riding with the King.

Sara Evans has had a hit in the American country music charts with her cover of Simon's song "My Heart Can't Tell You No", Chris Medina has reached number one in Scandinavia and the Far East with his track "One More Time", and Simon has co-written the theme for Man On The Train (2011 TriBeCa Productions film) with U2 founder member Larry Mullen, Jr., who stars with Donald Sutherland in Mary McGuckian's remake of the 2002 French classic [1] which is on iTunes.

Simon and Rob Fisher met when Simon was recording all the guitars and drums on the Scritti Politti album (above) and Rob was simultaneously programming the bass on Billy Ocean's hit "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going". The pair hit it off immediately and got together to form the duo Climie Fisher. Their song "Love Changes (Everything)" was a hit in 35 territories – number two in the UK and number one in many – while "Rise To The Occasion" was also a big success for them.

At the same time, other acts were recording their songs, with "Room To Move" reaching the Top Ten in America, and featuring in the 1988 sci-fi comedy film My Stepmother Is an Alien. And Amy Grant included "You're Not Alone" on her smash hit album Heart In Motion, which also went Top Ten in America and sold five million copies worldwide.

Simon is the son of David Climie, co-writer of the popular 1960s and 1970s television comedy series, Oh, Brother!, which starred Derek Nimmo.[2] 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)

Biography

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. However unlike his former hits with partner Rob Fisher, neither the album or attending single managed to reach their respective UK Top 40.[3]

From this point Climie switched to production, producing and writing songs for a number of 1990s pop artists, such as Louise Redknapp and MN8.

In the late 1990s, Climie became involved with Eric Clapton, acting as producer and sometime 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. He produced the 2009 album by the American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, The Distance.[4]

Discography

Albums

(Soul Inspiration / Does Your Heart Still Break / Love In The Right Hands / Dream With Me / Oh How The Years Go By / Don’t Give Up So Easy / Spell / Don’t Waste Time (Make Your Move) / Losing You / Life Goes On)

  • Pilgrim - Eric Clapton (Production & Writing)
  • Riding with the King - BB King & Eric Clapton (Production)
  • Motown I - Michael McDonald - (Production)
  • Reptile - Eric Clapton (Production & Writing)
  • One More Car - One More Rider Eric Clapton Live (Production & Writing)
  • Motown II - Michael McDonald - (Production)
  • Me & Mr Johnson Eric Clapton (Production)
  • Back Home - Eric Clapton (Production & Writing)
  • Soul Speak - Michael McDonald (Production & Writing)
  • Lara Fabian - TLFM
  • Chris Medina - What Are Words

Singles

  • "Soul Inspiration" (1992) - #60 UK;[3] #44 Netherlands; #60 Germany,
  • "Does Your Heart Still Break" (1993) - #71 Germany
  • "Oh How The Years Go By" (1993)

TDF

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.[5] 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.[6]

Retail Therapy track listing:

  • "Blue Rock
  • "Angelica
  • "Pnom-Sen
  • "Sno God
  • "Sienna
  • "Seven" (contains a sample of B. B. King's "How Blue Can You Get")
  • "Angelica’s Dream"
  • "What She Wants"
  • "Donna"
  • "Rip Stop"
  • "What Else"

References

  1. ^ Climie, Simon. "Biography". Si-Bio. Simon Climie Songs. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  2. ^ "Oh, Brother!". IMDb.com. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  3. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 111. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. ^ "Taylor Hicks Resurfaces With New Album". Billboard.com. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  5. ^ Where's Eric - The Eric Clapton Fan Club Magazine
  6. ^ Wald, Elijah. "Eric Clapton: The Autobiography: Eric Clapton: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2011.

External links

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