Born on 9 July: Jim Kerr (Simple Minds), an icon without vanity

After a dazzling concert to mark the 50th anniversary of Rock Werchter, the Scottish singer is now celebrating his 66th birthday.

Jim Kerr was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1959, and his story is inextricably linked to that of Simple Minds, of which he has been the lead singer for over four decades.

Some time before the album ‘Life In A Day’ was released on 20 April 1979 in the UK, their first single ‘Chelsea Girl’ was released on the Edinburgh micro-label Zoom Records. The founder of Zoom Records, Bruce Findlay, went on to become their manager some time later.

With a few grey hairs and the passing of years, Jim Kerr readily concedes that Johnny & The Self Abusers (already with guitarist Charlie Burchill) was not a very sellable name, even for a gang of teenagers whose aim was to seduce girls as much as to write memorable choruses.

Taking inspiration from David Bowie's “The Jean Genie” (1972) when choosing a new name was undoubtedly a better move. ‘He's so simple minded, he can't drive his module’, Bowie murmured as he hovered over the Scots' birthplace. Simple Minds was born under much better auspices...

Still on the subject of nostalgia, Jim Kerr is happy to talk about his first taste of culture in his local library, Govanhill Library. It was by immersing himself in reading and devouring the books made available to him that he developed the desire to write stories and then set them to music with his bandmates in Simple Minds.

In fact, from ‘I Travel’ (one of the band's first big hits in 1980) to ‘Love Song’ (1981), from ‘Someone Somewhere In Summertime’ and ‘Promised You A Miracle’ (1982) to “Waterfront” and ‘New Gold Dream’ (1983), from ‘Don't You (Forget About Me)’ and ‘Alive And Kicking’ (1985) to ‘She's A River’ (1995), to name but a few, Jim Kerr has mastered the art of composing memorable choruses. Often epic, sometimes emphatic, but almost always seductive. Until “Vision Thing” from their latest studio album “Vision Of The Heart”. Jim Kerr doesn't seem to have any intention of retreating back to the Highlands for good. And that's just as well...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart -  Etienne Tordoir)

Photo : Jim Kerr de Simple Minds dans les salons de l’Hôtel Astoria à Bruxelles (Belgique) le 3 décembre 1982