Simon Climie

Simon Climie

Simon Climie (right) with Rob Fisher at the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland 1988.
Background information
Birth name Simon Crispin Climie[1]
Born 7 April 1957 (1957-04-07) (age 59)
Fulham, London, England
Occupation(s) 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 7 April 1957 in London) is a songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.

Biography

Climie is the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher, together with Rob Fisher. The pair met when they were both session musicians at Abbey Road Studios.[2] Climie Fisher had hits in more than 35 territories – and number ones in some – with "Love Changes (Everything)", which won an Ivor Novello Award,[3][4] "Rise to the Occasion", "This Is Me" and many other songs.

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 artists, including Eternal, Louise Redknapp, B.B. King, Michael McDonald and Zucchero Fornaciari.

In Climie'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, Climie 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 time.

Climie 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 artists, including Michael McDonald's renowned Motown, Motown II and Soul Speak. The latter featured collaborations with Stevie Wonder and Toni Braxton, while the Grammy-nominated Motown spawned the huge US hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

In 2011 success continued with Climie's songs. Sara Evans was in the American country music charts for more than six months with "My Heart Can't Tell You No", and Chris Medina – who had already reached number one in a number of territories round the world with his first single – collaborated with Climie on his second single, "One More Time", and several songs on the album What Are Words.

Together with U2 founder member Larry Mullen, Jr., Climie has co-written the movie score and theme for Man on the Train (2011 TriBeCa Productions film) in which Larry stars with Donald Sutherland [6]

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.

Climie also worked with Clapton, on Clapton and JJ 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 artists listed above.

In 2013, he worked on production and mixing of Eric Clapton's album Old Sock,[7] which shot to number one in the American Billboard Independent Chart in March 2013 [8] after hitting number seven in the Billboard 200 [9] In 2014 Climie was co-producer with Clapton of the album The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, a tribute to Clapton's long time friend, the late singer/songwriter J.J. Cale; a project on which Mark Knopfler, Don White, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Derek Trucks, and many others made significant contributions.

In 2016, Climie was the co-producer with Clapton on the album Live in San Diego which was recorded during the "Doyle & Derek World Tour" in 2007.

Personal life

Climie is the son of David Climie, co-writer of the popular 1960s and 1970s television comedy series, Oh, Brother!, which starred Derek Nimmo.[10] 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)

Discography

Includes songs and albums Climie has written, performed and/or produced.

Albums

Singles

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.[11] The project released one album called Retail Therapy on the Reprise record label. The title supposedly alludes to Clapton's "addiction" to buying clothes.[12] 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.[13]

Retail Therapy track listing:

References

  1. ↑ Mr Simon Crispin Climie company-director-check.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Sutton, Michael. "Biography of Climie Fisher". Allmusic. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Lister, David (28 May 1994). "Pop Ballads Bite Back". The Independent Newspaper. London: The Independent Newspaper. Retrieved 28 May 1994. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. ↑ Climie, Simon. "Simon Climie Pocket Bio" (PDF). Simon Climie Songs.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 111. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ Climie, Simon. "Biography". Si-Bio. Simon Climie Songs. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Eric Clapton: Old Sock - exclusive album stream". London: Daily Telegraph. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Billboard Independent Albums Chart". Old Sock. Billboard Chart. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Billboard 200 Chart". Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Oh, Brother!". IMDb.com. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Where's Eric - The Eric Clapton Fan Club Magazine
  12. ↑ "ALAN DOUGLAS: Recording With Eric Clapton". soundonsound.com. Sound On Sound Magazine. Retrieved 2015-11-21.
  13. ↑ Wald, Elijah. "Eric Clapton: The Autobiography: Eric Clapton: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
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