Simon Kirke

Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born 28 July 1949, but according to the Associated Press, he was born 27 August 1949) is an English rock drummer best known as a member of Free and Bad Company.

Born in Lambeth Hospital, Lambeth, South East London, England, Kirke spent his early years living in the borderlands of Wales. Leaving school at 17, he returned to London and set about finding a drumming job in the booming blues scene. After a fruitless 18 months he was resigned to returning to the country when he met Paul Kossoff who was playing in a band called Black Cat Bones. Kirke was offered the drumming position in the band for which he played for six months. Among others, Kirke played Hayman drums.

Simon and Paul Kossoff left the band and with Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser formed Free. In the four years Free were together they had an enormous influence on many bands on both sides of the Atlantic. Their biggest hit "All Right Now", a number one hit in more than 20 territories and recognised by ASCAP"(American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers)" in 1990 for more than 1,000,000 radio plays in the US by late 1989, and in 2000 an award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 radio plays in the UK.

After the disbanding of Free in 1973, Simon and Paul Rodgers again teamed up to form Bad Company. They were joined by guitarist Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (King Crimson). Bad Company became one of the biggest and best live acts, selling approximately 30 million singles and albums.

After Bad Company ended in 1982, Kirke was briefly invoved with another band Wildlife . Their album was produced by former Bad Company bandmate Ralphs. He returned to Bad Company when it reunited in 1986.

As well as touring with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band on three occasions, Kirke is an accomplished songwriter, releasing "Seven Rays of Hope" in 2005. He has also worked with Wilson Pickett, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Eric Clapton.

In 1980 Kirke played drums alongside Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham for Zep's two song encore in Munich during their next-to-last concert.

A governor on the board of NARAS (the Grammy Committee), Kirke lives in Manhattan with his wife, Lorraine, and his four children. His daughter Domino is trying to follow her father into a musical career.

Kirke made an instruction DVD of hits from Bad Company and Free, entitled "Lessons from a

Kirke is a fan of Aretha Franklin and states he has most of her albums.

Kirke is a recurring counselor at Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp. He was due to return as a counselor at the New York City camp in 2007.

Discography

Free

*"Tons of Sobs" (1968)
*"Free" (1969)
*"Fire and Water" (1970)
*"Highway" (1970)
*"Free Live!" (1971) (live)
*"Free at Last" (1972)
*"Heartbreaker" (1973)

Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit

*"Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit" (1971)

Bad Company

*"Bad Company" (1974)
*"Straight Shooter" (1975)
*"Run With the Pack" (1976)
*"Burnin' Sky" (1977)
*"Desolation Angels" (1979)
*"Rough Diamonds" (1982)
*"10 from 6" (1985) (compilation)
*"Fame and Fortune" (1986)
*"Dangerous Age" (1988)
*"Holy Water" (1990)
*"Here Comes Trouble" (1992)
*"" (1993) (live)
*"Company of Strangers" (1995)
*"Stories Told & Untold" (1996)
*"The Original Bad Company Anthology" (1999) (compilation CD)
*"Merchants of Cool" (2002)

olo

*"Seven Rays of Hope" (2005)

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/simonkirke Simon Kirke Official Website]