Now he's simply Mick

4:15pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008

AFTER 24 years of Simply Red, frontman Mick Hucknall, 48, is striking out on his own with an album of songs last recorded by Mick's musical heroes Bobby 'Blue' Bland.

"He's one of my favourite singers plus he's not very well known," he explains. "Very few people in Britain or Europe are even familiar with his songs. I wanted to help get this out there."

The songs on the album Tribute to Bobby were written by other people for Bobby Bland, The Lion of the Blues' in the 1950s and 1960s.

Bland, an influential and chart-topping African American singer, mixed gospel with blues and original rhythm and blues, along with the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Junior Parker.

The album only took five weeks to record, Hucknall's quickest ever.

"It was quite impulsive. I wasn't intending to record anything," he explains. "But I've got a recording studio in my house and we just decided to put it out now.

"The record industry is in a very strange place at the moment so we don't really know where we're going to be in 2010."

He blames computer games and other distractions for the well documented decline in record sales.

"Where people might have gone out on a Saturday to buy a single in the past, they tune in to Pop Idol and vote instead."

Is he worried about leaving behind such a recognisable and sucessful band in such an era?

"Not really. During the last Simply Red album I could hear a definite change in the music, I just felt it was time to move on. And I love what I do, I've just got to get on with my work."

Hucknall says the bulk of his forthcoming show at Indigo2 will be drawn from the album but there may be a few Simply Red "surprises".

The audience will be treated to a short documentary played at the beginning of the show, which details Hucknall's meeting with his hero, who is now in his seventies.

"It was wonderful, we spent the whole day together," he says. "I was a bit nervous because showing somebody their songs is a little worrying but it worked out well."

He plans for his new album to be the first of many featuring a new musical direction, inspired by 40s and 50s music, an interest he says he never had the opportunity to follow up in Simply Red.

It is not the first time he has changed direction. From his punk beginnings, a period where he had "a great time", Hucknall has drawn on jazz, RnB and soul music for inspiration, and he says his music cannot be pinned down to any particular era or style.

Hucknall's playboy antics have filled tabloids and celebrity magazines in the past.

Now he is coy about his reputation but said he has now, most definitely, settled down, with partner Gabrielle Wesberry and one-year-old daughter Romy.

"I've lived a very full and fruitful life and now my life's taken on a whole new meaning." it's wonderful." he says.

But he may have given up wild parties and womanising he has not lost his lust for making music.

"For me the best thing about being a musician is the freedom. I think I've the best job in the world because I'm just so free. I'm able to make music that I want to and it's very exciting."

Mick Hucknall plays Indigo2 on July 9 and July 10

For tickets call 0844 888 9991 or 0871 2200 260, or visit ticketline.co.uk seetickets.co.uk gigantic.com

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