Simply Red - 40th Anniversary Tour

Twelve million copies sold and the UK's best-selling album two years running; Stars simply refused to leave.

Released in September 1991, Stars became the best-selling album in the UK for both 1991 and 1992. It has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and remains one of the top-selling British albums of all time. Singles including "Stars", "Something Got Me Started" and "For Your Babies" kept the band on radio playlists for two solid years.

"Fairground" gave Simply Red their only UK number one in October 1995, riding a borrowed groove to a debut chart-topping album that shifted over four million copies.

"Fairground", built around a sample of The Goodmen's "Give It Up", became Simply Red's first and only UK number one single in October 1995. Its parent album, Life, debuted at number one and sold over four million copies. The track's infectious energy marked a shift towards dance-influenced production that kept the band relevant as Britpop dominated the headlines.

Simply Red were among the first major acts to own their own label outright; Hucknall saw the digital storm coming before most.

After parting ways with East West Records, Hucknall set up simplyred.com Records, making Simply Red one of the first major acts to self-release through their own label. The move gave the band full creative and commercial control, a decision that proved prescient as the music industry lurched into the digital age.

Over a million farewell tickets sold; the goodbye, it turned out, belonged to everyone.

In 2007, Hucknall announced that Simply Red would disband after a final album and farewell tour. The tour stretched across 2009 and 2010, culminating in an emotional final show at the O2 Arena in London on 19 December 2010. Over a million tickets were sold across the farewell dates, confirming the band's enduring pull.

Five years away, and European arenas still sold out the moment Simply Red came calling.

Five years after their farewell, Hucknall brought Simply Red back with Big Love, their eleventh studio album. A 30th anniversary tour followed, selling out arenas across Europe. The reunion proved that the appetite for the band's live shows had not diminished during the hiatus.

Forty years on, Hucknall's voice remains the finest thing Manchester ever exported.

In 2025, Simply Red embark on their 40th Anniversary Tour, a celebration spanning four decades of hits, from "Money's Too Tight" to tracks from their thirteenth studio album, Time. The tour takes in major venues across the UK and Europe, with Hucknall, now in his sixties, still commanding the stage with the voice that made Manchester's most successful soul export.