Kim Simmonds & Savoy Brown

                                                                     Sportsmen's Tavern

                                                             http://www.savoybrown.com/

KIM SIMMONDS & SAVOY BROWN 50^th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

1965 - 2015

British Blues/Rock pioneer Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown celebrate 50 continuous years, 44 albums, and more than 5,000 gigs from the Royal Albert Hall to Carnegie Hall to the Fillmore East and West and now back at Sportsmen’s Tavern.

But Kim Simmonds is not living in the past; he’s challenging himself and his band to reach new heights and find higher ground.

“Savoy Brown is a very musical band,” Simmonds says.  “We’re not comparing ourselves to others.  We appeal to an audience who wants to hear what we are up to now, what we are rehearsing, creating as a band.  I think my guys and my team are empowering me to do this.”

That’s what Kim lives for and invigorates him - playing for audiences who are hungry to listen for new heights in artistry - not just living off 50 years as an architect of the British hard blues scene.

“Whether I like it or not, I think my destiny is to keep doing what I’m doing, play in clubs and theaters where people pay their hard eared money to hear us give them one-hundred and ten percent.”

Legendary blues/rock institution…true innovators. These are just a few of the ways Savoy Brown has been described over the past forty years by music critics and fans.

One of the earliest of British blues bands forming in 1965, Savoy Brown, with founder guitarist Kim Simmonds at the helm, helped launch the UK blues boom movement that brought blues music back to the USA invigorating the style forever. In the process, the band became part of the framework that launched the rock and roll music of the 1970's. Their influence now stretches into modern rock as we know it today.

The band recorded their first singles for Mike Vernon's Purdah label in 1966 and quickly followed up with the landmark album "Shakedown”. Singer Chris Youlden joined the band in 1968 and many classic records appeared with songs such as "I'm Tired” and "Louisiana Blues” becoming radio staples. Blues-rock and boogie music always was the band's calling card and they captured, forever, the spirit of the music on the live side of "A Step Further” (1969) with a twenty-minute boogie "The Savoy Brown Boogie” dedicated to fans in Detroit.

By 1971, Youlden had departed on a solo career and band members Dave Peverett, Roger Earle, and Tony Stevens had left to form their own group Foghat.  Kim Simmonds rebuilt the band using former members of the blues band Chicken Shack and vocalist Dave Walker. That year, "Street Corner Talking” brought the band its best chart success up to that date. "Tell Mama”, "Street Corner Talking”, "All I Can Do Is Cry” and the band's funky re-make of the Motown classic - "I Can't Get Next To You” - took the band to platinum status and placed them in front of wildly enthusiastic rock audiences in arenas all over the world.

After the successful run of the early to mid 70's, Kim moved operations to the USA and continued making the kind of records he wanted to make with a succession of line-ups. Records as diverse as the acoustic blues "Slow Train to the hard-hitting Rock And Roll Warriors appeared. All were eagerly accepted by the fans.

A three record deal with Crescendo in 1987 took the band into more of a rock direction, with records such as Live 'n' Kicking placing the group in a live setting, one in which they have always excelled.

In the '90's, Let It Ride was released and then turning things around in 1994, Kim enlisted Pete McMahon for vocal and harmonica duties and ex-Robert Cray drummer Dave Olsen to record Bring It Home for Viceroy. This set the tone for the next five years.

Following on, Nathaniel Peterson was brought in to handle the bass playing and singing. After touring the world extensively for three years, in 1999, The Blues Keep me Holding in 1999 was released on Mystic Music. This modern blues record brought the band's epic music journey full circle.

With new goals in mind, Kim Simmonds took over the front singing duties in 2001and the 2003 Blind Pig release “Strange Dreams” was a hit with critics and fans alike and Kim, as front man vocalist, fitted the times perfectly. Changing into a three piece classic blues/rock outfit in 2006 and still doing double duty as guitarist and vocalist, Kim released the bands 30th album "Steel.”  In 2009, after nearly a decade of singing lead vocals and wanting to concentrate once again on his guitar playing, Simmonds brought in Joe Whiting as lead singer.

The band thus became a four piece aggregation with Garnet Grimm on drums and Pat DeSalvo playing bass. The new changes coincided with the release of a retrospective album "Too Much of a Good Thing” that covered the years 1992-2007.

From London's Soho night clubs in 1966 to headlining the world's most famous venues (Carnegie Hall, Fillmore's East and West, Cobo Hall, etc) Savoy Brown has done it all and as the band continues to tour worldwide they give a glimpse into the past and also inspire new listeners with their personal brand of rocking boogie, blues and rock.

In 2011 Kim signed the band to Ruf Records releasing the album "Voodoo Moon” that has became a best seller on Amazon.  2014’s “Going To The Delta” hit #5 on Billboard Blues Chart, #2 on the Roots Report Chart and #1 on Amazon Blues Sales.  The band’s brand new “Still Live After 50 Years” is only available at their concerts.  And they’re already in the studio with their next album, “The Devil To Pay” which is being featured already in concert.