Simon Kirke

Simon Kirke
Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born 28 July 1949) is an English drummer, best known as the co-founder and original drummer of the supergroup Bad Company. Prior to helping form Bad Company he was the drummer and co-founder of Free. He has been the only continuous member of Bad Company since its inception.
Life and career
Kirke was born in Lambeth, South London, the son of Vivian Percy Kirke and Olive May (Pollard) Kirke, who married in 1948. Simon's father was from a junior branch of a family of Nottinghamshire landed gentry, and descended on his mother's side from the Gibson-Craig baronets.
Kirke spent his early years living in the countryside 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 22 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, and played with Black Cat Bones for six months.
Kirke and Paul Kossoff left the band and with Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser formed Free. Their biggest hit, "All Right Now", was a number one in more than 20 territories and was acknowledged by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 as having received more than 1,000,000 radio plays in the US by late 1989. 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.
By April 1972, Free had reformed with Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers making peace, and Kossoff appeared to pull it together if only briefly. Kossoff resumed taking drugs during the US tour to support the last album by the original quartet Free at Last. On the eve of their Japanese tour Fraser fought with Rodgers and once again left the band, to be replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi. Rodgers and Kirke elected to fill in the band bringing John "Rabbit" Bundrick on board as a member of Free for the tour and the last Free album, Heartbreaker. After the disbanding of Free in 1973, Kirke and Rodgers again teamed up to form Bad Company. They were joined by guitarist Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (King Crimson).
After Bad Company disbanded in 1982, Kirke joined a band called Wildlife. They toured in support of the Michael Schenker Group around this time in the UK. Wildlife's self-titled album was mostly written by Steve and Chris Overland, produced by former Bad Company bandmate Ralphs, and featured Kirke as their drummer (and saxophonist on his self-written song "Charity"). Despite being signed to Led Zeppelin's label, Swan Song Records, and Kirke's high-profile involvement, the album failed to sell. Wildlife's core members, brothers Chris and Steve Overland went on to greater success with the band FM.
Kirke returned to Bad Company when the band reformed in 1986. As well as touring with Ringo Starr's All Star Band on three occasions, he is an accomplished songwriter, releasing Seven Rays of Hope in 2005. He toured with Bad Company in 2009. He has been playing with New York City rock band Zeta Vang as a side project.
A governor on the board of NARAS (the Grammy Award Committee), Kirke is on the board of Road Recovery, which helps teenagers recover from addiction. He lives in Manhattan, with his wife, Maria Angelica Kirke, and has three children : Domino, Jemima, and Lola Kirke. He had a son by Marissa Creager, Simon St George Creager, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy, died in 2017 at age 19.
Discography
Free
Tons of Sobs (1969)
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)
What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company (1993) (live)
Company of Strangers (1995)
Stories Told & Untold (1996)
The 'Original' Bad Co. Anthology (1999) (compilation CD)
In Concert: Merchants of Cool (2002)
Live in Albuquerque 1976 (2006)
Hard Rock Live (2010)
Live at Wembley (2011)
Live in Concert 1977 & 1979 (2016)
Wildlife
Wildlife (1983)
Lonerider
Attitude (2019)
Solo
Seven Rays of Hope (2005)
Filling the Void (2011)
All Because of You (2017)
References
External links
Official website; accessed 11 April 2022
Profile, wacbiz.com; accessed 24 February 2015.
1949 births
Living people
English rock drummers
Bad Company members
Free (band) members
Musicians from Lambeth
Musicians from Westminster
English expatriates in the United States
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members