UNITED KINGDOM: Simply Red were back on stage in London this week ahead of the release of their new album "Stay"

Simply Red were back on stage in London this week ahead of the release of their new album "Stay" which hits the shops on March 12. It was a gentle return for the group at the intimate but legendary jazz venue Ronnie Scott's on Wednesday (January 31). Lead singer Mick Hucknall insisted that his well of musical ballads was far from empty. "What keeps you involved is songs, just keep writing lyrics. I've not dried up yet somehow. I'm doing more collaborations these days with musicians and occasionally other song writers which is a lot of fun. I think the real deal is just enjoy yourself," he said. Hucknall's hair remains its trademark red but he did admit that he's not quite the man he used to be. "I've seen Mick Hucknall get more wrinkly and generally mature and get little grey patches in his beard. But I would imagine that everybody hopefully sort of develops as a character as they go through life. The idea that you would remain the same guy as when you were twenty, I think in some ways would almost be tragic," he said. In May the band will face a much larger audience at London's Royal Albert Hall. Last time they stepped on that stage was in 2005 when they played three sold-out shows. The band's new single, the ballad "So Not Over You" is unlikely to alienate loyal fans when it is released on May 5. "You always want to have a certain amount of experimentation in what you do to keep yourself stimulated and keep the audience interested by doing something different. But then again they also want to be reassured that somebody is still basically doing the same thing and it's just getting the balance between those two things right. And I think as I said the case with the focus on this is that I just think that we've got a really good balance as to what I think they want. And I feel good about it because I think this is what I want to give." The album was written and produced by Hucknall with contributions from Andy Wright.

ITN Source | February 8, 2007

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