Kevin Simm
| Kevin Simm | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kevin Ian Simm |
| Born |
5 September 1980 Chorley, Lancashire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts | |
Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980, Chorley, Lancashire, England) is an English pop singer. He won The Voice UK on 9 April 2016. Before appearing on The Voice, Simm was a member of pop group Liberty X.
Simm was born on 5 September 1980 in Chorley, Lancashire, England. He attended St Anne's Primary School then St. Mary's Catholic Technology College in Leyland between 1991 and 1996, where he showed promise as a junior footballer. In his last year in secondary school, he performed Elton John's "Daniel" in the school's annual show. Simm decided to concentrate on music and joined a local indie band called AnAlien where he began writing his own material. He applied to go on the ITV talent show, Stars in Their Eyes, where he appeared as Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene. After a few years of writing and performing on the northern pubs and clubs circuit, as well as spending a summer season in a band called Force 5 with James Fox, Simm auditioned for the ITV reality TV show, Popstars.
While the five winning contestants of Popstars formed Hear'Say, the five runner-up contestants formed the group Liberty. The name Liberty was chosen to reflect the freedom the members experienced following their participation in Popstars. Amidst pejorative media commentary (including the term "Flopstars"), the act proceeded to sign a multimillion-pound record contract with Richard Branson's independent record label V2 records. Shortly after forming, Liberty received a legal challenge in the UK High Court from a funk R&B band, also called "Liberty", who achieved success in the 1990s, including being awarded Capital Radio Band of the Year, playing Wembley Arena, European tours and the release of albums in the USA, Europe and UK. The original Liberty claimed that the newly formed Liberty was taking advantage of the goodwill that had been created by the former's success (known in English law as the "tort of passing off"). The final judgment was in favour of the funk R&B band and the ex-Popstars then asked readers of UK tabloid newspaper, The Sun to suggest a new name. The winning name was "X Liberty", but the group used the entry as the basis for the official title, "Liberty X".
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