SIMPLY RED TO DISBAND

Simply Red lead singer Mick Hucknall has announced that British pop soul band Simply Red has decided to split up in 2009. Mick Hucknall told the U.K.'s Gold Radio that the group plans to split up after 25 years together. Simply Red's current CD, Stay, will be its final release, and the group will disband after completing a series of tour dates. Hucknall will then focus on a solo career, where he can "invent a new form of music" influenced by R&B tracks from the 1960s. "It's a big challenge but I can't do it under the name of Simply Red," Hucknall said. He’s already completed work on his first solo project, which is a tribute to Bobby Bland, a blues and R&B artist. Simply Red formed in 1984with three ex-members of the band Durutti Column -- bassist Tony Bowers, drummer Chris Joyce, and keyboard and brass player Tim Kellett -- as well as guitarist Sylvan Richardson and keyboardist Fritz McIntyre. The group charted its first single in 1985 with "Money's Too Tight To Mention" from their debut Playbook. The band subsequently released nine more albums, including the current Stay, their first issue on the SimplyRed.com label. Simply Red's performance of the Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes classic "If You Don't Know Me By Now" earned a 1989 Grammy Award for writers Gamble & Huff as best R&B song. Simply Red is releasing a new version of "The World And You Tonight," as their last single