Drummer Chris Joyce was one of the founding members of Simply Red and an essential part of their sophisto-pop sound and early success. But, even though they were getting big around the world and scored two #1 hits in the US ("Holding Back the Years" and "If You Don't Know Me By Now"), it was about to get even bigger. In 1991 they released their fourth album, Stars, which went on to be one of the biggest selling albums in UK chart history (and was mostly ignored in the US). Unfortunately, Chris was sacked just as the recording of Stars was about to take place. In this candid conversation we discuss what went wrong and how he felt at the time. His career since has seen some extreme highs and extreme lows, but today he is in a really good place and running his own drum school outside of Manchester. In my opinion, Simply Red hasn't been as good since he left!
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