Simply Red is the wild card on this year’s Obama summer playlist. You expect the former president’s curated playlists to be loaded with impeccably hip picks, from all over the worlds of pop, soul, ...

The second half of the 1980s was distinguished by a focus on bold, synthetic music. It was unusual to hear too many tracks that focused entirely on the old-school qualities of sharp songwriting, ...

Simply Red's 'Simplified' American Soul Ed Gordon talks with Mick Hucknall of the R&B group Simply Red. Hucknall, who is English, has a new CD, Simplified, that includes some American soul favorites.

In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. A vast chunk of ...