Preview by Matthew Osborne
You might be forgiven for wanting to go and watch Simone Felice just to be in the presence of a man that has been to the other side, twice.
As a twelve year old boy Simone suffered a brain aneurysm and was pronounced clinically dead for several minutes. Fortune and emergency brain surgery brought him back.
In 2010, following a series of fainting spells, Simone underwent emergency open heart surgery after the calcification of his aorta allowed only 8% of the necessary blood to make it to his brain.
Life’s attempts to hold Simone back with these events, as well as the loss of his first daughter, ultimately failed. Following his aneurysm he started his first band, Eight Body Trunk, at eighteen and from there went on to write poetry. Following the 2001 attacks on New York, he and his brother, Ian, formed The Felice Brothers and recorded several albums to international critical acclaim.
After losing his daughter he retreated to a cabin with his old friend Bird where they began writing and recording songs that would form the repertoire of what would become The Duke and The King.
Most recently, in the wake of his heart operation, Simone began writing and recording the songs that make up his eponymous debut album. The album features players from Mumford & Sons and The Felice Brothers and was released to critical acclaim in 2012.
Now Birmingham gets a chance to hear his music; sometimes uplifting, sometimes mournful, it is a rich sound which carries on a gentle zephyr all of the knowledge that someone who has truly experienced life has to offer.
Simone Felice plays The Glee Club (B’ham) on Friday July 5th. For more info and tickets, visit http://www.glee.co.uk/performers/simone-felice.htm
For more on Simone Felice, visit http://www.simonefelice.com/
For further gigs at The Glee Club (B’ham), including the venue’s comedy programme, visit http://www.glee.co.uk/GleeClubBirmingham