47 years later, Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr shares the power of an anthem

When the Scottish band Simple Minds made their live debut on stage at the Satellite City club in the city center of Glasgow on January 17, 1978, it’s fair to wonder just how big the four teenagers in the band dared to dream.

“That’s a good question,” says singer Jim Kerr, who along with guitarist Charlie Burchill, are the only founding members of Simple Minds to have stayed in the band for the 47 years since that first gig. “And it’s one that we’ve been reflecting on a lot recently, because Charlie and I have just finished off a book on the history of the band.”

At the time, Kerr and Burchill were both 18 and had been friends for a decade, Kerr says. • “Once Upon a Time,” the 1985 album by Simple Minds, marks its 40th anniversary this year. It included such songs as “Alive and Kicking,