ShareSimon Bartholomew (seen here on the right), guitarist, songwriter and founding member of The Brand New Heavies, chats with Kevin Cooper about his Plan B, the last song or piece of music that made him cry, opening for the late James Brown and their forthcoming 2026 tour of the UK.
Simon Bartholomew is a guitarist, songwriter and founding member of The Brand New Heavies, a band that became synonymous with the acid funk explosion of the 1990’s. Formed in 1985 with his school friend Andrew Levy, they have gone on to write the songs, produce them and to oversee the running of a touring and recording band.
Originally called Brother International, the band opened for the late James Brown at a concert at Wembley Arena after which they changed their name. They released their debut self titled album in 1990 but their breakthrough success came with the release of their third album, Brother Sister in 1994, which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.
Since the bands conception, they have had six female lead vocalists and have released a total of eleven albums.
Bartholomew has also written music for film soundtracks and has other side projects such as his work with Akimbo and 1ibear. He is also involved in music education and teaches at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford.
Whilst busy rehearsing for their forthcoming UK tour, he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Good morning Simon. How are you?
I’m great thank you Kevin, how are you doing?
All is good thank you for asking and before we move on let me thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
You are very welcome.
How’s life treating you at this moment in time?
Life at this precise moment in time is very good. We are currently working our way through a new album, which we hope to release later this year which I have to say is very exciting. We have got a few festivals lined up together with a few support slots with Nile Rodgers and Chic. Also, what I am particularly looking forward to is a Japanese tour in April. There are offers coming in all of the time which is very cool.
Let me tell you that you have made me feel very old this morning.
Really, who is she (laughter).
We won’t go there (laughter). It was Sunday 1st May 1994 at Rock City here in Nottingham that I saw The Brand New Heavies for the very first time.
Wow that really is amazing.
Then the last time that I saw you was at the Birmingham Symphony Hall.
That would have been with the orchestra, yes?
That’s right and it really was fantastic.
That was really good, it really was lovely. Out of all of the shows that we did, we played The Barbican and The South Bank, Birmingham Symphony Hall really was a rocking show. It really was brilliant.
And, of course, you will be playing here in Nottingham at Rock City once again on Tuesday 31st March.
Yes, that will be great. We will be going back to the scene of the crime (laughter).
The Brand New Heavies have now been together for 41 years. How would you account for the band’s longevity?
Yes, we have and that really is an amazing thing. I would simply have to put that down to the fans and people in general. It really is a two-way relationship. Don’t get me wrong if people weren’t coming out to see us then I would call it a day.
I have to ask, 41 years is longer than most marriages. Do you and Andrew (Levy) argue at all?
No, we don’t really argue actually. Having said that, there are usually a few little things that we don’t agree on here and there but nothing substantial (laughter). I think that it’s down to the fact that we are happy to be working. We have a fantastic band, and I have to say that no two shows are the same. It is all still very enjoyable and very exciting.
You have had some fantastic vocalists with you along the way. Was it always going to be the case that you were going to leave it fluid and that you would let people pop in and pop out?
That’s a great question. We had a UK singer help us to make the first album that no one was really interested in. We pioneered a new genre called Acid Jazz but then the singer on that album went off and did her own thing (laughter). Then someone over in America heard the album, liked it, licensed it, and we added the single Never Stop which went to number three in the R & B charts and that was with N’Dea (Davenport) who at the time was signed to Delicious Vinyl as a solo artist. She had always wanted to do her own thing as a solo artist. Someone recently asked me “why do you always get rid of your singers?” but the fact is that they generally tend to leave (laughter). I personally look at the situation as being quite a healthy one really, that we are able to do that.
Looking back to 2015 Jan (Kincaid) left the band. Was that a blow?
Yes, it really was because he left the band three days before a really important show in Sweden. Jan left the band at the same time as the singer Dawn (Joseph) so we had to find a drummer and a singer. The management did really well in managing to persuade N’Dea to come back for that show all the way from Japan where she lives. The show did go on and we saved the day. It was strange really because Jan left the band, but he had plans to continue the band.
However, if he was intending to do that, I personally felt that I couldn’t continue. Jan at that time really was a bit naughty in the way that he went about things. Having said that, I saw Jan recently at a school reunion and I went up to him and punched him in the face (laughter). No, I didn’t I gave him a great big hug (laughter).
In 2019 you released your 11th studio album, TBNH, were you pleased with the fan’s reaction?
Yes, I was. For that album we really went back to the classic old school Heavies. We put some strings on there, we got the best guys in, and we really tried to record a classic Heavies album. It really did have everything; a funk tune, a disco song, and some really old school soul music.
What was it like working with the late Angie Stone?
We actually worked with Angie remotely, but I have to say that the work which she sent back to us was truly phenomenal. She really was a fantastic singer.
I love what you did with You’ve Got A Friend. Did you ever receive any feedback from Carol King’s management?
No, actually, well not that I know of. It would be very interesting to hear what they think of it (laughter).
Do you still get a buzz out of touring?
Yes, I do, I really do. I think that touring is phenomenal. The Brand New Heavies are like a family, and I would swear that over the years I have spent more time with these guys than I have spent with my own family (laughter). You go away for three weeks solid, three months even in the past, and you are on tour buses, you are in every state of mind that you could possibly be in, you are all together; it really is fantastic. It is almost like a military operation (laughter).
After 41 years in the business, you must have seen many changes. What is the one thing that has taken you aback?
I personally think that the internet has had a massive affect upon the music industry namely it takes away money from artists from record sales. You could almost say that the artist getting 10p on the pound on a record sale whilst the record company is making a lot more, although maybe that’s not the end of the world. The internet is a wonderful source allowing you to find different genres of music online and I have to say that is how a lot of our new younger fans have found The Heavies.
We have groups of 20-year-olds coming to see us now, who have found us and our music on the internet. Also, I think that before the computer you had to play the drums, you had to play everything, whereas now, with a computer you can make a song within minutes. That has made me look back to older music really. It is what it is, but I do feel that it has stopped the journey of musicianship developing.
Whenever you are on stage performing, what do you think of the people who are filming the show on their mobile phones?
I totally understand if they want to film a few bits and pieces because they call it living life through a lens. I am happy to have seen some artists back in the day and you keep that memory fixed in your mind. It almost becomes a part of your DNA so much so that you can revisit it. However, I do feel that it is better to be in the moment, enjoy the gig and have a good time. Forget your phone, go to the gig, let go, have a good time, let your hair down and leave all that technology behind for a minute, forget about your worries, forget about your cares and live in a bubble for a minute.
In your opinion, what makes Rock City a must play venue?
That’s easy, it’s because it rocks and it’s in Nottingham (laughter). We tour a lot and we play all manner of venues but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter where you are because you are doing this thing.
With an ever-increasing back catalogue, just how hard is it for you to put a set list together?
That’s a great question. People who come to see us generally want to hear the hits, so we tend to stick to those. London Records re-released the Brother Sister album so we sort of focus more on that. If you went to see Led Zeppelin you would expect to hear Stairway To Heaven, even though by now they most probably hate it (laughter). So, you have to try and satisfy that section of the audience whilst throwing in a few lesser-known tracks that are funky and good to play live. The secret is to keep it varied and interesting.
Putting you on the spot, do you have a personal favourite song to perform live?
I see the set as a show and therefore for me, it is all one thing which builds up to a finale. To me they all merge and become one song if that makes sense. I feel that starting with Have A Good Time is perfect because it gets everyone going, over say Stay This Way which is an emotional experience of love (laughter). If we just started with Stay This Way I don’t think that it would have the same impact as is does later in the set. So, it is hard for me to pick one favourite song because I see it more like how you structure the set and how you build up to each song and how we put it into the order we chose. Naturally, we always try to finish with a bang, we also have a disco section, and the set list is really organic. So, I have to let you down and say that it is really hard to pick just one song (laughter).
What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
That’s easy, this interview of course (laughter). But coming second to that back in the very early days The Heavies supported the late James Brown who over the years has been a massive influence on us. I’m not just talking about its A Mans, Mans, Mans World or Sex Machine, we had all the records and people were playing the rarer cuts. At that time, he had a record label called James Brown’s Funky People and it had things like Lyn Collins’ Think (About It), Bobby Byrd’s I Know You Got Soul, and things like that. So, for us to meet James Brown and support him really was quite something. We were sound checking at Wembley Arena, and I looked round and he was leaning on my guitar amp whilst nodding his head.
He was wearing this amazing two-tone olive-green suit with a Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken tie (laughter). We all got to shake hands with him, and he was digging our stuff. That’s an accolade. We had this amazing horn section, and he approached them to go on tour with him (laughter). That I feel is quite a moment to meet James Brown. Also, for me, seeing everyone at a gig having a good time really are ongoing highlights. To see people crying at certain songs whilst having a good time and then saying thank you afterwards, then that makes it all worthwhile. One person said to me “I saw Madonna in her heyday, and you were better” (laughter). Get in. So, there you have a headline, The Brand New Heavies better than Madonna (laughter).
Do you have a favourite place or venue that you like to perform in?
Everywhere we play it is our intent to make people have as good a time as possible. It was amazing going to Japan; that really is another world. The food is so different, and I have seen that place change over the years. We toured Europe last year and it was all good. When you are on the move you are literally waking up, driving somewhere, going to a venue, checking the sound, eating, playing, sleeping or partying regrettably, and then repeating. So, where you are, the cave that you are in becomes the place where music happens. So, as you can imagine, there is not just one favourite place.
It’s great to play outdoors at festivals, especially when you are playing to thirty thousand people, seeing all of the bands that we grew up with and who we have influenced along the way. I feel that playing outdoors is a nice vibe. Sometimes, a smaller venue can create some incredible energy. Having said that some of the venues that I don’t like much are the plastic sheeted sports halls, I much prefer an old theatre. It just feels cosier, more conducive; the energy of them is so much nicer than playing in a sports hall. For example, the O2 is fine but at the end of the day these places are all the same. Give me somewhere that has got a bit of character any day of the week, the older places that have got history. Places like Rock City, a place that has got masses of history, let’s have it (laughter).
Did you ever have a Plan B just in case music didn’t take off for you?
When I first got some money from a publishing deal the first thing that I did was to get a roof over my head. I thought if this doesn’t last then I’m buggered (laughter). I did have a Plan B once; it was to design toys for Kinder eggs (laughter) no I’m joking with that one. I actually went to Art College thinking that if music didn’t work out for me perhaps I could be making films not Hollywood films, odd films perhaps, something within the arts sector.
Testing your memory, what was the first record that you bought?
The first record that I bought was a 7” single when at that time I was very much into Rock ‘n’ Roll and I think that it was this awful Woolworths album with a picture on the cover of a Teddy Boy combing his hair back (laughter). The tracks were all cover versions, so they didn’t have to pay the artists and after that I went off to get hold of the original versions, swiftly (laughter). I did have one really wonderful double album called The Many Sides Of Rock ‘n’ Roll and that is the album that led me to play the guitar.
It was a double album which had a newspaper insert and there was an advert in there for Levi jeans, which was a drawing of a man sitting on a wooden crate playing a guitar. I imagined myself in a school playground at about 12 years of age surrounded by girls playing the guitar, totally ridiculous (laughter). That was when my interest in the guitar first started. I taught myself to play songs from that album, songs like Summertime Blues, C’mon Everybody, and Great Balls Of Fire, all of the classic tracks of the time. That was a quick fire question with a long fire answer (laughter).
Who did you first see performing live?
As I mentioned earlier, I was a big Rock ‘n’ Roll fan, and back in 1976 I went along to the Rainbow Theatre here in London before it was closed down by Frank Zappa being pushed off the stage. My grandmother had made me, based on a dressing gown, a midnight blue Teddy Boy suit with a black velvet lapel. And I went to see Jerry Lee Lewis who I really was a huge fan of. The irony of it all was that he played Country and Western all night because he had gone all religious (laughter).
What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?
(Laughter) that would actually be a song that I am currently writing for the new Heavies album. Other than that, I do have a lot of feelings for a Traffic song called The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys which has Steve Winwood on vocals. To me, it has a spiritual energy to it; it is a bit loose, and it really is a wonderful piece of music. It really is superb. A few years ago, I had broken up with someone and Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley really did get me going.
On that note Simon let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been a pleasure.
Great stuff Kevin. Thanks very much and you have a good day. See you at Rock City.