Frank Turner Simes is an American musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, composer and record producer. Simes is the musical director for
Roger Daltrey, and has recorded and performed with
Mick Jagger,
Don Henley, and
Stevie Nicks.
Early life
Born in Tokyo as a US citizen, Frank Simes began studying guitar at the age of ten. The second and younger son of Stephen Hardy Simes, legal attaché to
General Douglas MacArthur and
judge advocate at US Army Japan, and Japanese model and restaurateur, Sachiko Nakamura. His early interests also included close-up magic and fine arts, which remain lifelong passions. His professional career began at 14 when his band, Sunrise, which he formed with
Mickie Yoshino and Steve Fox, later of
Godiego released a record on RCA Victor. The following year he moved to Los Angeles to study music at
Fairfax High School. When Simes was 16 he began attending college as a music major. At 20, his band, the Whizz Kidds, was signed by Highland/A&M Records, and Frank's song, "Sweet Honey", their debut single, received national airplay.
Music career
Simes continued his music career, working with Martha Davis of
The Motels as a songwriter, producer, and guitarist for three years in the mid-1980s. In 1989, he began touring with
Don Henley as a guitarist, and vocalist and soon after as a songwriter when Simes co-wrote "Workin' It" and "Goodbye to a River". Simes was featured on the Inside Job DVD and continues to work with Henley today.
Since 1993, Simes has composed over 1,400 pieces of music for such companies as
Paramount Television and Los Angeles Post Music. Simes has also composed original guitar and piano pieces in the
Modern,
Baroque, and
Romantic styles, some of which were recorded by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Simes produced several albums for major labels[1] such as
Sony Music Entertainment,
RCA Records,
Epic Records and Mitsubishi. Frank Simes is the recipient of nine platinum records with such artist as
Don Henley,
Rod Stewart and various soundtrack albums. His credits include producing three albums on Sony, recording with
Rod Stewart on his album entitled, As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook, Volume II, performing on
Roger Daltrey's Moonlighting anthology CD and DVD, and Daltrey's Gold CD, as well as on Engelbert Humperdinck's The Winding Road album and Greatest Hits and More. Simes also recorded with
Art Garfunkel on Some Enchanted Evening,
Mylène Farmer on her Innamoramento album, and with
Sylvie Vartan on her album Nouvelle Vague. He has produced five albums for vocalist
Ann Lewis.
Simes composed and recorded a musical entitled The Door with partner Lisa Verlo. Together they formed Soundlove Productions, collaborating on a children's CD, Turner's Treehouse,[2] as well as music for TV and film.
In 2009, Simes toured as lead guitarist and musical director in
Roger Daltrey's
No Plan B band for the
Use It or Lose It tour.[3] The band also opened for
Eric Clapton on two tours in 2010. In 2011, continuing as musical director and lead guitarist for Roger Daltrey, Simes performed the rock opera
Tommy and other songs at a warm-up show in
Bournemouth at the
O2 Academy in preparation for a show at the
Royal Albert Hall to benefit
Teenage Cancer Trust. Simes performed alongside
Pete Townshend who played and sang as a guest at the TCT show. In July 2011, Roger Daltrey and band toured England,[4] Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, and Denmark, performing the legendary rock opera Tommy,
The Who classics, and Roger's solo works. Roger and band also toured in the US and Canada[5] beginning September 2011.[6] Additional dates in Europe, Australia and Japan were booked for 2012.
On 18 July 2012,
The Who announced Simes as musical director and on keyboards/backing vocals for a 35-date tour where they played their album Quadrophenia in its entirety.[7]
In November 2014, The Who started their 50th-anniversary world tour,
The Who Hits 50![8] with Simes as musical director and playing keyboards, mandolin, banjo, percussion, and backing vocals.