I Have Probably Slept with 1,000 Girls

Mick Hucknall has confirmed a notorious claim that he slept with 1,000 women.

Asked if the rumours were true, the 54-year-old singer, who has sold more than 60million records said: “It probably is. I’ve not denied that, but I never claimed it. I never bragged about it. I don’t keep count.

“I’ve no idea, but I would think over a 25-year period that’s probably reasonable to say.

But do I want to say it? No. It’s not what makes me tick. I don’t put chips on the bedpost.” Talking ahead of a 30th anniversary reunion of his band Simply Red next year, he added: ‘It’s like kids in a candy store. You can’t believe it. There’s girls chasing you all the time – it’s incredible.

“When you’re 24 you don’t give a toss. You’re invincible. You can do anything. Your mind is set in a way that the world is just ready and you’re just going to take it all. You’re just going to have a grand time.”

Hucknall formed Simply Red in 1985 and their hits include Holding Back the Years and Stars.

After more than 30 top 40 UK singles and two US No 1s, they split up in 2009. Born into a working class family in Manchester, Hucknall began singing at the age of four and held his first gig when he was just six.

“I was singing all the time. I used to sing for the girls,” he said. “I feel very blessed because I grew up in what was effectively a British musical renaissance.

“The Sixties and early Seventies, to me, mark an era that is unsurpassed in British music.”

He dropped out of grammar school at 16 after struggling with bullies who singled him out because of his bright red hair. Being accepted at an art school proved to be the turning point for him and after two years at a further education college and three at a polytechnic, he emerged with a 2:2 degree.

He said it was a disappointing result that he blamed on departmental politics. While studying he formed a punk band called The Frantic Elevators, playing their first gig in 1978.

Hucknall drifted away in the 1980s to set up Simply Red. Their record Stars, released in 1991, was the best-selling album in the UK for two years running – and remains joint sixth highest of all time.