Inside the childhood wounds that inspired one of Simply Red’s greatest songs

25 June 2026, 15:18

During the 1980s, sophisti-pop soul outfit Simply Red became one of the world's biggest groups.

Nicknamed 'Red' thanks to his flame-haired appearance, singer Mick Hucknall was also renowned for his string of gorgeous girlfriends.

Thanks to his unique voice, abundance of talent and charisma, he's had a revolving door of women on his arm for over 40 years now.

But there's one woman that none of them could replace.

• The 10 best Simply Red songs, ranked
• 10 of the best Bob Dylan covers of all time, from Adele to Simply Red
• Mick Hucknall facts: Simply Red singer's age, wife, children and more revealed
• This Mick Hucknall acoustic version of 'Holding Back the Years' is stunning

Mothers are more often than not the guiding light in our lives. They bring us into the world, nurture us, and hold our hands until we're ready to embark on our own journeys.

So, what would happen if our mother's weren't there to guide us? How would we find our way in life?

Estranged from his mother from an early age, Mick Hucknall expressed his detachment and emotional wounds in one of Simply Red's greatest songs: 'Holding Back The Years'.

When Mick Hucknall was just three years old, his mother Maureen walked out on him.

He was left with no explanation why, which haunted him as a young man – and seemingly for the most part of his life.

His father Reg raised him instead, but without a mother to mediate their tempers, the pair often came to blows.

Mick found refuge in education, as he studied fine art at Manchester School of Art where his teacher opened up his eyes to a new kind of creativity.

His instructor suggested that the best art is made whilst in a state of unconscious creation, so Hucknall used this idea to pursue his main passion: music.

"I wanted to do music, not art, so started writing lyrics that way," he told The Guardian in 2018. "The first song I wrote was called 'Ice Cream and Wafers'. The next was 'Holding Back the Years.'"

When Hucknall wrote 'Holding Back The Years' however, he didn't understand that he was in fact writing about the pain of living without his mum.

Simply Red - Holding Back The Years (Official 4K Remaster)

At 17, Hucknall wrote the song in his teenage bedroom at his father's house, where much of his childhood conflict occurred.

The line "strangled by the wishes of pater" specifically nodded to their constant arguments, and his wish that his mum would have been there to split them up.

Whilst his relationship with father Reg influenced his songwriting, Mick only realised further down the line once he'd finished writing the song that the absence of his mum poured out in it.

"It's about that moment where you know you have to leave home and make your mark, but the outside world is scary," he explained. "So you're holding back the years."

Whilst a mother figure in his life was missing throughout his childhood, a neighbour who had four daughters took Mick under her wing.

"The great thing about it was that they could never be my mother, they could only be big sisters," he revealed in a 2003 interview with The Guardian.

"So my view of women is that they are people first, not mother-replacements, which I think a lot of men search for subconsciously."

Still, it was a time in his life when he needed the support of his mother the most, especially during his school years where Mick struggled.

"That's the time when boys really need their mother because in a way she's your first girlfriend and she instils a sense of self-confidence in you," he revealed.

"So I became very inward-looking. I felt ugly, I had no self- confidence, I was an easy target to be bullied. And red hair as well, my God! It multiplies it by 10."

Despite the solemn backstory for 'Holding Back The Years', the song rocketed Simply Red to the top of the charts across the US and made Mick Hucknall a household name here in the UK.

Many years later after decades of estrangement from his mother Maureen, the pair attempted to reconcile in 1997.

"It was extremely weird," he confessed in a 2003 interview. "She sent me a letter saying that she was on her last legs and cancer was imminent."

"How could anyone refuse a request like that? She gave me the impression that she was dying, so I flew over to Dallas to see her."

• Only Fools and Horses: The heartbreaking 'Holding Back the Years' moment at Rodney's wedding
• QUIZ: How well do you know Simply Red song lyrics?
• 13 of the best songs from 1991: Bryan Adams, Simply Red and more
• Simply Red's Mick Hucknall denies having slept with '3,000 women'

Sadly, it seemed like a ruse. After arriving in Dallas, Texas, his mother looked perfectly healthy. Oddly, she kept insisting she was Jewish instead.

"My father refuses to accept this; he says she's a bit of a nutter," he laughed.

"Then she was all, 'We've got a lot of healing to do'. I'm, like, 'I'm the one who's got a lot of healing to do; you're the one who split and feels guilty about it'."