EXCLUSIVE: Not many bands can claim to have surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify for a single song. But Simple Minds is one of them.
The Scottish group best known for their hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – unforgettably incorporated into the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club – is the focus of the documentary Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible. Greenwich Entertainment today announced it has acquired North American rights to the film directed by Joss Crowley, with plans to release it theatrically on June 13 during the band’s upcoming North American tour.
Simple Minds in the early 1990s. L-R Charlie Burchill, Malcolm Foster, Jim Kerr, Mel Gaynor
Catlin/A & M Records/Everett Collection
Simple Minds has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, charting two dozen singles in the U.K. alone, including “Don’t You” (which last year made the Spotify Billions Club), “Alive and Kicking,” “Let There Be Love,” “She’s a River,” and “Sanctify Yourself.” The band formed in Glasgow in 1977; singer-musician Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill are the only two members who have been with the group for its entire history (among previous band members are keyboardist Mick MacNeil, bassist Derek Forbes, bassist John Giblin, and drummers Brian McGee and Mel Gaynor).
Singer Jim Kerr of Simple Minds performs during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas. Projected on screen behind him is an image of Molly Ringwald in ‘The Breakfast Club.’
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Crowley’s documentary, a BMG and Lonesome Pine production, held its U.S. premiere as part of the Cruel World Music Festival in Pasadena, CA.
“From working-class kids in post-industrial Glasgow to rock stars playing Live Aid,” notes a description of the film, “this is the unlikely story of an extraordinary band that continues touring around the world to this day.”
“Thanks to Greenwich for giving Everything is Possible the release it deserves,” Crowley said in a statement. “Ever since Jim and Charlie entrusted me to tell their story, I’ve dreamt about it reaching North American audiences. The film is ultimately about how music brought them together and completely changed their lives – precisely the inspirational touchpoints we’re all craving in 2025.”
Simple Minds: Everything is Possible is produced and directed by Joss Crowley. The documentary was made by Lonesome Pine Productions and financed by BMG. The acquisition deal was negotiated by Greenwich’s Ed Arentz and Sphere Abacus’s Jonathan Ford on behalf of the filmmakers.
Content shared from deadline.com.