There's more to Soul singing than meets the ear. Mick Hucknall of Simply Red takes a deep breath and explains how a white boy sings the Blues.

What's Ralph Richardson got to do with it? Maybe nothing at all, but there's no doubt that some major knight of the British stage had a minor hand in the career of one of the better voices to emerge from the cloying excesses of the Pop charts. Yes indeed, right in the thick of it, pumping life into a forgotten dance track, Simply Red have emerged from obscurity, staggering a little under the collective yolk of the expression 'white soul' (bet Hall and Oates are breathing a sigh of relief!) and it's all down to Ralph Richardson... or someone who sounds like him anyway.

The connection? Simple. Ralphy wrote the forward to a book called 'Voice And Speech In The Theatre' which explained the meaning of the term 'from the diaphragm' for would-be thespians. A young Mancunian singer whose girlfriend was studying said tome happened to absorb the gist of the text on breathing exercises and put it to good use on the unusually powerful set of lungs he already possessed. So impressed was he by the results that he formed a band called Simply Red and the rest is history as they say.

Mick Hucknall (for it was he) continues the story.

"It was after reading that chapter on breathing control that I learned how to stop having such a sore throat after I'd been singing for an hour or so on stage. This book showed me that most of the air should come from the diaphragm which means that the vocal chords and the throat are left untouched and my voice isn't strained, unless I'm straining it on purpose to achieve an effect."

Thus the stuff of chart success is born. In those days, Mick was busy singing with a band called The Frantic Elevators, until he decided that his talents lay in other directions, and he opted for a career close to his roots, trying to reach the same notes as his idols Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. Is it easy Mick?

"It depends really on what sort of equipment you've got to start with, what hardware you have; your lungs and your diaphragm. I've got big lungs, in fact I'm a funny shape all round. I've got long legs, and a wide frame, and not much height, but I've always had powerful lungs. I used to swim for my county once upon a time."

More of the effects of breathing shortly, for now let's concentrate on the mechanics of it all. Mick explains.

"It's a matter of breathing technique, to sing properly without straining. Most people think that when you take a deep breath you go (raises his shoulders and puffs out his chest) like that. It's rubbish! Your lungs aren't there (indicating rib cage) they're there (pointing to lower torso) and what should happen is that your lungs should fill outwards not upwards, forget all that puffing up, nothing at all happens when you do that. So I learned these breathing exercises from this book. I learned to fill all my space, not just a quarter of it, which is what most people do.

"After that I learned to 'vowel', it's a technique of pushing the air out in a quick gasp, then doing it in a vowel sound — hey! hey! like that. Next is making a long vowel sound — heeey! haaaah! It sounds mad doesn't it?" enquired Mick with a cheerful grin. "I practised it for ages in front of the bathroom mirror. I should still do it every day, but I don't."

The results are obvious, both to Mick, who found he could make high notes sound full, like Aretha, not breathy and throaty, and to the public at large who can enjoy the fruits of such strange behaviour on Simply Red's excellent records.

So, that's how you got your voice Mick, now what do you do to take care of it? What do you mean 'not much'?

"It's true!" agreed Mick with a rueful smile. "I'm not very good at looking after my voice. I smoke, that's the worst thing, but then again, it gives my voice a rasp which I quite like. The tone of my voice isn't perfect, I wouldn't want to aim for a perfect sound, I like to hear certain flaws in music which can make it sound better. So, smoking isn't too good really. What else? Alcohol doesn't really affect the voice at all, I don't think. Things like being run down or having too little sleep affect the way you feel anyway, so that obviously affects the way you sing as well, no-one sings well if they don't feel good."

Do you do any exercises before going on stage?

"No, not really. I do exercise anyway, I do about 25 or 30 press-ups in a morning, and I do plenty of arm exercises (vigorously windmills arms by way of demonstration) which helps with my breathing. I find now that I can sing on stage for an hour and come off ready to do another hour, or even two it I wanted to."

Any vocalist has to find out sooner or later the different techniques needed, and problems encountered, in moving from a live situation into the all-important studio environment. For Mick, the essence of a good session is as simple as having the right microphone for the job.

"It depends really on what sort of equipment you've got to start with, what hardware you have; your lungs and your diaphragm"

"I use an old Neumann mike. I think it's called a U47, anyway they're really old mikes, but the sounds from them is terrific. They're brilliant for vocals because they pick up all the studio ambience and they're sensitive to mike technique.

"What I tend to do on quite a lot of the songs we've done for the album is to sing one line quite softly, followed by another line quite loud. A good example is when we cover the Bill Withers song Grandma's Hands you can hear what I mean on there. When I pull the mike back on the loud line, it picks up all the ambience which makes for a superb atmospheric sound, which I really love.

"That mike makes all the difference, so we make sure we carry one with us to which ever studio we're going to record in. I'll probably end up buying one, they're very expensive, over £700. That's because they're so rare. On stage I don't really mind what I have, just the standard Shure vocal mike is fine, but I'm keen on the Neumann for studio work."

Does the fact of that one mike means that you can work in any studio, as long as you have it?

"In theory, yes. I've not bothered too much about studios we've had so far, because they've been chosen so well for us. For the single we used a studio called Soundpush in Holland which is beautiful. It had an amazing room; it used to be a rich family's private theatre, and everything was set out in this room. They had a drum booth which we didn't actually use, and a vocal booth... which we didn't use! I used it for the guide vocal, but I don't like to be in a booth for the lead track, there's something about being able to breathe properly, I like to have a lot of air to push the vocal with."

We're back to those lungs again.

"I have got big lungs, it's true," Mick agreed. I can hold my breath for something like two and a half minutes, which isn't a great length of time but it helps as a singer to be able to store breath. Some of the songs we do are quite difficult in terms of the breathing, I can sing three or four lines without taking a breath, and there are some songs where I do need to do that."

There's no doubt, as this interview shows, Mick takes his craft very seriously. Not surprisingly, he feels he's still got a lot to learn.

"I feel the improvement I'm making. For instance, when we did the single, and then the album four months later, I could tell a difference, but I still have a lot to learn. Literally! We have, if not arguments, then disagreements in the band about how I should phrase certain songs, and I will stand for an hour and practise one particular note until I'm sure I've got the sound I want. Sometimes, you need to know how one section will fit with another, and you need to practise them until you can do them without thinking, and then you know your voice will perform these tricks without thinking about them."

You like to get it just right then?

"No, not too right. I don't like singing that's too 'correct', if you see what I mean. Someone like Al Jarreau, whose reckoned as a technical singer, isn't my kind of singer. I like the little flaws to be there. With Aretha, even though I don't like the material she's doing, the voice is still there. So many white people sing too correctly. They say Frank Sinatra has the greatest timing. Maybe he does, but look at someone like Billie Holliday who had the most amazing timing, by dragging on the note in the Jazz and Blues style.

"I like to experiment with ideas of timing in the studio, I like to get as far off the root as I can, and then see if I can get back. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, but I'm learning all the time I do it, it helps to loosen me up, and keep the air flowing from the diaphragm like it should".

What about advice for any bedroom crooners then Mick, should they read your book as well?

"Maybe so, yeah! The trick is, make your notes sound convincing, and learn to use air. Never mind lessons on pronunciation — when I got to that chapter I stopped reading. It's like timing, you have to learn it for yourself."

DIY seems to be the Hucknall rule, and he seems to be doing okay living by it. We expect sales of 'Voice And Speech In The Theatre' to soar over the next few months, and if you don't feel you have the lungs for giving Simply Red sleepless nights, perhaps you can get Sir Ralph's ghost looking over his shoulder?