Two years after Simply Red breathed its last, the band's talisman is taking his new solo album, American Soul on tour next spring. The record, his second solo outing, brings together a number of American standards which have influenced Hucknall's music.

Mick Hucknall's solo sorties neatly sum up a career which has clocked up more than 50 million album sales with Simply Red and, in doing so, stake a claim as the white soul voice of a generation. Many of Simply Red's biggest hits (but not all) were carefully selected retellings of pop-soul classics such as the memorable cover of If You Don't Know Me By Now. But to paint Simply Red as a covers band would be grossly inaccurate - their most successful album was 1991's Stars which turned 12 times platinum in the UK, topped charts everywhere and remains one of the best-selling British records of all time - without a cover in sight.

That said, Hucknall's inspiration is clear and his love for the classic blues and soul sound has endured, manifesting itself, so far, in his solo outings. The tour promises more of those influential classics from American Soul including I Only Have Eyes For You and That's How Strong My Love Is.

The tour kicks off at in Dublin on 9th April, followed by UK gigs in York, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and more, before the final show in Newcastle on 26th April 2013. We will have tickets available from 9am on Friday 27th July, priced from £35.

Ahead of the tour, Mick Hucknall plays those two Royal Albert Hall dates on 18th and 19th September. We still have a few Standard tickets available for the 19th from £35 and some Premiums (i.e. resales) for the 18th. Mick is also high on the bill for BBC Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park 2012 on 9th September, when he'll be sharing the stage with the likes of Jessie J, Status Quo, Paloma Faith, Emeli Sandé and Katzenjammer - we've tickets from £35.