Frank Simes Carries on as Musical Director for THE WHO HITS 50! Tour

    LOS ANGELES, CA, April 14, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With the first leg of The Who Hits 50! tour in the UK under his belt, Frank Simes is preparing to head out once again as The Who's musical director for the first leg of their 21-date North American tour that starts in Tampa, Florida on April 15 and ends in Forest Hills, New York on May 30. http://thewho.com/tour/

Alongside Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Frank Simes and the other members of the band kicked off The Who Hits 50! tour last November in Scotland with a 24-song set that left the audience in awe and on their feet. The UK portion of the tour included dates in Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Birminham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, and Cardiff, and two make-up shows at the O2 Arena in London on March 22 and 23, and one TCT charity event at the Royal Albert Hall on March 26.

"If I were told over four years ago that I'd be standing on stage as the musical director of The Who, alongside Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, I would've heard a person in my mind say "keep dreaming..." Simes says. "Well I did. And guess what? It happened".

For the current tour, which Simes maintains as requiring "four times the work done for the Quadrophenia tour", Simes' duties included building the vocal, horn, synth, and keyboard arrangements, directing the audio that drove the visuals, and leading rehearsals and sound checks. Simes also learned to play mandolin, banjo, and percussion, which, incidentally, were instruments that he had never performed professionally before he joined The Who.

About The Who
The Who is an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey (lead vocals, guitar, and harmonica), Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), John Entwistle (vocals, bass) and Keith Moon, (drums, vocals). They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction. The Who have sold 100 million records, and have charted 27 top forty singles in the United Kingdom and United States, as well as 17 top ten albums, with 18 Gold, 12 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone. On August 12th 2012, the band performed at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games as the final act, playing "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who.

About Frank Simes
Frank Simes is the recipient of twelve platinum records with such artists as Mick Jagger, Don Henley, Rod Stewart, David Lee Roth and various soundtrack albums. His credits include producing five albums on major labels, recording with Rod Stewart on his album, "As Time Goes By, the Great American Songbook, Volume II," performing on Roger Daltrey's Moonlighting Anthology CD and DVD, Daltrey's "Gold" CD, and appearing in The Who's documentary Amazing Journey. Frank Simes also recorded with Art Garfunkel on "Some Enchanted Evening", Engelbert Humperdinck on "The Winding Road" album and "Greatest Hits and More", Mylene Farmer on her "Innamoramento" album, and with Sylvie Vartan on her album "Nouvelle Vague". Frank has composed over 1,500 pieces of music for Paramount TV and Los Angeles Post Music. Simes has also composed original guitar and piano pieces in the Modern, Baroque, and Romantic styles, some of which were recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Simes

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