Jim Simpson has never chased the spotlight. He’s just been too busy building the stage.
For over sixty years, he has been one of the quiet architects of Birmingham’s musical soul—a musician, photographer, record producer, promoter, label founder, band manager, and festival director whose fingerprints are on some of the city’s greatest cultural legacies. From the pubs of Broad Street to the pages of Melody Maker, from blues bars to the birth of heavy metal, Jim Simpson’s story is inseparable from the sound of the city itself.
He was the man who gave a fledgling band called Earth their first break, then managed them through their transformation into Black Sabbath. He fought to get them heard, racking up fourteen rejections before securing their first record deal—cut in a single day. The rest became global music history. But Jim Simpson didn’t stop there.
He founded Big Bear Records in 1968, now the UK’s longest-running independent label, and went on to champion blues, jazz, and local talent with a tireless commitment that never sought fame—only fairness. He mortgaged his house to try and save Ronnie Scott’s in Birmingham. He turned down The Birdie Song on principle. And in 1985, he launched what would become the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival: a mostly free, regionwide celebration that has since grown into the longest-running event of its kind in England and Wales.
Every year, Jim Simpson brings live music to parks, pubs, shopping centres, steam trains, and trams—anywhere people might gather. His vision has always been inclusive: music for everyone, everywhere, without pretension. And though the festival has drawn millions of pounds into the region, it’s still held together by love, grit, community goodwill, and an almost impossible amount of behind-the-scenes work.
Now an octogenarian, Jim Simpson still hasn’t taken a holiday in decades. He’s still booking gigs. Still running Henry’s Blueshouse nights. Still holding court in his Broad Street office. Still inspired, still inspiring.
In recognition of a lifetime dedicated to music and the cultural life of the region, he was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Birmingham.
Jim Simpson doesn’t speak in superlatives. But others do. Jasper Carrott calls him “the indefatigable dynamo” behind Birmingham’s music scene. Countless artists call him the reason they ever had a chance.
Because Jim Simpson didn’t just help shape the soundtrack of a city.
He gave it volume. And he never turned it down.
