John Simms hails from Baltimore and has been a professional guitarist/singer/composer /songwriter since he was 17. Being the youngest of 14 children, all of whom were singers or musicians or both, he didn’t have to go very far to find his earliest inspirations; his father was also a gospel singer in the 30s and 40s with a group called the Spiritual Chords. He honed his craft the old-school way having spent many years on the Chitlin Circuit with various groups; including the 70s H&L records recording group: The Softones- for whom he was bandleader/guitarist / arranger (The Softones originated with his two brothers and two nephews). He came to Paris more than 20 years ago to get off the road for a while and hook up with his pianist/singer brother Arthur. He immediately began to make a living there: sometimes as a song writer/composer, (he even wrote songs for the Paradis Latin’s show Champagne), sometimes as a session guitarist or yet aga...