Liverpool FC manager Kenny Dalglish got Simple Minds into music, Jim Kerr tells  Laura Davis ahead of his Summer Pops gig

JIM KERR describes himself as a bit of a nomad. He grew up in Glasgow, toured the globe as lead singer of Simple Minds and has settled (sort of) in Sicily.

His music too has meandered around the world – its subject matter travelling to wherever there is social plight.

In 1988, Belfast Child mourned the Troubles in Ireland with the emotive line "Some day soon they’re gonna pull the old town down".

The same year, Kerr and co paid tribute to the world’s most famous anti-apartheid campaigner, then well into his 27-year prison stretch, with Mandela Day, and reissued the song that had become an anthem for eighties American teenagers thanks to the movie Breakfast Club – Don’t You Forget About Me.

"It’s been a fantastic journey with many twists and turns," says Kerrs, who is bringing the band to this year’s Summer Pops, in his Glaswegian tones.

"I’ve enjoyed 99% of it but it’s not always been easy."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, give the content of many of their songs, Simple Minds have been dubbed "the most politically charged band of the eighties".

But Kerr, 47, is a bit taken aback by the description.

"It’s a wee bit surprising to us," he admits.

"When you write songs about Belfast and anti-apartheid obviously I can understand why it is.

"This may seem like a crazy thing to say but in a way that wasn’t the point really. The point was they were the themes of the day, when Margaret Thatcher was in power and we resented her and her policies.

"We were young and idealistic."