Our Secrets Are The Same - Signed First Edition

by Kerr, Jim & Burchill, Charlie | Rock & Pop Music
Published 28/10/2025 by Constable (Little Brown Group) in the United Kingdom 
Hardback | 336 pages
234 x 153mm | 0g

Signed First Edition - Signed by both Jim and Charlie - Hardback - Publishes October 28th - limited to 1 copy per person I am afraid - thank you!

A candid, moving and kinetic story of self-realisation through the power of music, Our Secrets Are The Same is the remarkable joint memoir by Simple Minds' founder members, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. It not only reveals the inner workings of one of the most innovative and successful British bands of the past half-century, but the deeply personal tale of an extraordinary friendship which powered teenage dreams into visionary action.

Jim and Charlie first met at the age of eight, when their families moved to the same housing estate in Toryglen, on Glasgow's southside. More than fifty years later, they live on the same street in Taormina, Sicily. In the decades between, their lives have been uniquely and intimately entwined.

Together they embarked upon the ultimate adventure: forming a rock band from ground zero and ascending to the most elevated heights, while at times negotiating the inevitable falls from grace a prolonged career in music entails.

What did they discover?

That life is not so much about finding yourself as creating yourself. That you can indeed transcend whatever circumstances in which you were born. That dreaming is necessary but not enough; at some point you have to rise up and forcefully bend fantasy into reality. And in doing so, it helps immeasurably to find a soulmate who believes in the cause as fervently as you.

For both Jim and Charlie, the group they formed in 1977 became a personal crusade; a means of making something from nothing. Simple Minds are renowned worldwide for their string of hits and powerhouse live shows. For its two principals, however, the band became a way of being. Making music offered a passport to numerous experiences once unimaginable to two kids from Toryglen.

Their remarkable story traces the arc of working-class aspiration, social change, chemical awakenings, cultural infiltration, unwavering drive and thrilling creative fusion. Along the way, there are brushes with David Bowie, Bob Dylan, U2 and Nelson Mandela. Breakfast with Alice Cooper. Dinner with Lou Reed.