Maureen Taylor, the mother of Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall, has said she has no regrets about leaving him when he was three years old. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, the 80-year-old, now living in Dallas, Texas, denied abandoning her son, stating, 'I didn’t abandon him, absolutely not.'
Taylor, who has been married multiple times, claimed she left Hucknall and his father Reg in 1963 because she needed to work and could not live with Reg. A friend quoted in the article said Taylor believes she left Mick in a 'place of safety' and feels no guilt. Taylor reportedly called Reg an 'a***hole' and said he did not pay her any maintenance.
Despite the estrangement, Taylor said she loves Mick, adding, 'Of course I do. He’s my kid.' However, she has told friends she would 'slap' him if she saw him again, after he claimed she lied about having terminal cancer in the mid-1990s to see him. Taylor insists she only warned him about skin cancer due to his fair complexion.
Hucknall's hit song 'Holding Back The Years', written when he was 17, is said to reference his mother's abandonment, with lyrics such as 'Strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater.' His father Reg died of a heart attack 12 years ago.
