Famous as a founder of the Scottish pop-rock band Danny Wilson and as the bassist of the rock group Simple Minds, he also composed soundtracks for such films and video games as, respectively, The Fast and the Furious and Shrek the Third.
Before forming Danny Wilson in the early 1980s, Grimes and his childhood friend Gary Clark performed with London-based bands called Dream Kitchen and Perfect Stranger.
He and his Danny Wilson bandmates are their for their Uk Top 5 single "Mary's Prayer" (1988), which was featured on the soundtrack of the popular movie There's Something About Mary.
He was born and raised in Dundee, Scotland.
After the Danny Wilson band broke up, Grimes began writing and producing music for Australian pop singer Natalie Imbruglia and other artists.