Name:

Simon John Charles Le Bon
Born:

27.10.1958 Herts
Brothers/Sisters:

Jonathan and David
Parents:

Anne and John
Wife:

Yasmin Parnaveh
Children:

Amber Rose Tamara (25.8.89), Saffron Sahara (25.9.90), Tallulah Pine (10.9.94)

Biography

His Family is descended from the Huguenots (a 16th Century group of French protestants).

As Simon matured he devoted his time to drama and singing and at 5 he had taken acting lessons, appearing in an advertisement for Persil washing powder, Coke and a French coffee manufacturer as well as posing for knitwear patterns in a womens magazine.

Simon appeared in several amateur stage productions such as The King and I when he was 7, Bless the bride with the Harrow light opera company, Little Lord Fauntleroy (where he got his first taste of the frilly shirts!) and A man for all seasons. Simon's first professional stage appearance was at the Cambridge Theatre, London where he appeared alongside Roy Dotrice in Tom Brown's Schooldays playing the part of one of Tom's friends at Rugby school.

Simon was a soprano but his mother feared for his voice and that if he pushed it as it broke he could have no voice left, so Simon gave up singing with the church choir from which he had been awarded several trophies in various festivals, he was terribly disappointed mother Ann who has operatic training, continued to coach Simon with his singing and along with valuable lessons from drama and his stage work, Simon had the groundings for a strong voice for the future.

Simon's first performed with a punk band called Dog Days when he was 17, at one gig they were fourth on the bill and were not allowed to play on the stage, they had to play on the floor! Simon also sang with Bolleaux , Eddie and the Hotrods and Rov Ostrov.

Before heading for University Simon spent some time working on a kibbutz in Israel.

It was while Simon was studying Drama at Birmingham University, that Fiona Kemp (a girlfriend working as a barmaid at The Rum Runner) gave Simon's phone number to John Taylor whose band "Duran Duran" were looking for a singer.

Drum

In 1985 Le Bon drew media attention when his maxi-yacht Drum lost her keel and capsized during the Fastnet race, just off Falmouth, along the southern coast of Cornwall. Before being rescued, Le Bon and other crew members were trapped underwater, inside the hull, for forty minutes. Despite the accident, Le Bon and Drum went on to participate in the 1985-1986 Whitbread Round the World Race, coming in third overall in elapsed time. Le Bon and his partners eventually sold Drum; the events surrounding Drum and the races were chronicled in a 1989 movie entitled Drum - The Journey Of A Lifetime.

Twenty years after his accident, in 2005, Le Bon made public his desire to race again. During a touring hiatus in August 2005, Le Bon again raced Drum in the Fastnet race, borrowing the vessel from her current owner to participate, and raising funds for the RNLI charity. Unfortunately, Le Bon had to leave the race unfinished, as light winds were slowing Drum (and Drum's competitors), and would have delayed the boat's arrival at Plymouth, interfering with Le Bon's obligation to perform in Japan at a sold-out, 60,000-seat show.

Solo projects

He also made some solo recordings:

  • Grey lady of the sea (single released for the movie about his yacht in 1986)
  • Follow in my footsteps (contribution to the album Requiem for the Americas by Jonathan Elias duetting with Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles. 1989)
  • In 1998, along with friend Nick Wood and wife Yasmin, he set up SYN Entertainment (Simon Yasmin Nick) in Tokyo, Japan. Having first conceived the idea in 1988, Le Bon is currently described as SYN's "Founder and Chairman", while Wood is "Founder, President and Creative Director".  In 2000, SYN Entertainment founded SYN Records which has released a number of compilations, some of which have included contributions by Le Bon. Another solo track, "Dreamboy", was featured on the SYN-released soundtrack to the Mario Van Peebles movie Love Kills. Also in 2000, SYN co-executive produced the Duran Duran album Pop Trash along with Nick Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo's side-venture TV Mania.
  • In October 2005 Simon's voice appeared on the single "Fire" from DJ Ferry Corsten. A sample from the DD single "Serious" was used.
  • In late 2006, Simon became a member of Shinzou Sound, and took part in the Japan-based online manga project, 'Synesthesia', by co-writing the theme song 'Nobody Knows' along with Nick Wood