Simon Le Bon
Encyclopedia
Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran
and its offshoot, Arcadia
.
washing powder TV advert; he won and starred as the little boy with the off-white shirt, but had no spoken lines.
He was a member of the local church choir from a young age, but was also trained as an actor. He is descended from exiled French Huguenot
stock. Simon went to Pinner County Grammar School
, the same school that Elton John
attended some years earlier. He worked as a theatre porter at Northwick Park Hospital Accident and Casualty, and also auditioned for a punk band at Harrow College. He appeared in a few television commercials and also in several theatre
productions including Tom Brown's Schooldays
in the West End
of London
. He worked on a kibbutz
– an Israeli collective
community
– in the Negev desert in Israel
in 1978, and then returned to England to study drama at the University of Birmingham
before meeting the fledgling band Duran Duran in 1980.
Le Bon attended Birmingham University at the same time as Blancmange
lead singer Neil Arthur. This fact came up during a Smash Hits
interview of Blancmange done by Chris Heath
. According to Arthur, Le Bon recognised his old university classmate immediately upon running into him backstage at a Top of the Pops
taping, and the two met up for a drink and friendly chat.
was founded by childhood friends John Taylor and Nick Rhodes
along with singer/songwriter Stephen Duffy
in 1978, but Duffy left a year later, convinced they weren't going anywhere. The band went through a long succession of lineup changes after Duffy's departure, but finally settled on a guitarist and drummer. The band had a powerful pop sound flavoured with disco, funk and electronics, built on a solid rock rhythm section, and all they needed was a charismatic singer with a distinctive voice.
Le Bon's ex-girlfriend, Fiona Kemp (a barmaid at the Rum Runner
nightclub
where Duran Duran was rehearsing), introduced him to the band in May 1980, recommending him as a potential vocalist. As band legend has it, he turned up for the audition wearing pink leopard-print trousers, and carrying a notebook containing a large collection of poetry
he had written—several of which would later become tracks on the early Duran Duran albums. After listening to the songs the band had already composed together, Le Bon spent some time fitting one of his poems ("Sound of Thunder") to one of the instrumentals, and found they had a good match. Le Bon agreed to "try [Duran Duran] out for the summer"; within six weeks the band was playing steadily around Birmingham, London & Nottingham, and a national tour supporting Hazel O'Connor
led to a record deal with EMI
Records in December.
The band's first album, Duran Duran, was released in 1981, and they quickly shot to fame as part of the New Romantic
movement. Three more albums followed in quick succession: Rio
(1982), Seven and the Ragged Tiger
(1983) and the live album Arena (1984). Each album release was accompanied by heavy media promotion and a lengthy concert tour. By mid-1984, the band was ready for a break. Duran Duran's only other work that year was an appearance on the 1984 Band Aid
charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas".
Following the departures of Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor, Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor continued on as Duran Duran, recording and releasing Notorious (1986) and Big Thing
(1988). The group added guitarist Warren Cuccurullo
and drummer Sterling Campbell
(his only album as a member of the band) and recorded the album Liberty
(1990), but the band's success had begun to wane in the late-1980s.
Duran Duran had a resurgence in popularity in 1993 with The Wedding Album
. Several months into the extensive worldwide concert tour supporting this album, Le Bon suffered from a torn vocal cord, and the tour was postponed for six weeks while he recovered.
In 1995, Duran Duran released the covers album Thank You
, and Le Bon had the chance to cover some of his favourite artists, (Jim Morrison
, Lou Reed
and Elvis Costello
), but the album was severely panned by critics from all quarters. That year Le Bon also performed Duran Duran's 1993 hit "Ordinary World" with opera
tenor
Luciano Pavarotti
during a "Children of Bosnia" benefit concert
for War Child. Le Bon described the event to Jam! Showbiz thusly: "If you're talking about name dropping, he's one of the biggest names you could drop, Pav-The-Man."
When bassist John Taylor
left the band in 1997, Le Bon and Rhodes remained as the only two members who had been with Duran Duran from the beginning. The successive two albums with Le Bon, Rhodes and Cuccurullo, Medazzaland
(1997) and Pop Trash
(2000) were not commercial successes.
In 2001, Duran Duran's original five members reunited to record a new album, Astronaut, for Epic Records
. Astronaut was released worldwide on 11 October 2004. The album was preceded by the single "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise", their first UK Top 10 single in a decade.
with fellow Duran Duran members Nick Rhodes
and Roger Taylor
. The band had a UK/US top 10 hit with their first single "Election Day
", and released one album, So Red The Rose
in 1985.
In 1989, for Jonathan Elias
' Requiem For The Americas project, Le Bon contributed "Follow In My Footsteps", with The Bangles'
Susanna Hoffs
on background vocals. The track was released on 7" single in Italy that year.
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 1999, Le Bon was reported to be involved in Napalm Death's new album, a collaboration brought about through their shared love of hometown Birmingham.
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 Dutch trance DJ Ferry Corsten
released the track "Fire", with vocals by Simon Le Bon. It was a remix of the lesser known Duran Duran single Serious, from the album Liberty
.
(full credits: Ferry Corsten feat. Simon Le Bon - Fire (Flashover remix), on Flashover Recordings)
In late 2006, Le Bon 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. Shinzou Sound is a group of creative collaborators specializing in manga, music, web design and popular culture. They joined forces with the simple concept of merging their talents in an effort to deliver the new entertainment of music and manga in an innovative way. Exclusive songs, inspired by the manga story were commissioned from international and Japanese DJs, and the story was launched in fortnightly episodes on the Net, with the individual songs available free through iTunes Japan.
In 2010, Le Bon collaborated on the song "Record Collection", the title track from Mark Ronson
's third album
. In the song, Le Bon is heard singing the chorus, along with Mark Ronson
and hip hop artist Wiley
. The song does not have a current single release date. Ronson later produced Duran Duran's 2010 album All You Need Is Now
.
. While still with Claire, Le Bon wooed young fashion model
Yasmin Parvaneh
after seeing her face in a magazine and phoning her modeling agency
to track her down, even as magazines speculated on a possible wedding with Stansfield. Simon and Yasmin married on 27 December 1985. After Yasmin suffered two miscarriage
s, the couple had three daughters: Amber Rose Tamara Le Bon
(born August 25, 1989 - a model like her mother), Saffron Sahara (born September 25, 1991) and Tallulah Pine (born September 10, 1994). The family, along with their dogs, a Pug named Luigi, a Chihuahua named Tinka and a Boston Terrier named Cecil, live in Putney, South West London.
While Duran Duran was on hiatus 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 and the book One Watch at a Time written by Drum's skipper, Skip Novak. It was Le Bon's participation in the Whitbread that led to the phrase rock star sailor.
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 (the Scottish multi car garage owner Sir Arnold Clark
) to participate, and raising funds for the RNLI charity. 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.
In 2009 Le Bon (who describes himself as a "concerned agnostic") contributed an essay to the book The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, edited by Ariane Sherine
.
Le Bon injured his vocal cords and was unable to finish his 2011 summer tour. He remarked, "I am trying to be philosophical."
In a 2011 interview with New York, Le Bon stated that he currently enjoyed the bands Scissor Sisters
, The Killers, Fall Out Boy
, and 30 Seconds to Mars
-- all of which Le Bon cites as having a similar "feathers-and-mascara" image.
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
and its offshoot, Arcadia
Arcadia (band)
Arcadia were the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side...
.
Early life
Simon John Charles Le Bon was the first born son of John Le Bon and Ann-Marie, followed by two further sons, David and Jonathan. His mother encouraged his artistic talent when he was six years old by entering him in a screen test for a PersilPersil
Persil is a brand of laundry detergent currently and originally made by Henkel & Cie; but which is now also licensed for manufacture, distribution, and marketing in several countries by the Unilever Corporation. Henkel and Unilever both manufacture their own formulations...
washing powder TV advert; he won and starred as the little boy with the off-white shirt, but had no spoken lines.
He was a member of the local church choir from a young age, but was also trained as an actor. He is descended from exiled French Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
stock. Simon went to Pinner County Grammar School
Pinner County Grammar School
Pinner County Grammar School was a grammar school in Pinner, London from 1937 to 1982. In its latter years it became a college as Pinner Junior College and Pinner Sixth Form College. Famous pupils include Reg Dwight, otherwise known as Elton John, Simon Le Bon, Ron Goodwin and Gordon Beck all...
, the same school that Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
attended some years earlier. He worked as a theatre porter at Northwick Park Hospital Accident and Casualty, and also auditioned for a punk band at Harrow College. He appeared in a few television commercials and also in several theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
productions including Tom Brown's Schooldays
Tom Brown's Schooldays
Tom Brown's Schooldays is a novel by Thomas Hughes. The story is set at Rugby School, a public school for boys, in the 1830s; Hughes attended Rugby School from 1834 to 1842...
in the West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He worked on a kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
– an Israeli collective
Collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...
community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
– in the Negev desert in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1978, and then returned to England to study drama at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
before meeting the fledgling band Duran Duran in 1980.
Le Bon attended Birmingham University at the same time as Blancmange
Blancmange (band)
Blancmange are a British synthpop band who came to prominence with a string of hits in the early to mid 1980s.-Biography:Blancmange was formed in Harrow, Middlesex in 1979 by singer Neil Arthur and instrumentalists Stephen Luscombe and Laurence Stevens...
lead singer Neil Arthur. This fact came up during a Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
interview of Blancmange done by Chris Heath
Chris Heath
Chris Heath is a British writer who was a regular contributor to the popular English music magazine Smash Hits in the eighties and early nineties....
. According to Arthur, Le Bon recognised his old university classmate immediately upon running into him backstage at a Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
taping, and the two met up for a drink and friendly chat.
Duran Duran
Duran DuranDuran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
was founded by childhood friends John Taylor and Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
along with singer/songwriter Stephen Duffy
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and vocalist/bassist of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his older brother...
in 1978, but Duffy left a year later, convinced they weren't going anywhere. The band went through a long succession of lineup changes after Duffy's departure, but finally settled on a guitarist and drummer. The band had a powerful pop sound flavoured with disco, funk and electronics, built on a solid rock rhythm section, and all they needed was a charismatic singer with a distinctive voice.
Le Bon's ex-girlfriend, Fiona Kemp (a barmaid at the Rum Runner
Rum Runner
Rum Runner may refer to:* rum-running* Rum Runner , nightclub in Birmingham, England...
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
where Duran Duran was rehearsing), introduced him to the band in May 1980, recommending him as a potential vocalist. As band legend has it, he turned up for the audition wearing pink leopard-print trousers, and carrying a notebook containing a large collection of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
he had written—several of which would later become tracks on the early Duran Duran albums. After listening to the songs the band had already composed together, Le Bon spent some time fitting one of his poems ("Sound of Thunder") to one of the instrumentals, and found they had a good match. Le Bon agreed to "try [Duran Duran] out for the summer"; within six weeks the band was playing steadily around Birmingham, London & Nottingham, and a national tour supporting Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...
led to a record deal with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Records in December.
The band's first album, Duran Duran, was released in 1981, and they quickly shot to fame as part of the New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movement. Three more albums followed in quick succession: Rio
Rio (album)
Rio is the second studio album by the British rock band Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on 10 May 1982. It reached #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia....
(1982), Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, released globally in November 1983. It would prove to be the last studio album for the band's original lineup until 2004's Astronaut....
(1983) and the live album Arena (1984). Each album release was accompanied by heavy media promotion and a lengthy concert tour. By mid-1984, the band was ready for a break. Duran Duran's only other work that year was an appearance on the 1984 Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas".
Following the departures of Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor, Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor continued on as Duran Duran, recording and releasing Notorious (1986) and Big Thing
Big Thing
Big Thing is the fifth album by Duran Duran, released worldwide in 1988. It reached #15 in the UK and #24 in the US.A CD reissue was released in 1994. The album is was reissued as a three disc boxset on .- Background :...
(1988). The group added guitarist Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...
and drummer Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell in New York City, New York, is an American rock drummer who has worked with numerous high-profile acts. He rose to attention in 1986, touring with Cyndi Lauper on her her True Colors World Tour, in 1986, and in 1987, joined Duran Duran...
(his only album as a member of the band) and recorded the album Liberty
Liberty (album)
Liberty is the sixth studio album by Duran Duran, released on . It entered the top 10 in the UK albums chart, and garnered a #6 hit for the single "Serious" in Japan.-Recording:...
(1990), but the band's success had begun to wane in the late-1980s.
Duran Duran had a resurgence in popularity in 1993 with The Wedding Album
Duran Duran (1993 album)
Duran Duran is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 23 February 1993. The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by...
. Several months into the extensive worldwide concert tour supporting this album, Le Bon suffered from a torn vocal cord, and the tour was postponed for six weeks while he recovered.
In 1995, Duran Duran released the covers album Thank You
Thank You (Duran Duran album)
Thank You is a covers album by Duran Duran released in April 1995, their follow-up to 1993's Duran Duran . It did well on the charts , but was received very negatively by critics...
, and Le Bon had the chance to cover some of his favourite artists, (Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
), but the album was severely panned by critics from all quarters. That year Le Bon also performed Duran Duran's 1993 hit "Ordinary World" with opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
during a "Children of Bosnia" benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
for War Child. Le Bon described the event to Jam! Showbiz thusly: "If you're talking about name dropping, he's one of the biggest names you could drop, Pav-The-Man."
When bassist John Taylor
Nigel John Taylor
John Taylor is an English musician who is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of pop rock band Duran Duran....
left the band in 1997, Le Bon and Rhodes remained as the only two members who had been with Duran Duran from the beginning. The successive two albums with Le Bon, Rhodes and Cuccurullo, Medazzaland
Medazzaland
Medazzaland is the ninth album by British pop rock group Duran Duran. It was released by Capitol Records on in the U.S., where it reached #58 on the Billboard album chart. It was never officially released in Europe....
(1997) and Pop Trash
Pop Trash
"Last Day on Earth" directs here. For the 2009 song by Kate Miller-Heidke, see The Last Day on EarthReleased in 2000, Pop Trash is Duran Duran's tenth album. The album marked their first release not under Capitol Records/EMI, with whom they'd been signed since 1981. It was also the last to...
(2000) were not commercial successes.
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. Astronaut was released worldwide on 11 October 2004. The album was preceded by the single "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise", their first UK Top 10 single in a decade.
Arcadia
Before Duran Duran reunited in 1986, Le Bon formed the band ArcadiaArcadia (band)
Arcadia were the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side...
with fellow Duran Duran members Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
and Roger Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor is an English double grammy award winning musician who is best known as the drummer of British rock band Duran Duran from their inception until 1985, and again from 2001 onwards, the band selling in excess of 80 million records worldwide in the process.-Early life:Taylor began...
. The band had a UK/US top 10 hit with their first single "Election Day
Election Day (song)
"Election Day" was the first single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in October 1985 and subsequently hit the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at #6 in the US and #7 in the UK, but was the most successful in Ireland, peaking at...
", and released one album, So Red The Rose
So Red the Rose
So Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
in 1985.
Solo excursions
While Le Bon has been in Duran Duran for the band's entire recording history, he has also dabbled in solo outings. In 1985, for the Whitbread Round the World Race, he contributed a song entitled "Grey Lady Of The Sea" and narrated a video of that year's race called Drum (1987). "Grey Lady Of The Sea" was released as a single in Japan in 1988.In 1989, for Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....
' Requiem For The Americas project, Le Bon contributed "Follow In My Footsteps", with The Bangles'
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
Susanna Hoffs
Susanna Hoffs
Susanna Lee Hoffs is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.-Early life:...
on background vocals. The track was released on 7" single in Italy that year.
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 1999, Le Bon was reported to be involved in Napalm Death's new album, a collaboration brought about through their shared love of hometown Birmingham.
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
Mario Van Peebles
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
movie Love Kills.
Also in 2000, SYN co-executive produced the Duran Duran album Pop Trash
Pop Trash
"Last Day on Earth" directs here. For the 2009 song by Kate Miller-Heidke, see The Last Day on EarthReleased in 2000, Pop Trash is Duran Duran's tenth album. The album marked their first release not under Capitol Records/EMI, with whom they'd been signed since 1981. It was also the last to...
along with Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
and Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...
's side-venture TV Mania
TV Mania
TV Mania was an electronic band founded in 1995 that consisted of keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, both of Duran Duran and producer/multi-instrumentalist Anthony J. Resta...
.
In October 2005 Dutch trance DJ Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten, also known under the alias System F, is a Dutch producer of trance music, in addition to being a DJ and remixer. He also hosts his own weekly radio show, Corsten's Countdown. He routinely plays at events all over the world with crowds in excess of tens of thousands. In 2009 Ferry...
released the track "Fire", with vocals by Simon Le Bon. It was a remix of the lesser known Duran Duran single Serious, from the album Liberty
Liberty (album)
Liberty is the sixth studio album by Duran Duran, released on . It entered the top 10 in the UK albums chart, and garnered a #6 hit for the single "Serious" in Japan.-Recording:...
.
(full credits: Ferry Corsten feat. Simon Le Bon - Fire (Flashover remix), on Flashover Recordings)
In late 2006, Le Bon 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. Shinzou Sound is a group of creative collaborators specializing in manga, music, web design and popular culture. They joined forces with the simple concept of merging their talents in an effort to deliver the new entertainment of music and manga in an innovative way. Exclusive songs, inspired by the manga story were commissioned from international and Japanese DJs, and the story was launched in fortnightly episodes on the Net, with the individual songs available free through iTunes Japan.
In 2010, Le Bon collaborated on the song "Record Collection", the title track from Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
's third album
Record Collection (album)
-Track listing:-Musicians:*Mark Ronson - vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards, drum machine, bass, bell ringing*Nick Movshon - bass, drums*Victor Axelrod - keyboards, percussion*Homer Steinwess - drums-Additional personnel:...
. In the song, Le Bon is heard singing the chorus, along with Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
and hip hop artist Wiley
Wiley (rapper)
Richard Kylea Cowie , better known by his stage name Wiley is a prolific British music producer, MC and recording artist, and rapper with roots from Trinidad...
. The song does not have a current single release date. Ronson later produced Duran Duran's 2010 album All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now is the thirteenth studio album by the British pop/rock band Duran Duran. Produced by Grammy Award-winner Mark Ronson, a truncated version of the album was released as a download on 21 December 2010. It is the band's first album not released by a major record label; it appeared...
.
Personal life
In the early 1980s, Simon was engaged to his then longtime girlfriend, model-turned-actress Claire StansfieldClaire Stansfield
Claire Stansfield is an actress, director, fashion designer and former model. She is best-known for her recurring role as "Alti" in several episodes of the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess.-Life and career:...
. While still with Claire, Le Bon wooed young fashion model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
Yasmin Parvaneh
Yasmin Le Bon
Yasmin Le Bon is a British Iranian fashion model. She was born to an Iranian father and an English mother...
after seeing her face in a magazine and phoning her modeling agency
Modeling agency
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and or the head agency....
to track her down, even as magazines speculated on a possible wedding with Stansfield. Simon and Yasmin married on 27 December 1985. After Yasmin suffered two miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
s, the couple had three daughters: Amber Rose Tamara Le Bon
Amber Le Bon
Amber Rose Tamara Le Bon is the eldest of the three daughters of Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon and model Yasmin Le Bon. She was born at the Humana Wellington Hospital in St. John's Wood, London...
(born August 25, 1989 - a model like her mother), Saffron Sahara (born September 25, 1991) and Tallulah Pine (born September 10, 1994). The family, along with their dogs, a Pug named Luigi, a Chihuahua named Tinka and a Boston Terrier named Cecil, live in Putney, South West London.
While Duran Duran was on hiatus in 1985, Le Bon drew media attention when his maxi yacht
Maxi yacht
A maxi yacht usually refers to a racing sailboat of at least in length. It is also a Swedish brand of smaller sailing yachts.-Origin:The term maxi originated with the International Offshore Rule rating system, which in the 1970s and 1980s measured offshore racing yachts and applied a...
, Drum, lost her keel and capsized during the Fastnet race
Fastnet race
The Fastnet Race is a famous offshore yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It takes place every two years over a course of . The race starts off Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, rounds the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland and then finishes at...
, just off Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, along the southern coast of Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. 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 and the book One Watch at a Time written by Drum's skipper, Skip Novak. It was Le Bon's participation in the Whitbread that led to the phrase rock star sailor.
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
Fastnet race
The Fastnet Race is a famous offshore yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It takes place every two years over a course of . The race starts off Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, rounds the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland and then finishes at...
, borrowing the vessel from her current owner (the Scottish multi car garage owner Sir Arnold Clark
Arnold Clark
Sir Arnold Clark is one of the wealthiest businessmen in Scotland, ranked 10th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2005 for Scotland.-Biography:Born in Glasgow,in 1927,Clark joined the Royal Air Force aged 17...
) to participate, and raising funds for the RNLI charity. 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.
In 2009 Le Bon (who describes himself as a "concerned agnostic") contributed an essay to the book The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, edited by Ariane Sherine
Ariane Sherine
Ariane Sherine is a British comedy writer and journalist. She created the UK version of the Atheist Bus Campaign, which ran in January 2009. She lives in London.- Career :...
.
Le Bon injured his vocal cords and was unable to finish his 2011 summer tour. He remarked, "I am trying to be philosophical."
In a 2011 interview with New York, Le Bon stated that he currently enjoyed the bands Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism...
, The Killers, Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, and 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
-- all of which Le Bon cites as having a similar "feathers-and-mascara" image.