Simon Le Bon - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)
Actors » Actors » Simon Le Bon - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography
Simon Le Bon - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography
Rating: 7,8/10 (290 votes)
Simon Le Bon - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Actor.
Born October 27, 1958 - British singer and musician, vocalist of the New Wave band Duran Duran.
Since childhood, he studied acting and sang in the local church choir. Le Bon attended Pinner High School, Greater London, from which Elton John graduated a few years before. He worked as an operating room assistant in the accident ward at Northwick Park Hospital, and auditioned for a punk rock band at Harrow College, starred in several television commercials and appeared in several theatrical productions. In 1978, Le Bon left for a kibbutz in the Negev Desert in Israel, but returned to the UK to attend theater school at the University of Birmingham, until he met the newly formed Duran Duran. Le Bon studied at the University of Birmingham at the same time as Neil Arthur, the future leader of the synth-pop group Blancmange.
Duran Duran was founded by bass player John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and singer Stephen Duffy in 1978, but Duffy left the group a year later because he did not see any prospects for her. Then several more line-up changes followed. The band's music combined elements of disco, funk and rock, and the musicians were looking for a charismatic vocalist.
Simon Le Bon was introduced to the group in May 1980. His ex-girlfriend worked as a waitress at a nightclub where Duran Duran was rehearsing, and she recommended Le Bon as a vocalist. Le Bon wrote poetry himself and one of his poems, "Sound of Thunder", went well with one of the band's instrumental compositions. In the summer of the same year, Duran Duran performed in the vicinity of London and Birmingham, and then toured with Hazel O'Connor as the support band. In December, the group was signed by the label EMI.
The first Duran Duran album was released in 1981 and immediately propelled the group into the leaders of a new romance. For the next three years, Duran Duran released albums every year: Rio (1982), Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), and Arena (1984). Each release was accompanied by a promotional campaign and a lengthy concert tour. The musicians were exhausted and Duran Duran temporarily stopped recording and performing, and the members took up side projects. Le Bon, Rhodes and drummer Roger Taylor formed the pop group Arcadia, which released one album in 1985.
With a new line-up (without Roger Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor) Duran Duran resumed their active work and in 1986 they released the album Notorious, and two years later the album Big Thing. In 1989, the band became a quintet again, with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and drummer Stirling Campbell. Campbell left after recording the album Liberty (1990). In general, at the end of the 80s, the group's popularity began to wane. The 1993 release The Wedding Album was successful, featuring hits such as "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". After several months of performing in support of the album, the last concerts had to be postponed due to problems with Le Bon's vocal cords.
In 1995, Duran Duran released a compilation of cover versions Thank You, in which Le Bon performed songs from his favorite musicians such as Jim Morrison, Lou Reed and Elvis Costello. The album was crushed by critics, but was, however, approved by the original artists. In the same year, Le Bon performed Ordinary World at War Child's Children of Bosnia charity concert with renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Following the departure of bassist John Taylor in 1997, Le Bon and Rhodes were the last two members of the band from the first album. The group continued to exist as a trio of Le Bon, Rhodes and Cuccurullo, but two albums from the late 90s went relatively unnoticed. In 2001, Duran Duran was reunited with the original line-up, and in the fall of 2004, Astronaut was released on Epic Records, which climbed high in the charts and went gold in the UK. The single "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise" became the first single in the last decade to hit the top 10 UK Singles Chart.
He is fond of sailing. In 1985, during the Fastnet regatta, his yacht Drum capsized, and the crew spent some time in the water until the rescuers arrived. Married to former model Yasmin. Three children.
