Simon Le Bon

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Simon Le Bon is an English singer, born in 1958. He is best known as lead singer and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and of the side project Arcadia. At the age of six he did a screen test for a TV commercial, he sang in a church choir and trained as an actor. In 1978 he worked on a kibbutz in the Negev and then studied drama in Birmingham. In 1980 he was introduced to the fledgling band Duran Duran.

Music and breakthrough

The band had been founded in 1978 by childhood friends John Taylor and Nick Rhodes and had a solid rhythm section, with disco, funk and electronics on top. Only the singer was still missing. Le Bon came to audition in May 1980 with a notebook full of poems he had written himself, some of which later ended up on the first albums. Within six weeks the band was playing regularly in Birmingham, London and Nottingham. In December 1980 a contract with EMI followed. The debut album Duran Duran was released in 1981. Rio followed in 1982 and Seven and the Ragged Tiger in 1983. The band became famous as part of the New Romantics. Le Bon also sang on the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?. In 1993 the band returned with the Wedding Album and the single Ordinary World, which he later sang together with Luciano Pavarotti.

Influence

His voice and his lyrics help shape the sound of Duran Duran: a pop sound with a solid rock foundation. He received three Ivor Novello Awards, including one for his contribution to British music, and an MBE in 2024. Duran Duran showed how electronics and danceable pop could conquer the charts together in the early 1980s.

Listening