Lead Vocalist
(1979- Present)
Full Name: Simon John Charles LeBon
Nick-Name: Charlie
Birth Place: Bushey, Hertfordshire, England
Born/Birthdate: October 27, 1958 at Bushey Maternity Hospital, Herts, England - Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 161 lbs.
Education: West Lodge Junior, Pinner; Pinner Grammar school; Harrow Art college; Birmingham University.
Simon is the eldest of three brothers, coming from a showbiz background, his Grandmother was one of the original Tiller girls, his mothers aunt once danced before the Queen with the famous Ziegfeld Follies and his Grandfather was part of the respected Ernest Read Choir.
His Family is descended from the Huguenots (a 16th Century group of French Protestants), Simon's aunt believes their coat of arms can be found on the Huguenot crypt in the Canterbury cathedral.
His parents are Anne and John Le Bon, Anne wrote children's books based loosely on Simon as a child, ran an Antiques company in Florida as well as a successful catering products business. His Father John worked as an executive for the London water board and a keen pigeon racer.
Simon used to fear demons when he was a child and used to protect himself by putting toy soldiers on his window sill, he also had an off white teddy bear with a stern expression called Shockermoler who wore an eye patch and had a saftey pin through his ear who was his best guard!
At a very young age Simon showed signs of being artistic and imaginative very often quoting poetry from the age of 2 and a half.
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 joined the boys scouts but refused to return as he said the other boys had kicked him, instead he joined the local church choir at St Johns in Pinner High St, Middlesex. where he took choir practice under the supervision of Mr Turvey the church organist, he attended twice during the week and twice on Sundays.
This in fact was where Simon made his first record, he was 13 and a local recording company came along and recorded Simon and Mr. Turvey performing "He shall feed his Flock" unfortunately this was never to be released, just copies made for him and Mr. Turvey.
Simon attended Pinner Grammar school, the same school as Elton John. Simon was branded a dreamer by the teachers, his mother was told when handed a blank piece of paper Simon would spend so long just thinking about the wonderful things he could write down, at the end of the lesson he would still have a blank piece of paper, She was also told that Simon would be a brilliant pupil if he had only three lessons a day, music, art and drama.
Although Simon had a lot of friends he would spend a lot of time quietly sprawled out drawing and writing stories. many of which were published in the school magazine. He would also leave his homework until the last minute but never pressured by his parents, he realised that he needed achedemic qualifications to support his career. Simon did leave school with 6 'O' levels and two 'A' levels in Art and English.
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 always a reliable boy but once went to the coast to see a group on a cold winters day, His mother was worried as he never came home and he hadn`t enough money for a hotel, although he turned up safe and well the next day having missed the last train home and having to sleep in a Gents toilet with the hand dryer jammed on to keep warm!
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 - a pub style R&B band, Eddie and the Hotrods - a rock band and a Electro punk band called Rov Ostrov.
His first "proper" job was as a Hospital porter at Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow,
Before heading for University Simon spent some time working on a kibbutz in Israel where he encountered a completely new way of life, there he learnt to drive tractors, lumberjacking, orange picking and looking after children, he loved it he considered it absolute paradise, 4 hours work in the day then swim, sunbathe followed by chatting up Israeli women!
It was while Simon was studying Drama in his freshman year at Birmingham University, Edgbaston (having being turned down for places at RADA and Bristol's Old Vic School) 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.
Simon turned up for an audition wearing pink lepoard skin print trousers , a 60's brown suede jacket, sunglasses, pointed boots and carrying an exercise book with lyrics such as "underneath the clocktower","On a dead child", "Nightboat" and "the Chauffeur" the other members of the band played him a backing track they had been working on, Simon listened to it twice and within half an hour "Sound of Thunder" was complete, within a month they had ten songs written and ready to take on the world.
Marital Status:
Married To Yasmine Parvenah
Children:
Amber Rose (August 25, 1989), Saffron Sahara (September 25, 1991), Tallulah Pine (September 10, 1994)
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