Robin Simon
| Robin Simon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Simon |
| Born |
12 July 1956 Halifax, West Yorkshire, England |
| Genres | New wave, post-punk, synthpop, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Associated acts | Limmie Funk Limited, Neo, Ultravox, The Futants, Magazine, John Foxx, Blitz, Ajanta Music, Cybertown, Visage |
Robert "Robin" Simon (born 12 July 1956, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England) is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine, and Visage. He is currently a member of Ajanta Music (alongside his brother Paul).
Robert Simon and his drummer brother Paul had played in a number of bands in and around Halifax in the mid-1970s, including one which featured future Ultravox member Billy Currie. The brothers toured the UK with Limmie Funk Limited, before joining the punk rock band Ian North's Radio (later called Neo) in 1976, along with American singer and Brian Eno protégé Ian North, the band supporting Ultravox! at their London performance that year.
Simon joined Ultravox, replacing Stevie Shears, in 1978, bringing a looser, more multi-dimensional sound to the band. When he was part of that band, he changed his name to Robin Simon in the music world.
He played guitar on the album Systems of Romance and co-produced it with the band, Conny Plank (of Kraftwerk fame) and Dave Hutchins. He also pioneered the use of multi-effects for guitar on the album to create an early Grunge/Metal type of sound using the Electro Harmonix and MXR effect pedals such as Fuzz compressor, wah-wah and flanging, tremolo and chorus. These were sent through a Music Man amplifier and cab, then to tape and also fed back to be re-recorded through a vintage Fender Champion amp. On Ultravox's hit single "Slow Motion", the song he instigated and co-wrote with the band, he added extra delay at the mixdown. Other effects such as flanging and ring modulation were added at mixdown to create occasional keyboard like guitar sounds.
After the US tour in early 1979 oncluded, John Foxx left Ultravox and Robin Simon decided on the same idea, asking the other members to stay in the USA, being both replaced by Midge Ure shortly afterwards. While on tour with Ultravox Robin Simon met Grace Weisbard who was writing an article on the band for her college newspaper at the nightclub Hurrah and came back three months later and married her on 25 April 1979 in New York. He lived in New York and played with a local electro post-punk band called The Futants (along with Defunkt keyboardist Martin Fischer). Grace Simon, formerly Weisbard moved to England with him before and during his years with Magazine but she went back to New York and divorced him by proxy on 14 June 1982. They remain friends to this day. Grace Simon went on to marry again and then became Grace Hudson on 6 June 1987. After Grace Simon left England and moved back to New York, Robin Simon and Billy Currie began regularly visiting the Billy's nightclub in Soho, which was at the heart of a new electronic music scene which was inspired by all things European and cinematic, and would be a major influence on the burgeoning New Romantic scene.
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