Simon Curtis (born March 18, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Born in
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
and raised in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, he first gained recognition for his role as Royce Du Lac in the 2009 film ''
Spectacular!
''Spectacular!'' is a 2009 musical comedy-drama film that aired on Nickelodeon and YTV. It stars Canadian singer Nolan Gerard Funk, Australian singer Tammin Sursok, Victoria Justice and Simon Curtis with Matthew Bennett, Andrea Lewis, Shannon ...
'' before venturing into pop music, during which he released his debut
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.
''Alter Boy'' in 2008, his debut full-length studio album, ''
8Bit Heart
''8Bit Heart'' is the debut album by American singer-songwriter and record producer Simon Curtis. It was released March 23, 2010 for free download via Curtis' official website.RA''; the two later releases were released through his independent label, BoyRobot Records.
''RA'' debuted at number 20 on '' Billboards
Dance/Electronic Albums
Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...
chart.
Early and personal life
Simon Curtis was born in the state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, United States, and spent his earliest years in Alpena.Chris Azzopardi "Simon Says" '' Between the Lines'', November 17, 2011 . His family later moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
. At the age of ten, he was diagnosed with
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
. He graduated from
Jenks High School
Jenks High School is a secondary school located within Tulsa County in Jenks, Oklahoma, United States. It serves students from the town of Jenks and students from the south side of the city of Tulsa. The high school has over 2,800 students in grad ...
Curtis won '' Popstar Magazine'' and Johnny Wright's "Get Famous" contest, was named a national top ten finalist in the "Britney Spears Samsung Superstar Tour", was commissioned by
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
to provide a theme song for an annual Disneyland event, was named an official Oklahoma Ambassador of Music, and won the University of Tulsa Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance.
At 20, Curtis began recording with local record producer Jadion. There they began the sessions that would ultimately result in Curtis' début album '' Alter Boy EP''. Curtis and Jadion were commissioned by Disney to deliver a theme song for the annual Disneyland Resort event, Flashback, which later became a charity single benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.
2009–2010: ''Spectacular!'' and ''8Bit Heart''
In early 2009, Curtis made his film debut starring in the
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
musical TV film ''
Spectacular!
''Spectacular!'' is a 2009 musical comedy-drama film that aired on Nickelodeon and YTV. It stars Canadian singer Nolan Gerard Funk, Australian singer Tammin Sursok, Victoria Justice and Simon Curtis with Matthew Bennett, Andrea Lewis, Shannon ...
''. He landed the role of Royce Du Lac, the lead singer of a show choir, Ta-da and Tammi's boyfriend.
In late 2009, Curtis once again began to work on his musical career. He teamed up with friend producer Jeff "Jadion" Wells and in about thirteen days, he wrote and recorded ''
8Bit Heart
''8Bit Heart'' is the debut album by American singer-songwriter and record producer Simon Curtis. It was released March 23, 2010 for free download via Curtis' official website.Jason Lipshutz "Simon Curtis' DIY Pop, Plus a Preview of His New Album" '' Billboard'', March 14, 2011. He was the opening act of
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
The ...
member AJ McLean on May 6, 2010, at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California.
2011: ''RA''
On May 16, 2011, Curtis released the first single from his second album '' RA'' (stylized as ''R∆'') titled "Superhero" as well as a remix titled "Superhero (The Remix)" on his independent label BoyRobot Records through the
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
. The second single from the album, titled "Flesh", was released May 31, along with a remix titled "Flesh (Future Freestyle Remix)". On June 7, he released the full-length album and it debuted at number 20 on '' Billboards
Dance/Electronic Albums
Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...
chart.
2012–2015: ''WWW, Wrathschild'' and Fuse Literary
Curtis released a free EP, ''WWW, on October 12, 2013. It consisted of eight new songs and three alternate covers. Although his sexuality had been questioned beforehand, it was the criticism towards this album's artwork for being "too gay" that led him to defend himself, saying "Love that I'm getting so much heat for my new album artwork being "too gay" on national coming out day." He followed this up with, "With that said, I am gay. *makes dance album, wears midriff-bearing tshirt, puts neon pink leopard font on cover, doesn't care*".
According to an article published on
Popjustice
Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', '' Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cr ...
on March 20, 2014, Curtis is now part of an electropop duo called Wrathschild which has been working with producer Ray Reich over the past two years. The debut single "Fall Into Love" premiered on Billboard.com on March 24 and became available on iTunes on March 31.
On December 1, 2014, Fuse Literary announced Curtis had joined the company. Curtis later backed this up by stating through his Twitter "suffice it to say, books are coming". He has published two books so far, Boy Robot and its sequel, Robot Army.
2016: New Album ''2nd Bit''
Curtis announced through Twitter on new years he would be returning to music with his third studio album. The songs within his new album, titled as "Super 8-bit Heart", are various remixes of songs found in his previous album "8-bit Heart". So far, the remixes haven't been identified by Curtis, or anyone else
.