Jon Symon (born 10 January 1941 as Simon John Hornsby in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

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; died 7 December 2015 on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, England) was a British

rock musician Rock is a genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who lived in Germany from the mid-1960s. He was part of the founding generation of the Hanoverian rock scene. He became known to a wider audience in the early 1980s as the composer of the rock ballet ''Warlock'', in which he was also the singer with the accompanying Deutschrock band, most of whose members were from Jane.

Early life (1941 - 1963)

Symon came into contact with music at the age of 4 when he was able to play a miniature drum kit at St George's Hotel, Bradford, where his father worked as a hotel manager. First performances with the hotel orchestra followed. At the age of 15, Symon formed his first band, a

skiffle Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...

band called Satellites. During the same period, he also discovered his interest in space travel and astronautics, which led to him leaving college at 17 and working in a factory that made fuel tanks for rockets. Together with some friends, he developed his own rocket to break a world record set by some American rocket enthusiasts of the same age. In 1961, he moved to the

, where he attended Newport College for a few semesters studying

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

. Two years later, Symon (using his surname Hornsby) stood for local council in

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and ...

as a Liberal candidate. After losing the election and losing his career prospects, he joined the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Army time (1963 - 1970)

A year later, in 1964, he was stationed in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

and formed the band The Demons there with some comrades. After the band had played together for just under a year, the army leadership wanted to disband the group, which led to Symon leaving his troupe without permission, returning to England to gain a musical foothold. Unsuccessfully, however, he returned to his unit after some time. In 1966 Symon was transferred to another unit in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

. He came into contact with the group The Anyones in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, becoming the singer and lead guitarist. He decided to continue his music career and again left the troupe without permission. After his time with The Anyones, he formed his own band, The John Simon Set. After 4 years away from his platoon, Symon was finally picked up in 1970 and sent to

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

for 3 months in a Military Corrective Training Centre and subsequently discharged. He returned directly to Germany and spent a year at an art school in Hanover.

Musical activity

During this time, he already began to perform as the

one-man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

Rasputin. A drum kit he designed was equipped with special mechanics, guitar and bass came from a rebuilt

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

. As Rasputin, as well as under the name Jon Symon's One Man Band, he mostly covered songs by well-known groups, using his instruments to replace the sound of a full band. He toured Germany and Austria, appeared on ARD's ''

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' () was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. History Around 90 ep ...

'' in 1973, and subsequently made several television appearances, such as on the

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

music programme

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

in 1976, as well as on other programmes in Germany and in Austria. In the 1970s, he released several singles.Cf. details about ''Jon Symon'' at the online music magazine www.Rockszene.de (as of 24. August 2009). In 1978, he met music publisher Michael Mellenthin, who co-owned a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

that Symon was allowed to use. The

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

''Warlock - Memories of a White Magician'' was created, featuring bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol, keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen of Eloy, and violinist Hajo Hoffmann and Jim McGillivray of

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

as drummer. The album was released in 1981. In the early 1980s, Alexander May, artistic director of the Schauspielhaus Hanover, became aware of Symon and brought him together with the ballet director Lothar Höfgen. Symon (lyrics and music) and Höfgen (choreography) jointly produced the rock ballet ''Warlock'', which premiered in March 1983 at the sold-out Congress Centrum in Hanover. Jon Symon 02-2

At all performances of ''Warlock'' the music was played live by the rock group Warlock, consisting of Symon (vocals), three members of the then disbanded German rock band Jane - Peter Panka (drums), Werner Nadolny (saxophone and synthesizer) and Charly Maucher (bass) - as well as guitarist Detlef Klamann (later with the reformed Jane). Among the guests of honour at the premiere were the then Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Ernst Albrecht, the Lord Mayor of Hanover Herbert Schmalstieg and the group

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

. Due to the unexpected success of the ballet, the musicians of the live band recorded a studio version of the songs from the ballet as an album "on the fly" at the end of March 1983. The rock ballet ''Warlock'' became a hit piece. Originally intended for only 3 evenings of ballet, it ultimately remained in the repertoire of the Niedersächsisches Staatstheater (State Theatre of Lower Saxony) for two years, with all performances in Hanover being sold out. The farewell performance of ''Warlock'' in Hanover, which took place in June 1984 in the Sportpark Hanover as an open-air performance, was attended by around 7000 guests. There were also several guest performances of the rock ballet throughout Germany, such as at the International Congress Centrum Berlin (ICC) in Berlin, the

Alte Oper Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city, Innenstadt, within the banking district Bankenviertel. Today's Alte Oper was built in 1880 as the city's opera house, which was destr ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, the

Congress Center Hamburg Congress Center Hamburg (CCH; formerly Congress Centrum Hamburg) is a convention center in Hamburg, Germany, located right next to Planten un Blomen, near the Hamburg Dammtor station. It opened on 14 April 1973 as the first of its kind in Germany ...

(CCH) in Hamburg and the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

in Munich. This was followed in 1984 by the premiere of the rock ballet ''Lady MacBeth'', also produced by Jon Symon and Lothar Höfgen. The premiere took place again in the Kuppelsaal, Hanover. This time, in order not to repeat the same mistake of producing an album only after the premiere, Symon, together with his Warlock musicians, recorded a corresponding studio album to ''Lady MacBeth'' in advance of the premiere. During 1987 Symon began writing the third part of his ballet trilogy entitled ''Stonehenge''. In early 1988, an article appeared in the Hanover newspaper Neue Presse that the piece was complete, Symon only needed a touring company (dancers and musicians) and a suitable choreographer. However, the piece was never performed during his lifetime. On 5 November 1985, a one-off revival of the rock ballet ''Warlock'' took place at the

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

conference in Hanover. The Minister President of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, had invited the entire ensemble on the occasion of this conference, where the work was presented once again in front of 36 European delegations. Since the 1990s Symon has written and directed rock musicals and other rock-oriented projects in Hanover and the surrounding area, such as the rock ballet ''Beachy Head'' choreographed by Sylvie Zander in 1994 and the rock ballet ''Tarot'' in 1995. In 1996 he wrote the rock-grusical ''Bats in the Belfry''. These works were each staged at the Theater am Aegi in Hanover, among other things. Symon founded the rock duo Demon Angel together with Alexandra Süllow in 1998 and brought out the revue ''Himmlische Teufeleien'' with Demon Angel, Thommi Baake, Diego Leon, Masoud Zand and Andy Clapp in 1999. This was followed in 2003 by ''Schwarzer Engel'', a "grusical" composed by him and directed by Süllow. In 2003, he formed the duo Elfenlicht with Janina Gorski, with whom he brought out the musical ''Spiders''. In 2005, the idea for Vox Nocturna was born and he composed the concept album ''Legends'' by the end of 2007. Ancient legends, myths and pirate stories fascinated Symon and have been musically processed by him several times; for ''Legends'' he wrote songs about the "legends of the earth". He described his current music, which contained elements of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

and medieval musical sounds and which can be classified as belonging to the

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

style, as "Symphonic Pirate Metal". His new band Jon Symon's Vox Nocturna with Leandra Low (aka Alexandra Süllow) (vocals), Thomas St. Jones (keyboard), Wolfgang Schneider (drums) and Anja Fünfziger (backing vocals) played live for the first time in December 2008. Since 2008, Symon was also back on stage as his one-man band Rasputin and served the genre

symphonic rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

in particular with his 1970s show. In 2009, he disbanded Vox Nocturna shortly before the release of the new concept album ''Legends'' and went back into the studio, where he reworked all the tracks on the album with singers Sonja Schott and Janina Gorski (former duo partner in Elfenlicht) until September 2010. During a visit to England, he met the drummer of his first band The Demons from the 1960s in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. The band member Carl Hardin had found him again after 45 years via the internet. At the reunion of The Demons, Symon agreed with Hardin and with electric bassist John Cross, who came from Standish near Liverpool, to collaborate on his new project ''Legends''. By 2012, the line-up of the Jon Symon Band consisted of: Jon Symon (guitars, vocals), Sonja Schott (vocals), Janina Gorski (vocals), Carl Hardin (drums) and John Cross (bass guitar). In 2012 Jon Symon produced the track "The Revenge of Medusa" with singer Ivonne Resigkeit under his pseudonym Rasputin, which was also released as a video. In 2013, Jon Symon & The Pirates From Hell was created, a trio with Jon Symon (vocals, guitar, bass effects, bagpipes, choirs), Vanz Oliver Sheridan (drums, background vocals) and Frank Perrey (guitar, noise machine). At this performance at the GIG in Hannover-Linden, Symon also gave his last concert as the one-man band "Rasputin".

Death and posthumous productions

Jon Symon returned to the Isle of Wight in 2014 for hospital treatment due to his deteriorating health. He died there of cancer on 7 December 2015. He was married three times and leaves a son from his first marriage. His plans to re-record the Warlock-era tracks could not be realised. Peer Olsen, a teacher at the comprehensive school IGS Roderbruch in Hanover, discovered the music of this third part in the Hanover Theatre Archive in 2016, obtained the performance rights for IGS Roderbruch and successfully staged the world premiere with pupils on 22 March 2017. Symon's music was partially rearranged and played by the school's own band. In 2022, the first two parts of Jon Symon's rock ballet trilogy, ''Warlock - Memories of a White Magician'' and ''Lady MacBeth'' were reissued in a remastered version by the English label Explore Rights Management, with ''Warlock'' as a double CD containing both the 1981 version and the 1983 version. In November 2023, Explore Rights Management also released ''Jon Symon's Warlock - Anthology'' exclusively as a download version on all common streaming portals. This compilation contains, among other titles two previously unreleased recordings (''666'', ''Night of the Demon''), the B-side ''Robot Man'' of the 1981 single ''Lady Macbeth'', which has not yet appeared on any album, demo

outtake An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and D ...

s of the not yet released Jon Symon original rock ballet ''Stonehenge'' (''Posedian's Island'', ''Some went to Africa'', ''Tributes'', ''Fire in the Sky'') and two live recordings from 2007, which were previously only available on the DVD ''Tribute To Peter Panka'' by Jane (''Angel of Death'', ''

Morgan Le Fay Morgan le Fay (; Welsh language, Welsh and Cornish language, Cornish: Morgen; with ''le Fay'' being garbled French language, French ''la Fée'', thus meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morgant Mor ...

'').

Stage productions

* 1983: ''Warlock (Memories Of A White Magician)'' - a rock ballet (premiere on 1 March 1983, Kuppelsaal Hannover) * 1984: ''Lady MacBeth'' - a rock ballet (premiere on 27 September 1984, Kuppelsaal, Hanover) * 1994: ''Beachy Head'' - a rock ballet (premiere on 3 February 1994, Theatre Am Aegi, Hanover) * 1995: ''Tarot'' - a rock ballet (premiere on 14 October 1995, Theatre Am Spalterhals uditorium in the school centre Am Spalterhals Barsinghausen) * 1996: ''Bats in the Belfry'' - a rock ballet-"grusical" (premiere on 5 October 1996, Theatre Am Spalterhals uditorium in the school centre Am Spalterhals Barsinghausen, with the Calenberg Dance Theatre) * 1999: ''Himmlische Teufeleien'' – a revue (premiere on 6 March 1999, Theatre Am Spalterhals uditorium in the school centre Am Spalterhals Barsinghausen) * 2003: ''Schwarzer Engel'' - an erotic-gothic-crusical (premiere on 5 April 2003, Zechensaal, Barsinghausen) * 2005: ''Spiders'' - Musical for humans and marionettes (premiere in 2005, Barsinghausen) * 2017: ''Stonehenge'' - a rock ballet (world premiere on 22 March 2017, IGS Roderbruch, Hanover)

Discography

Singles

* 1973: Rasputin - "Chicken Song / Spoonful" * 1973: Jon Symon's One Man Band - "Sweet Eliza (Give Up Your Rubber Man) / Greenhorn" * 1974: Jon Symon's One Man Band - "Mighty Quinn / Shangri-la" * 1975: Jon Symon - "Silver Star (part 1) / Silver Star (part 2)" * 1975: Jon Symon - "Ich Wär So Gern Ein Millionär / Auf Der Grünen Wiese" * 1977: Rasputin - "Freedom On The Road / Sympathy For The Devil" * 1979: Rasputin - "Raggaephone / Merlin" * 1981: Jon Symon Alias Rasputin - Lady Macbeth / Robot Man"

Albums

* 1981: Warlock - ''Memories of a White Magician'' * 1983: Warlock - ''The Rockballet'' * 1984: Jon Symon's Warlock - ''Lady Macbeth'' * 1992: ''Beachy Head'' * 1996: ''Bats in the Belfry'' * 1996: ''Tarot'' * 2000: Demon Angel - ''Himmlische Teufeleien'' * 2001: ''Warlock - Memories of a White Magician'' (remastered version, Magic Minds) * 2010: ''Legends'' (MP3 album, LAVA) * 2022: Jon Symon's Warlock - ''Memories of a White Magician'' (remastered version, double CD, Explore Rights Management) * 2022: Jon Symon's Warlock - ''Lady Macbeth'' (remastered version, Explore Rights Management) * 2023: Jon Symon's Warlock - ''Anthology'' (only download version, Explore Rights Management)

References

External links

Jon Symon Memorial
on Facebook
Full review
of Explore Rights Management's remastered 2022 reissues * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Symon, Jon 1941 births 2015 deaths Musicians from Hanover