Simon Katz (born 16 May 1971) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with the band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in t ...

from 1995 to 2000. Katz was a recipient of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Pop Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocal for Jamiroquai's "

Virtual Insanity "Virtual Insanity" is a song by British funk band Jamiroquai, released on 19 August 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, ''Travelling Without Moving'' (1996). The song interpolates parts of Jocelyn Brown's post-disco hit " S ...

" in 1997, and the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been aw ...

for Outstanding Song Collection with Jamiroquai in 1999.

Career

Jamiroquai, 1995–2000

Katz joined Jamiroquai in 1995, remaining as a member until 2000.Teresa Wiltz
“Jamiroquai Takes Mellow Brick Road,”
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', 1 February 1997. He was the band's guitarist on ''

Travelling Without Moving ''Travelling Without Moving'' is the third studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 28 August 1996 in Japan, then on 9 September 1996 in the United Kingdom under Sony Soho Square. Front-man Jay Kay intended fo ...

'' (1996), which won a Grammy Award and four

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

, and its follow-up, ''

Synkronized ''Synkronized'' is the fourth studio album released by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai. It was released on 8 June 1999 on Work Group in the United States, and on 14 June 1999 in the United Kingdom under S2 Records. While the group re ...

'' (1999).

Gorillaz, 2001–2002

In 2001, Katz joined

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

's group

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (character), 2-D (Singing, vocals, Musical keyboard, keyboards), Murd ...

, an animated quartet with actual musicians providing the voice and instruments for the animated "band members." During live performances and on the 2002 remix album ''

Laika Come Home ''Laika Come Home'' is a Gorillaz remix album released in July 2002. Unlike a typical remix album, it is done by just one group, Spacemonkeyz. It contains most of the songs from Gorillaz' first album, ''Gorillaz'', but remixed in dub and regg ...

'', he played guitar as the character of

Noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, ...

, a 14-year-old Japanese schoolgirl and guitar prodigy. Katz was featured in the 2008 film '' Bananaz'', which documents the development of the Gorillaz band from 2000 to 2006. For Mali Music, Albarn's project exploring the music of West Africa, Katz performed with Albarn in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

alongside

kora Kora may refer to: Places India * Kora, Bardhaman, West Bengal * Kora, Bharuch, Gujarat * Korha, Katihar, also known as Kora, in Bihar * Kora, Kendrapara, Odisha * Kora, Wardha, Maharastra * Kora, Tumakuru, Karnataka * Toyaguda, Adilabad, Telan ...

player

Toumani Diabaté Toumani Diabaté ( ; born 10 August 1965) is a Malian Kora (instrument), kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other inter ...

and guitarist

Afel Bocoum Afel Bocoum (born 1955) is a musician from Mali, noted as a singer and guitarist. He began his career as a member of Ali Farka Touré's group ASCO, and Toure is often regarded as his mentor. Both men come from the town of Niafunke on the River N ...

Other work

From 2002 to 2003, Katz served as musical director for

Ms. Dynamite Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born 26 April 1981), better known as Ms. Dynamite, is a British singer and rapper. She is the recipient of the Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards. Early years She was born Niomi Arleen Mc ...

, during which time she won the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

for her debut album, ''

A Little Deeper ''A Little Deeper'' is the debut studio album by English singer and rapper Ms. Dynamite. It was released on 10 June 2002 by Polydor Records. The album won the Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an ann ...

''; two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, including Best British Female Artist, and three

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and ...

. In 2010, Katz co-wrote the ballad "Be Good to Me" for

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

's fifth studio album, ''

We Are Born In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (object ...

''. Katz occasionally works in film. He has been featured on the scores for the 2002 film '' City of God'' and the 2006 documentary ''...More Than 1000 Words'', and served as music supervisor on the 2008 film ''

Ball Don't Lie ''Ball Don't Lie'' is a 2008 film directed by Brin Hill. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Matt de la Peña. It stars AND1 Mixtape team member Grayson Boucher, a.k.a. The Professor. The film premiered at the 2008 Tr ...

''.

Personal life

Katz was born and raised in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, England. He currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York.

Discography

Albums

– ''

The Return of the Space Cowboy ''The Return of the Space Cowboy'' is the second album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai. The album was released on 17 October 1994 under Sony Soho Square. The album continues the musical direction of their debut, ''Emergency on ...

'' (1994, Sony) * Jamiroquai – ''

'' (1996, Sony) * Jamiroquai – ''

'' (1999, Sony) * HKB FiNN – ''Vitalistics'' (2002, Son Records) *

Spacemonkeyz Spacemonkeyz are a musical group consisting of Darren Galea, Richie Stevens and Gavin Dodds. They came together when Galea created a dub remix of the Gorillaz' " Tomorrow Comes Today" ("Tomorrow Dub", which was released as a B-side on the "To ...

vs.

– ''

'' (2002, Parlaphone) * E2K – ''If Not Now'' (2003, Topic) *

Gemma Fox Gemma Fox is an English UK garage, R&B and hip hop singer, song writer best known for her 2004 album ''Messy''. The lead single, "Girlfriend's Story", was released in April of that year and featured MC Lyte. The second single, "Gone", featured ...

– ''Messy'' (2004, Polydor) *

Mad Professor Mad Professor (born Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser, 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) is a Guyanese-born British dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music ...

– ''Method to the Madness'' (2005, Sanctuary) * Jamiroquai – '' High Times: Singles 1992-2006'' (2006, Sony) *

Platinum Pied Pipers Platinum Pied Pipers is a Detroit-based hip hop and R&B group composed of producer Waajeed (Robert O'Bryant), and multi-instrumentalist Saadiq (Darnell Bolden, not to be confused with Raphael Saadiq). Their music usually features a rotating ...

– ''Abundance'' (2009, Ubiquity) *

– ''

'' (2010, Sony) * Dazzled Kid – ''Fire Needs Air'' (2011, Dazzled Kid Records) * Sambismo – ''The Birth Of...'' (2012)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Simon English male songwriters English male guitarists Jamiroquai members Gorillaz members 1971 births Living people Musicians from Nottingham Grammy Award winners