Simon Price (born 25 September 1967) is a British

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

and author. He is known for his weekly review section in ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' and his books ''Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers)'' and ''Curepedia: An A-Z of

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

''.

Career

Writer

Price began his career on the ''Barry & District News'', where he wrote a music column from 1984 to 1986. In the 1990s, Price was a staff writer for ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' for nine years. From 2000 to 2013, Price wrote weekly music reviews in ''

'' newspaper. ''Everything'', a biography of

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...

, was claimed by Caroline Sullivan in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in 1999 to be the "fastest-selling rock book of all time". It was later listed by ''The Guardian'' in a Top Ten of books about rock. Ben Myers, who wrote ''Richard'', a novel about Manics guitarist

Richey Edwards Richard James Edwards (22 December 1967 – disappeared 1 February 1995, declared dead 24 November 2008), also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band ...

, called it "one of the most exhaustively researched and passionately written band biographies in existence". Price disowned a 2002 re-issue of the book following a dispute over edits by the publisher, who cut criticisms of the police search for

. Price won the ''Record of the Day'' Live Reviews: Writer of the Year awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2023, he published ''Curepedia: An A-Z of

'' which was named as a music book of the year by ''

''.

DJ and Club Promoter

Price was heavily involved with the short-lived

Romo Romantic Modernism, more commonly known as Romo, was a musical and nightclubbing movement, of glam/style pop lineage, in the UK circa 1995–1997, centred on the twin homes of Camden-based clubnight Club Skinny and its West End clone Arcad ...

scene in the mid- to late 1990s. He wrote about it extensively for ''Melody Maker'', co-promoted the Arcadia club night and acted as DJ and tour manager for the ''Fiddling While Romo Burns'' Romo package tour. In 2001, he co-created alternative "glam/rock/trash" club night Stay Beautiful. Named after the Manic Street Preachers song, it drew heavily on the band's ethos and attitudes. Having run for over 10 years in London, the club relocated in 2011 to Brighton, where it continued until 2016. Since 2017, Price has run an alternative 1980s club called Spellbound in Brighton.

Other

Price has appeared on BBC radio and television stations as a pop expert. He is a recurring contributor to the "Chart Music" podcast, revisiting classic

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

episodes.

Personal life

The son of a radio presenter, Price attended Barry Comprehensive in Wales and studied French and philosophy at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. Alongside 54 other signatories, Price put his name to an open letter published in ''The Guardian'' on 15 September 2010, stating their opposition to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

's state visit to the UK. He is also listed as a distinguished supporter of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

References

1967 births Living people British music critics Melody Maker writers Welsh journalists Alumni of University College London Romo {{UK-journalist-stub