Simon Price (born 25 September 1967) is a British music journalist and author. He is known for his weekly review section in '' The Independent on Sunday'' and his book ''Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers)''.

Career

Writer

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

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. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' for nine years. From 2000-2013, Price wrote weekly review section in '' The Independent on Sunday'' newspaper. ''Everything'', a biography of Manic Street Preachers, was claimed by Caroline Sullivan in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' 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, 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 Richey Edwards. Price won the ''Record of the Day'' Live Reviews: Writer of the Year awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

DJ and Club Promoter

Price was heavily involved with the Romo scene in the mid-1990s, about which he wrote extensively for ''Melody Maker'', co-promoted the Arcadia clubnight 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" nightclub "Stay Beautiful". Named after the Manic Street Preachers song, it drew heavily on the ethos and attitudes of the band. Having run for over 10 years in London the club relocated to Brighton in 2011, where it continued until 2016. Since 2017, Price has been is running an alternative 80's 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 music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

episodes.

Personal

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

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. 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 Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

'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 "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

References

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