Simon Lees

Simon was born in Wolverhampton in May 1970 and has always lived in the Wolverhampton area. He began playing guitar in 1982 inspired by instrumental bands like Sky and Mike Oldfield. As time went on he got into the heavier side of rock and developed a liking for the fast guitar solo style now known as “shredding”.

From ’86 to ‘94 he played in a string of rock bands from ‘school bands’ to ‘touring bands’, none of which had any real success. Towards the end of this period Simon began entering Guitarist Magazine’s Guitarist of the Year competition and managed to get a place in the Grand Final in ’93 ’94 and ’95.

Disillusioned by his experience in bands, in ’95 Simon began his solo career playing in pubs and clubs to backing tracks. He also began teaching the guitar and took the first steps to becoming a highly respected guitar teacher.

In 1998 Simon released his first solo album “My World” which features many of his competition entries along with his own classic rock songs.

Later the same year he finally won the Guitarist of the Year title. In 2000 Simon took part in the popular TV show “Stars in Their Eyes” singing an Aerosmith song. His vocal training certainly paid off although he was beaten by the series winner who was a professional opera singer. The same year Simon joined Ozzmosis - an Ozzy Osbourne tribute band which enabled him to play bigger venues.

In 2003 Simon began working with former Judas Priest lead singer Al Atkins on a couple of Al's solo albums. The first, entitled "Heavy Thoughts" features Simon's guitar on the two bonus tracks. The second album "Demon Deceiver" features Simon's playing on most tracks including the title track which Simon wrote. Diamond Head's Brian Tatler also featured on the album.

Also in 2003 Simon was asked to join the classic rock band Budgie as lead guitarist and has toured the UK four times in-between tours of the USA, Poland, Sweden, Holland and Belgium. The band recently released “digitally re-mastered” versions of it’s first 5 albums and Simon plays on most of the bonus tracks. In 2006 Budgie released a brand new studio album entitled "You're All Living in Cuckooland" which Simon co-wrote with Budgie's founder member Burke Shelley. Simon left Budgie in the Summer of 2007.

2003 was clearly a busy year for Simon as that year he also released his second solo album “Freethinka”. Like My World, Freethinka has a mixture of instrumentals and Classic Rock songs; all original. In 2005 Simon released a guitar tuition DVD which deals with Simon’s unique method of navigating the fretboard. It’s a method which Simon has been working on since 1998 and has tried out on all his students! In 2006 Simon was asked to contribute to a new internet based guitar magazine. He will write regular tutorials and occasional equipment reviews. Simon tries to keep fit by cycling regularly which is something he’s enjoyed since long before he began playing guitar.

Simon’s main job will always be teaching and playing his one-man-shows but now he is also involved with a new band project called "Anubis" which features another ex-Budgie guitarist Andy Hart and ex-Gong and Hawkwind bassist Pete Williamson. You can find out more about Anubis via Simon's Top 8 in his My Space.