Simon Jonathon Gallup is an English musician born on June 1, 1960 in Duxhurst, England, and a member of the British post-punk band The Cure.

Early Years

Simon is the youngest of six children born to Bob and Peg Gallup. His siblings are Stuart, David, Duncan, Monica, and Ric. Ric Gallup helped to make the Cure video Carnage Visors.

Simon has been married twice. His first wife was Carol Thompson. She and Gallup had previously worked together in a band called The Magspys. Carol sang back-up on the song "Lifeblood".[1] They had two children named Lily and Eden before they were divorced sometime around the end of the Wish Tour in 1992. Since then, Simon has remarried to Sarah and had a third child named Evangeline. Initially, Gallup was the bass player for a punk band called Lockjaw.

Involvement in The Cure

Gallup first joined The Cure in 1979, replacing Michael Dempsey on bass guitar. He also has been credited for occasionally playing the keyboard, particularly after Matthieu Hartley's departure in 1980; he took over keyboard lines for many of the songs that Hartley played. Examples of songs he played keyboard on live include "At Night", A Forest, and "A Strange Day". During Cold he multi-tasked playing bass guitar and bass pedals. On the Swing Tour in 1996, he played acoustic 12-string guitar on "This is a Lie". On the Dream Tour in 2000 he played Fender Bass VI on "There Is No If". He is also credited with singing lead vocals for a demo for "Violin Song." Gallup first performed on the Cure albums that make up "The Dark Trilogy": Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography.

During the 14 Explicit Moments Tour in 1982, a series of incidents prompted Simon to leave The Cure. The first incident occurred when Simon got into a fight with Robert Smith at a nightclub. The second - and perhaps more infamous - incident occurred two weeks later during the final concert of the tour at L'Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The band decided to play "Forever" but this time they changed instruments around; Simon played guitar, Lol Tolhurst played bass, Robert Smith played the drums, and Gary Biddles - a part-time roadie and friend of Gallup's - did vocals. As soon as he got on stage, Biddles started singing, "Smith is a wanker, Tolhurst is a wanker, only Simon is worth anything in the band! The Cure is dead!" Smith got angry and threw his drumsticks at Biddles' head, and yelled "F--- off!"[2]

After that incident, Gallup left the band and started another one with Biddles called Fools Dance; Biddles sang most of the songs that were released by this band, Gallup only sang on one called "The Ring". When asked why he left The Cure, he said, "It's just basically that Robert and I are both really arrogant bastards, and it got to such an extreme. I suppose you just can't have two egocentrics in a band, and Robert was sort of 'the main man.'"[3]

However, in 1985, Smith asked Simon to come back to The Cure, an offer which Gallup accepted. Since then, the two of them have remained on good terms. In fact, Gallup served as the best man at Smith's wedding in 1988.[4]

Gallup is the second longest serving member of The Cure, which has led to him being referred to as Robert Smith's right-hand man. He performed on every album except Three Imaginary Boys/Boys Don't Cry, Japanese Whispers, The Top, and Concert. He has garnered a fan base over the years because of his long stint with the Cure.

Discography

→ See The Cure discography
→ See Fools Dance discography

Trivia

• Simon's favorite bass is his Gibson Thunderbird.
• He has also played Fender Precision, Rickenbacker 4001, MusicMan Stingray, Washburn AB10 acoustic, Gibson EB-2, Kramer Acoustic, custom Dick Knight and Epiphone Jack Casady basses live.
• In addition to playing in a few other local bands, Gallup worked in a plastic factory before becoming a full-time member of The Cure.[5]

External links

• Simon's Official MySpace
• Simon at Pictures of You
• Simon Gallup bio
• Fools Dance website
• Fools Dance Tour Program