Simone Simons

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Simone Johanna Maria Simons (born 17 January 1985) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. She is best known for being the lead singer of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, where she joined at the age of seventeen, releasing seven studio albums and touring the world. In her singing career, she has also collaborated with bands such as Kamelot, Leaves' Eyes, Primal Fear, Ayreon, and Angra.

Video Simone Simons

Early life and formation

Simons was born in Hoensbroek, Netherlands. She has a younger sister named Janneke who was born on Simone's second birthday. Her interest in music manifested at a very early age. Simons started playing flute for two years after joining music school at the age of 12. At 14, she had one year of pop singing lessons, and at 15, she switched to classical singing after listening to Nightwish's Oceanborn, which remains her favorite Nightwish album. At one point she was invited to join in a rehearsal for a black metal band; she joined it, although was a little afraid to sing. Simons sang in a choir for a few months, and later joined Epica.

Maps Simone Simons

Epica

In early 2002, Mark Jansen left After Forever over creative differences. He then began looking for musicians who would work towards a more classical/symphonic type of music project; this was initially named "Sahara Dust". In late 2002, the band courted Helena Michaelsen (from Trail of Tears) as its frontwoman, but shortly after she was replaced by the then unknown Simons, who was Jansen's girlfriend at the time.

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Personal life

In January 2008, Simons was suffering from recurrent MRSA infections. This forced Epica to cancel many of their shows. In February, her condition improved, but she had not completely recovered. In March, Epica toured with Amanda Somerville, replacing Simons for their United States tour until May 11, 2008, when Simons performed again at their show in Bibelot, Dordrecht.

Asked about her looks as one of the factors that attract attention to Epica, Simons said: "First of all the most important is the sound of the band, because beauty will fade one day, and I hope my voice won't [Laughs]... But, yeah, you have two aspects of the band - the music (the CD's) and then the live side of it (the show), and part of the show is also that it has to look nice, so I take good care of myself, I make sure that the fans have something to look at during the show."

Among her inspirations, Simons cited metal bands such as Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Tristania, Kamelot, Within Temptation, Dimmu Borgir, Tiamat, and some classical music such as Mozart. While appreciating tattoos in other people, Simons said she will not get one.

Simons and long-time partner, Kamelot keyboard player Oliver Palotai have a son, Vincent Palotai, born on October 2, 2013. In December 2013, Simons announced on her blog that she had recently got married to Palotai. They reside in Stuttgart. In the past, she had a relationship with Mark Jansen.

Simons runs a blog called "SmoonStyle", where she writes about her fashion, makeup, food and experiences she has had as a member of Epica, as well as in her personal life.

Epica interview - Simone Simons (part 1) - YouTube

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Discography

With Epica

Albums

The Phantom Agony (2003)
Consign to Oblivion (2005)
The Divine Conspiracy (2007)
Design Your Universe (2009)
Requiem for the Indifferent (2012)
The Quantum Enigma (2014)
The Holographic Principle (2016)

Singles

"The Phantom Agony" (2003)
"Feint" (2004)
"Cry for the Moon" (2004)
"Solitary Ground" (2005)
"Quietus (Silent Reverie)" (2005)
"Never Enough" (2007)
"Chasing the Dragon" (2008)
"Unleashed" (2009)
"Martyr of the Free Word" (2009)
"This Is the Time" (2010)
"Storm the Sorrow" (2012)
"Forevermore" (2012)
"The Essence of Silence" (2014)
"Unchain Utopia" (2014)
"Victim of Contingency" (2014)
"Universal Death Squad" (2016)
"Edge of the Blade" (2016)
"Beyond The Matrix" (2017)
"The Solace System" (2017)

DVDs

We Will Take You With Us (2004)
Retrospect (2013)

Other releases

Cry for the Moon (demo, 2002)
The Score - An Epic Journey (2005)
The Road to Paradiso (book and compilation, 2006)
The Classical Conspiracy (live, 2009)
The Solace System (EP, 2017)
EPICA VS attack on titan songs (EP, 2017)

Guest appearances

Aina - Days of Rising Doom (2003)
Kamelot - The Black Halo in "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)" and appears in its video (2005)
Kamelot - One Cold Winter's Night in "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)" (2006)
Kamelot - Ghost Opera in "Blücher" and "Season's End" (2007)
Primal Fear - New Religion in "Everytime It Rains" (2007)
Ayreon - 01011001 in "Web of Lies" (2008)
Xystus & US Concert - Equilibrio in "Act 1 - My Song of Creation", "Act 2 - Destiny Unveiled" and "Act 2 - God of Symmetry" (2008)
Sons of Seasons - Gods of Vermin in "Fallen Family", "Fall Of Byzanz" and "Wintersmith" (2009)
Kamelot - Poetry for the Poisoned in "House on a Hill", "So Long", "All Is Over" (2010)
MaYaN - Quarterpast in "Symphony of Aggression", "Mainstay of Society", "Bite the Bullet", "Drown the Demon" and "Sinner's Last Retreat" (2011)
Sons of Seasons - Magnisphyricon in "Sanctuary" (2011)
Avalon - Angels of the Apocalypse (2014)
Angra - Secret Garden in "Secret Garden" (2014)
Countermove: The Power of Love (2014) Charity single for The Red Cross, originally by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Leaves' Eyes - King of Kings in "Edge of Steel" (2015)
Ayreon - The Source (2017) as The Counselor
Exit Eden - Rhapsodies in Black in "Frozen" and "Skyfall" (2017)
Tarja Turunen - Feliz Navidad in "Feliz Navidad" (2017) Charity version to help raise funds for Barbuda for Hurricane Irma relief, originally by José Feliciano

File:2004 M'era Luna Epica Simone Simons.jpg - Wikimedia Commons