Simon Katz (born 16 May 1971)
Career
Jamiroquai, 1995–2000
Katz joined Jamiroquai in 1995, remaining as a member until 2000.
[Teresa Wiltz, “Jamiroquai Takes Mellow Brick Road,” Chicago Tribune, 1 February 1997.][Ann Powers, “Dance Music Pumped Full of Helium,” New York Times, 13 September 2001.] He was the band's guitarist on
Travelling Without Moving (1996),
which won a Grammy Award
and four MTV Video Music Awards,
and its follow-up,
Synkronized (1999).
[Al Stone, “Recording Jamiroquai’s ‘Supersonic’,” Sound on Sound, December 1999.]
Gorillaz, 2001–2002
In 2001, Katz joined
Damon Albarn's group
Gorillaz, an animated quartet with actual musicians providing the voice and instruments for the animated "band members." During live performances and on the 2002 remix album
Laika Come Home, he played guitar as the character of Noodle, a 14-year-old Japanese schoolgirl and guitar prodigy.
Katz was featured in the 2008 film
Bananaz, which documents the development of the Gorillaz band from 2000 to 2006.
[Leslie Felperin, “Bananaz,” Variety, 29 February 2008.]
For Mali Music, Albarn's project exploring the music of West Africa, Katz performed with Albarn in Mali alongside kora player Toumani Diabaté and guitarist Afel Bocoum.[Mark Espiner,
]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> “Guerrilla tactics rule,” Evening Standard, 27 May 2002.
Other work
From 2002 to 2003, Katz served as musical director for Ms. Dynamite,
during which time she won the
Mercury Prize for her debut album,
A Little Deeper;
two
Brit Awards, including Best British Female Artist,
and three
MOBO Awards.
In 2010, Katz co-wrote the ballad "Be Good to Me" for Sia's fifth studio album, We Are Born.
Katz occasionally works in film. He has been featured on the scores for the 2002 film City of God working alongside Brazilian Film Composer Antonio Pinto and the 2006 documentary ...More Than 1000 Words, and served as music supervisor on the 2008 film Ball Don't Lie.
Katz has also worked with Lana Del Rey, Diana Ross, Omar Lye-Fook, Ronnie Wood, Tony Allen
Personal life
Katz was born and raised in Nottingham, and raised in North London England. He currently resides between New York and London.
Discography
Albums
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Jamiroquai – The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994, Sony)
-
Jamiroquai – Travelling Without Moving (1996, Sony)
-
Jamiroquai – Synkronized (1999, Sony)
-
HKB FiNN – Vitalistics (2002, Son Records)
-
Spacemonkeyz vs. Gorillaz – Laika Come Home (2002, Parlaphone)
-
E2K – If Not Now (2003, Topic)
-
Gemma Fox – Messy (2004, Polydor)
-
Mad Professor – Method to the Madness (2005, Sanctuary)
-
Jamiroquai – (2006, Sony)
-
Platinum Pied Pipers – Abundance (2009, Ubiquity)
-
Sia – We Are Born (2010, Sony)
-
Dazzled Kid – Fire Needs Air (2011, Dazzled Kid Records)
-
Sambismo – The Birth Of... (2012)
External links
