Simon Tong (born 1972, Lancashire, England) was a guitarist and keyboardist for The Verve between 1996 and their break-up in 1999. He was brought in to replace lead guitarist Nick McCabe, and remained with the band when McCabe returned for the band's final album before their second break-up, Urban Hymns.
Since the Verve disbanded, Tong has remained relatively active. He was a member of short lived band The Shining from 2002-2003, where he contributed guitar, keyboards and songwriting.
Following Graham Coxon's departure from Blur in 2002, he was recruited as guitarist for some of the band's live performances. He continued the relationship formed with frontman Damon Albarn by contributing guitar to Gorillaz' 2005 album Demon Days including top 2 hit "Feel Good Inc." In November 2005 he performed as part of the Gorillaz tribute band at the Manchester Opera House, contributing guitar.
In July 2006, it was reported that Tong would again be working with Damon Albarn. NME reported that Albarn had foregone plans to record a solo album and instead formed a new unnamed group which featured Tong with Albarn, former Clash bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Tony Allen. The band released their first album The Good, the Bad and the Queen on January 23, 2007, with the single "Herculean" in October 2006. The album has enjoyed very good reviews and a second single, "Kingdom of Doom", was also released in January 2007 as part of their blank">pan European tour. While The Verve reunited in 2007, Tong remained with The Good, the Bad, and the Queen.
Simon has also set up a new record label with the uber-producer _Youth (of Killing Joke) called "Butterfly Recordings". The first acts to be released are Indigo Moss and Duke Garwood along with a compilation entitled "What the Folk".
He is a member of the band Transmission with Youth, Paul Ferguson (of Killing Joke) and Tim Bran (of Dreadzone) which has released a single called "Noctolucent" and an album "Beyond Light" in 2006.blank">http://www.myspace.com/transmissionofficial He has also played guitar on several tracks on the 2007 _Client album "Heartland".
As a producer Simon has had the pleasure to work with Petra Jean Phillipson, Duke Garwood and Indigo Moss.
