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Simon Webbe (born 30 March 1979 in Moss Side, Manchester, England) is a music singer, writer, producer, manager and film star.
Simon Webbe originally started his career out with British boy-band Blue. The band also featured Lee Ryan (a fellow solo star),Duncan James (TV's Dancing On Ice), Antony Costa (TV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!).
The band burst in two the scene in 2001 with their number one album All Rise and it's subsuquent singles "All Rise" (#4), "Too Close "(#1), "If You Come Back" (#1) & "Fly By II" (#6).
In 2002 follow-up album One Love saw the band reach the height of their fame peaking at number one, selling 3 million copies in the UK alone and featurd the singles "One Love" (#3), "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word feat.Elton John" (#1) & "U Make Me Wanna" (#4).
Another number one album came in 2003 with Guilty. It showcased Blue at their absolute best and featuring a new maturity as musical artists, critical acclaim and producing the singles "Guilty" (#2), "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) feat.Stevie Wonder and Angie Stone" (#11), "Breathe Easy" (#4) & "Bubblin'" (#9).
The band wrapped up their career in 2004 with a greatest hits album which number six in the charts and produced the top ten single "Curtain Falls" (#4).
Simon launched his post-Blue career on the 22 August 2005 with his first solo single "Lay Your Hands" which peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart.
His follow up single "No Worries" established Simon as a solo star, reaching #4 in the "UK" and making him the only Blue member to have multiple top ten singles.
After the release of two singles Simon finally released his long awaited debut solo album "Sanctuary" which debuted at #28 on the UK Album Charts. Despite it's relativley low debut it eventually reached #7 on the charts and to this date has gone double-platinum.
The third single from "Sanctuary", "After All This Time" was released in February, 2006 but due to poor promotion and a low budget video it failed to become his third top ten single and peaked at #16.
On the 30 October 2006 the first single off Simon's new album "Coming Around Again" and was described by Simon as "an uplifting slice of soulful pop" and as "a reminder of the highlights in your life". When released it reached #12 in the UK Singles Charts, which Simon himself admits as disappointing.
His highly anticipated second album "Grace" was released on the 13th of November, 2006, it just missed the UK top ten debuting and peaking at #11.
The second single "My Soul Pleads For You" was released on February 19, 2007 and charted at a dissapointing #45 on the singles chart.
On May 21st, Simon launched his first ever live tour to support his sophmore album "Grace". The tour consists of 18 dates through May and June starting-off in Cambridge and climaxing in London.
After his album and singles failure there was many reports suggesting that Simon had been dropped by Innocent Records, however these reports proved to be false and Simon carefully began plotting his next career move.
In early June it was announced that Simon will be releasing the the title track from his second studio album with the theme song from the upcoming motion picture entitled "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer". The single will be a double a-side release of "Grace / Ride The Storm".
During his recent May-June, 2007 live tour Simon previewed some new songs from his third studio album including Run which Simon said has already been "penciled" in as the first single and that it will possibly be used as the album title.
It has also been reported that the album will double as the soundtrack to Simon's upcomng film of the same name and that because the album is an action flick it will be a slightly heavier album.
After many years working and performing in music Simon appeared to want to add his creative abilities through other avenues in the entertainment industry, thus deciding to persue a film career.
In 2004 he co-starred in the romantic-comedy "The Truth About Love", directed by John Hay.The film also featured renowned actors Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Dougray Scott and Jimi Mistry.
His second acting project was a 2006 British gangster movie entitled Rollin' With The Nines. The film co-starred Vas Blackwood, Billy Murray, Robbie Gee and was directed by Julian Gilbey.
He will follow these movies up with the upcoming 2007/08 movie directed by John McTiernan tentivley titled "Run". The film which will be an action blockbuster also has Hollywood connections and will see him act alongside acclaimed New Zealand actor/preformer Karl Urban.
Since entering the music industry Simon has used his profile to extend his range of business ventures. His two most notable companies are "Love 4 Music" and "Love 4 PR" both of which he co-runs with Jade Reuben.
He managed the mixed gender group VS (Jaime Summaz, Marvin Humes, Ryan Taylor, Chinyere McKenzie & Blimi) who supported Blue on their sell-out arena sized tour and were also signed to Blue's Innocent Records and released three singles Love You Like Mad (#7), Call U Sexy (#11) and Make It Hot (#29) plus a album called "All Kinds of Trouble". Currently all members of the band are working on different solo projects.
He also managed American/British girlband L.A.D.E. who's video for their unreleased single "Shake It Off" featured Simon and ex-Blue bandmate Duncan James, in return the girls appeared in Blue's single "Bubblin'". It is unknown their current professional music status.
Also in 2004 he was voted Company Magazine's 62nd Sexiest Man Alive and appeared as a striker on Sky One's The Match.
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