About Me
Following a five-year break, two brand new songs by singer/songwriter Simon Wells are scheduled for release on Kaleidoscope / Wapping Wharf Records. Named by Shindig magazine as “An English national treasure”, Wells’ work has been compared to the likes of Nick Drake, Ronnie Lane, Paul Weller & Ray Davies, with Billy Bragg making “The Shopkeeper’s Son” his favourite song of 2015. The song belatedly hit the top spot in the Amazon charts in 2020.
This double A-side, “Come Down It’s Morning Child” and “The Right Way”, is drawn from sessions for Wells’ new album “Out Of My Tree”, the collection due for release later in the year.
Simon’s songs can be downloaded worldwide and across the universe from all good download stores.
Simon Wells has written on film and music for numerous magazines and newspapers including The Guardian; The Times and The Independent. He is a regular contributor to Empire, Record Collector, Hotdog, TV Zone, Watch, Total Film, and The Beatles’ Book, the group’s official magazine. In addition to his writing credits, Simon has researched projects for the likes of the BBC, Channel Four, C5, Discovery Channel and Virgin Media, as well as broadcasting live on LBC, ITN and the BBC on film and music.
In 2001, Simon co-wrote “Your Face Here- British Cult Movies Since the 1960s” which was published by Fourth Estate/Harper-Collins. The book was a critical success, entering the BBC’s “Top Ten Film Books of the Year” list. During the summer of 2003, Simon was asked to curate a month-long season of classic 1960s cult movies at the National Film Theatre in London. Simon is the author of the hugely successful “The Beatles: 365 Days” published by Abrams/Time Warner, which to date has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Simon has also written “The Beatles in Japan,” published by Tascam in June 2006, and “The Rolling Stones: 365 Days” published in November 2006. In July 2007, Simon wrote the screenplay for the documentary “Don’t Knock Yourself Out,” a visual history of “The Prisoner” television series. 2009 saw the release of “Coming Down Fast”, an exhaustive account of the Charles Manson “Family” saga published by Hodder & Stoughton. 2011 saw the publication by Omnibus Press of “Butterfly On A Wheel” the story of the infamous drugs trial of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in 1967. 2012 saw Simon writing the definitive story of Quadrophenia – The Who’s classic cult film and a project in collaboration with The Rolling Stones published by Taschen.
Simon’s first novel, “The Tripping Horse” was published in 2013 through Wholepoint Publications. 2015 saw the publication “Eight Arms To Hold You” – a celebration of The Beatles film Help! 2017 sees the release of “In Echoed Steps: The Jam and the Spirit of Albion”, an exploration of the music and poetry of Paul Weller. 2019 sees the publication of “She’s A Rainbow”, the first biography of Anita Pallenberg, a retrospective of the classic cult magazine “London Life” and a new book on the making of the film Quadrophenia.
Simon is also an accomplished musician and composer, releasing four albums, including the critically acclaimed “The Shopkeeper’s Son” in 2015. Simon has performed all over the UK, including headline slots at The Troubadour and The 100 Club. Simon’s music has been regularly broadcast on radio and his albums have been reviewed in Record Collector, Mojo and Shindig.
