Simon Solomon Webbe (born 30 March 1979, Moss Side, Manchester, England) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and music manager. He is best known as a member of the British boyband Blue.
Webbe launched his post-Blue career on 22 August 2005 with his first solo single “Lay Your Hands” which peaked at No.4 on the UK Singles Chart. His follow up single “No Worries” reached No.4 in the UK, making him the only Blue member to have multiple Top 10 singles. After the release of two singles, Webbe released his debut solo album Sanctuary which debuted at No.28 on the UK Album Chart. Despite its relatively low debut it eventually reached No.7 on the chart and has now gone double platinum. The third single from Sanctuary, “After All This Time” was released in February 2006 but it failed to do as well as his previous releases and peaked at #16.
On 30 October 2006, came the first single from Webbe’s new album “Coming Around Again”. When released it reached No.12 in the UK Singles Chart. His second album Grace was released on 13 November 2006, and peaked at number 11 in the UK Albums Chart. The second single “My Soul Pleads for You” was released on 19 February 2007, and reached 45 on the singles chart. On 21 May 2007, Webbe launched his first tour to support his second album Grace. The tour consisted of 18 dates through May and June, starting in Cambridge and culminating in London. In early June, it was announced that Webbe would be releasing the title track from his second studio album with the theme song from the upcoming film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The single was a double A-side release of “Grace”/”Ride the Storm”. It reached No.36 in the UK. In Europe, “Seventeen” was released instead of “Grace”.
During his 2007 UK Tour, Webbe previewed some songs from his third studio album, including “Run”, which he claimed had been announced as the first single. He also claimed that ‘Run’ could possibly be the title of the album. It is thought that the album was postponed from its 2009 release date due to the reunion of Blue, and that it will be released at some point in the future.
Since entering the music industry Webbe has extended 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 group VS who supported Blue on their tour. They were also signed to Innocent Records, the same label as Blue, and released three singles, “Love You Like Mad” (#7), “Call U Sexy” (#11) and “Make It Hot” (#29), plus an album, All Kinds of Trouble. The band has since broken up and member Marvin Humes is now part of boyband JLS. He also managed American/British girlband, L.A.D.E. whose video for their unreleased single “Shake It Off” featured Webbe and Blue bandmate Duncan James. In return the girls appeared in Blue’s single “Bubblin’”. Their current professional music status is unknown. Also in 2004, he was voted Company magazine’s 62nd Sexiest Man Alive and appeared as a striker on Sky One’s, The Match. In 2007 he released a series of educational DVDs for children entitled Simon’s Web. The six volumes endeavoured to teach children about the internet, its history and uses. In 2008, he starred in British reality television show, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!. On 28 April 2009, Blue announced that they have reformed and will soon return to the stage this summer with a new album coming soon. Webbe has featured on Ras Kwame’s ‘Spit TV’ rapping with fellow Manchester hip-hop artists Lyrican and Hoodman.In 2010 Simon took up the role of Curtis Shanks in the West End production of Sister Act at the London Palladium.
Webbe was a guest on Big Brother 11 in August 2010 singing a new track to the housemates.
Webbe along with the other members of Blue represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany. The group finished 11th in the competition
In 2004 he co-starred in the romantic-comedy The Truth About Love, directed by John Hay. The film also featured Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Dougray Scott and Jimi Mistry. His second acting project was a 2006 British gangster movie, Rollin’ With The Nines. The film co-starred Vas Blackwood, Billy Murray, Robbie Gee and was directed by Julian Gilbey.
He has a daughter, Alanah, born in 1997, with ex-girlfriend Tracey Jones. She is the inspiration for his 2007 single “Grace”. He is reportedly a cousin of the former Sugababes singer, Keisha Buchanan