Early career

Robin Simon began playing guitar in a Halifax-based band, Kandahar, in the early to mid-1970s. He also met and played with future Ultravox member Billy Currie at that time.^[2] He moved to London in 1975 and later joined the punk pop band Ians Radio (later called Neo) in 1976. Neo were one of the bands on the early London punk live scene. They featured on the Live at the Vortex album and supported Ultravox several times at the Marquee club in London, before Simon was offered the guitarist position in Ultravox.^[3]

Ultravox

Simon joined Ultravox, replacing Stevie Shears, in 1977, bringing a more multi-dimensional sound to the band. This was due to his pioneering use of a multiple effects pedal,stomp box sound, direct to tape,using his guitar amplifier with tremolo effect essentially as a monitor. Timed echo, on the song Slow Motion, plus Flanger,chorus, fuzz, wah-wah, delay and compressor pedals created a guitar sound unique at that time. Most of the pedals were made by Electro harmonix, notably, the big muff deluxe fuzz as his core sound, later popularised by various Grunge guitarists, and the memory man deluxe echo pedal, later popularised by U2. After recording the guitars on systems of romance, they were fed back through a vintage fender combo, a process now commonly known as reamping,but a very unusual recording teqnique at the time. He co-wrote the single "Slow Motion" from their 1978 third album, Systems of Romance, the original Ultravox line-up's only official hit.^[4][5]

In addition to playing all guitars on Systems of Romance, Simon co-produced it with the band, Conny Plank (of Kraftwerk fame) and Dave Hutchins. He also pioneered the use of synthesizers that were put through guitar effects pedals, prior to Gary Numan's echoing of the technique, notably on the track "Quiet Men".

In early 1979, after the US tour with the band and no longer on Island Records, having been dropped by the label despite increased sales and positive reviews, John Foxx left Ultravox. Simon left some months later. He felt that without John Foxx, who had founded and named the band, and was its main songwriter, a new singer could cause the band to lose its integrity.^{[citation needed]}

Magazine

After returning to the United Kingdom, Simon joined Magazine in 1980, replacing John McGeoch. He appears on Magazines live album Play.^[6] After Magazine's tour of the United States and Australia/New Zealand plus a later live appearance with them in the movie Urgh! A Music War'recorded at a sold out Santa Monica civic theatre gig, with various other acts. and on the German TV show Rockpalast, he moved on from the band to record with John Foxx again, on the Garden album.

He played on the song "Saddest Quay", from Magazine keyboards player Dave Formula's solo album, Satellite Sweetheart, in 2009.^[7]

John Foxx

Simon contributed to Foxx's solo albums The Garden (1981), The Golden Section (1983), and In Mysterious Ways (1985). He also performed on stage during his 1983 tour and at a special John Foxx & the Maths show at London's Roundhouse in 2010.^[8] He later became an effective member of John Foxx and the Maths with his contribution to the album group Howl, released in 2020.^[9]

Humania

Ultravox had gone on to greater success with Midge Ure fronting the band, but when Ure left the band in 1988, Billy Currie began a new project, with a later lineup that included Simon. Using the early name of Uvox at rehearsal stage, they later used the name temporary name Humania. Live gigs at London's Marquee club and the borderline followed, though the band, despite being offered a contract by chrysalis records, was short-lived, with Currie subsequently deciding on forming another incarnation of Ultravox instead,without Simon, or anyone else, from the Humania project.^[10]