Simon Drake
| Simon Drake | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Simon Alexander 1 March 1957 Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Magician, illusionist, director, producer, writer |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Website | houseofmagic |
Simon Drake (born Simon Alexander 1 March 1957) is an English magician based in London. He is best known for the innovative and shocking television series The Secret Cabaret made for Britain's Channel 4.
Born in Surrey, Drake is the son of a GP and both sides of his family were connected to the medical profession for some generations. In an interview included in a recent book about Arthur Brown, Drake was working as a record plugger at Decca Records when he met Arthur Brown:
Arthur's single 'Fire' was the first record I bought at the age of 12. As the years went on I saw Arthur at the Rainbow with Kingdom Come. I was a huge fan...I was promoted to plugger. I took Arthur round for interviews with the radio, and got to know him as a person and he mentored my crossover between the security of a day job and the craft of magic.
He first came to wider attention in Kate Bush's UK live tour in 1979 for which he co-devised visuals and played seven characters. He has a wide and diverse performing history, from Terayama's Tenjo Sajiki theatre in Japan to the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium before Queen Elizabeth II. He advised Nicolas Roeg for the film Castaway, with the tricky task of coaching Oliver Reed in sleight of hand, and was magic advisor to Harvey Keitel on Fairy Tale, A True Story. In two series of the award-nominated The Secret Cabaret for Channel Four, he won an international cult following for his original and shocking presentation of illusions and manipulation routines. He worked alongside magician Pat Page[1]. He has performed and consulted with many stars including: Elton John, Phil Collins, Madness, David Gilmour, Meat Loaf, Steve Miller's Abracadabra, Darryl Hall, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Julian Lennon, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Pamela Stephenson. In August 1993 he was seen on American TV in the special Raising Hell, in which he co-starred with Iron Maiden in their final show with Bruce Dickinson on vocals in those years (the singer rejoined the band some years later). The same month Drake performed with Carl Davis and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
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