Simon Lees

Simon Lees (born 16 May 1970) is an English heavy metal guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer.

Lees was born in Wolverhampton, England. He formed the Wombourne based rock band, Osprey, in 1986. They recorded "Scene of the Action", a six-song demo at Far Heath Studios in January 1989. It was engineered and produced by Angus Wallace. Lees left the band in August that year. In 1988, he began giving private guitar lessons. In April 1990 he formed Nitebreed, who supported The Mock Turtles at Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall in May that year, although the band soon broke up. He then undertook session work with The Red House Snakes in August 1990, and recorded a four-song demo in Stourbridge, which was produced by Brian Tatler. In January 1991, Lees played guitar, bass and sang backing vocals on the Red House Snakes second demo at produced by Paul Hodson.

In September 1991, Lees recorded his first solo demo, "Buggy – When Will I Learn", before reforming Nitebreed the following May and recorded their first demo. In October 1992, he formed Plain Jain and they recorded the "Better Late Than Never" demo. In 1993, he co-produced demos by Wolverhampton bands, Almost Human and Graveyard Shift. In September 1993, he won a place in the finals of Guitarist magazine's 'Guitarist of the Year' competition, a title won that year by Guthrie Govan. In January 1994, Lees recorded and produced Plain Jain’s second demo and played over 50 gigs in the West Midlands with Plain Jain. In April 1994, he joined Tantrum.

In September 1994, he again got a place in the finals of Guitarist's 'Guitarist of the Year' competition. The live performances from each contestant were recorded, and released on the album Guitarist of the Year 1994 on Music Maker Records. By October Lees left Tantrum to work on his one-man show. He again reached the finals of the 'Guitarist of the Year' competition.

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